Cocktail Profile: The Chai Pani at Bungalow

"Conceived to evoke a cup of masala chai, this milk‑punch—called chai pani (literally “tea water”)—is an intensely rich, labor‑heavy cocktail that blends Old Monk Indian rum with a citrusy chai concentrate spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, rose petals, bay leaf and ginger; full‑fat milk is added to curdle the mixture, which is then strained repeatedly over roughly 36 hours until completely clear. Early experiments swapped lime for orange juice to avoid bitterness and abandoned brewing the chai in milk when it failed to extract the right flavors. The finished drink is poured over a single ice cube, the glass is swiped with crumbled toasted Parle‑G biscuit, is even served via tap, and because batches are time‑ and cost‑intensive they’re made weekly in limited quantities—yet the venue still sells more than 600 of the $21 cocktails per week." - Mehr Singh