On a recent Thursday evening, a group of young men pushed two tables together to settle an argument about Islamic marriage over a small pot of chai. Along the wall where every power outlet is taken, students raced to finish assignments, laptops glowing beside crumpled tissue paper and half-empty plastic cups.

In the corner, a woman filled her journal with tears running down her cheek, while two Desi couples nearby traded stories about raising children in a country that still felt new to them, a plate of tiramisu disappearing quickly between them.

This is a regular Thursday at New Jersey's late-night chai cafes.

Scenes like this play out every day, as the diaspora generation bridges the gap between the comforts of home and the home we create on foreign soil. Even in a state with one of the densest South Asian populations, it’s only recent that the community has built this space for itself.

Growing up Muslim in central New Jersey, Haaris Haque, who co-owns Khyber Coffee and Teahouse in New Brunswick, said he had very limited options to hang out with friends in places that didn’t center alcohol or hookah.

 “There’s only so many times we can go bowling,” Haaque jokingly remarks.

He and his friends felt an urgency to bring to the Desi Muslim community in central New Jersey what they had long wished for as college students at Rutgers University.

While New Jersey’s chai culture has rapidly grown in recent years, the trend can be seen across the West in places with large Desi populations––notably San Francisco, New York, and London. Simmy Shah, creative director of Chai Co., a Desi chai cafe opening soon in South Bound Brook, attributes this to the various boycotts of Starbucks over the past few years. Starbucks has been the target of boycotts related to Israel and Palestine.

“The Western world overlooked us,” Shah said. “Desis are willing to spend more money but have nowhere to spend it.”

Shah grew up drinking the Pakistani style of “doodh pati” chai in his native London. But that isn’t on offer at the popular late-night Yemeni coffee and chai chains, such as Qahwah House. He saw an opportunity to bring Desi-style chai to New Jersey’s densely populated South Asian community and wants to differentiate his business by offering a deeper sense of authenticity and hominess in every sip.

Aastha Gupta and Kairav Shah visited a cafe recently to share a small pot of masala chai and a few small bites. While Shah enjoys long drives, Gupta loves to spend evenings drinking chai, leading the Jersey City residents to regularly drive across New Jersey to discover all the new spaces this state’s chai scene has to offer.

“I don’t see myself just talking over coffee. I only see myself grabbing a coffee and walking somewhere,” Shah says. “Chai brings that calmness to sit down and have a conversation.”

Unlike coffee, which is ordered individually, the chai pot demands company. For Gupta, making a warm cup of ginger chai is a daily ritual, but she said visiting chai cafes brings back a homely, “let's get together” feeling.

“It reminds me of those tea parties when you have friends over, and you just make a cup of chai and just chat over it. That’s tea,” she said.

Though today’s chai cafes are mostly about the social scene, chai cafes in South Asia have historically also been the secret meeting spots for progressive thought leaders and social movements.

Rida Ali, a digital storyteller, decolonial historian, and content creator, discusses how cafes such as Pak Tea House in Lahore and Indian Coffee House at Connaught Place in New Delhi “were the hub of intellectual life pre-Partition and in the colonial era.”

New Jersey’s Desi cafes are breaking cultural bounds in their own way. The entrepreneurial spirit speaks for itself. Misree Chai in Jersey City offers Irani specialties alongside Desi-inspired bubble tea flavors, while Dosti & Chai in Somerville pairs chai with specialty chocolate. Chai Chenak Cafe, just a couple blocks down from Khyber in New Brunswick, offers Pakistani-inspired refreshments and small bites.

You can expect to see Chai Co.’s grand opening in South Bound Brook this spring. Additionally, Khyber Coffee and Teahouse will be opening a new location in Hackensack in summer.

Legendary cafes across the diaspora stem from the art and conversations they harbored, ones that were silenced elsewhere. New Jersey’s late-night chai cafes may be young, but the ingredients are still the same.

Ragini Subramanian is a freelance multimedia journalist and creative director. Their work covers fashion, food, travel, and culture. While at Rutgers University, they served as the co-head video editor of The Daily Targum. 

May 23 – Masala Mingle Market & Meetup
Daytime Marketplace: 10 AM - 6 PM
Evening Jam Session: 7 PM - 12 AM
Hana House
345 Adams Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Masala Mingle is coming to Downtown Brooklyn for the South Asian community and the New Yorkers who love them. Shop 30 curated SA-founded brands, enjoy authentic food, and join conversation rounds designed to spark real connections. End the night with more Mingle, live music, cocktails, and late-night food. Tickets can be purchased here.

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