The tea that runs the country

Ask for chai anywhere between the Arabian Sea and the Chinese border and you get the same thing: black tea boiled hard in milk and sugar until it turns the colour of the Indus in flood. It is called doodh patti, milk and leaf, and nobody starts it with water.

The Karachi roadside

At the dhabas on the Karachi side of the Super Highway it comes in thick glasses on a steel tray, poured from a height so it froths. The trucks pull in at two in the morning, the drivers stretch out on charpais, and the pan never leaves the flame.

The tea is boiled with full-cream milk and plenty of sugar. The colour is a deep tan, the texture thick enough to coat the glass. It is drunk hot in small sips, often with a plate of paratha or a handful of rusks.

Karachi's older quarters keep their own rhythm. In the lanes off Burns Road, tea stalls open before dawn and stay busy until the grills are lit at night. The glass is small, the tea strong, and the conversation loud.

Up the highway

North of Islamabad the glasses become cups and the sugar comes down a little. The tea is still boiled in milk, but the pour is gentler and the serving smaller. In Peshawar the same drink appears with cardamom or a dusting of ground pistachio.

In Hunza you will be offered salt tea as well, with butter and a pinch of salt, closer to Ladakh than to Lahore. Try it once. Most people go back to doodh patti, but the first cup on a Karimabad terrace in October is hard to forget.

The road climbs through Gilgit and on to Passu, where guest houses serve doodh patti at breakfast and again after dinner. The altitude does not change the recipe. The pan, the milk and the sugar stay the same.

Kashmiri chai in winter

Kashmiri chai, pink and made with green leaf, a pinch of soda and a long simmer, turns up at weddings and in Lahore's old lanes in winter, scattered with pistachio and almond. It is not an everyday tea. Done properly it takes the best part of an hour.

The colour comes from the reaction of the green tea with the soda, not from milk. The milk is added later, and the pink deepens as it cooks. It is served in small cups, often with a piece of cake or a biscuit.

In Lahore, the old lanes around Anarkali and the Walled City keep Kashmiri chai stalls that run through the cold months. The drink is thicker than doodh patti and sweeter, and it is treated as a treat rather than a routine.

What to eat with it

Paratha off the tawa in the morning. Rusks dunked in the afternoon. A samosa at a roadside stall at four. After dark the tea gives way to the grill, then comes back for one last glass before bed.

In Karachi, Burns Road is the place to pair tea with seekh kebab, naan and a plate of chickpeas. The stalls are close together, the smoke is thick, and the tea is poured until late.

In Lahore, the morning paratha comes with egg or potato, and the tea is strong enough to stand up to the fat. The rusk is a plain biscuit, sold in tins, and it is made for dunking.

Where to find it

Any dhaba on the Super Highway out of Karachi will serve doodh patti from early morning until late at night. The tea is poured from a height, and the glasses are small and hot.

In Lahore, the old lanes of the Walled City and the area around Anarkali have tea stalls that run through winter. Kashmiri chai is the order there, pink and nutty.

In Hunza, Karimabad and Passu have guest houses and small cafes that serve both doodh patti and salt tea. The salt tea comes with butter, and it is worth trying once.

Where to find it

• KarachiDhabas on the Super Highway and stalls off Burns Road serve thick doodh patti in small glasses from dawn until late.
• LahoreThe old lanes around Anarkali and the Walled City keep Kashmiri chai stalls through the winter months.
• HunzaKarimabad terraces offer salt tea with butter alongside the standard doodh patti, especially in October.
• PassuGuest houses along the Karakoram Highway serve doodh patti at breakfast and after dinner, boiled in milk.
• PeshawarTea stalls in the old city add cardamom or ground pistachio to the same milk-boiled base.

Frequently asked questions