The Way of Chai

Book excerpt: In this celebration of the comfort and community to be found in a warm, well-made cup of chai, Kevin Wilson offers readers his famous chai recipes alongside meditations on how to live a simple yet full life. Dubbed “the CEO of Chai” by Bon Appétit magazine, Kevin Wilson is an expert on all things chai. When Wilson was a teenager, his family in Sri Lanka applied to come to America, but his was the only visa approved. A world away from his country and so many of his loved ones, he stayed connected to his culture and his family through chai. One day Wilson made a TikTok about how to make the perfect cup of chai—carefully crushing cardamom, cloves, peppercorns, and cinnamon bark, boiling them in milk, adding tea leaves, and stirring until he saw what he describes as “the color of a happy brown boy.” The video went viral and earned Wilson many fans who come for the useful guidance on how to make chai but stay for his wise meditations on how the perfect “cuppa” can soothe and sustain us—even in the most trying of times. In this book, Wilson shares his most popular recipes and introduces readers to making chai as a spiritual practice that involves patience and attunement to meld just the right combination of spices. In The Way of Chai Wilson beautifully describes how something as simple as a well-made cup of tea can bring us solace amid our struggles. While a steaming cup of chai can’t solve everything, it can help us tap into the power of patience, clarity, and intention.