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Our team of student entrepreneurs from UCSD Rady School of Management is developing a machine that uses fresh ingredients to brew an authentic and delicious chai latte.
There’s more to your chai latte than you think! Behind those delicious, bold flavors, there's a story:
Figure 1: Chai Tea set1
Chai tea dates back 5,000 years to the royal courts of India. Legend has it that a king created chai tea in quest to create a healing drink2, and it quickly became a healing tradition used along with massage, herbs and yoga to naturally heal the body. Unfortunately, most of the chai tea we enjoy today has evolved into a sugary drink. A medium chai latte at a coffee shop can have as much as 42 grams of sugar in it 3, more than a candy bar! 4
You can still brew a healthy, authentic chai latte, but it's definitely a labor of love.
ChaiBrew wants to change the way we prepare chai lattes. We want to get back to those healing powers and healthy herbs and spices, but with modern day convenience.
As part of the MAE156B class in Spring 2015, a team of students developed Prototype #1 (as seen below in figure 2), which is a fully functional and automated prototype of ChaiBrew.
Our team has built Prototype #2, which will address issues that Prototype #1 has faced and be functionally very close to the final manufactured machine
Prototype #2 uses a coffee maker frame so that users can easily adjust to using their ChaiBrew Machine
Since the function is similar to a coffee maker, the heater and valve that comes with a usual coffee machine is used in Prototype #2
Figure 2: ChaiBrew Prototype #1 5
Adapting from Traditional Methods
Figure 3: Chai Tea brewed traditionally in a pot with spices 6
Each step of preparing an authentic-tasting chai latte from the ChaiBrew Machine is derived from the original method of making it in the pot. Below is a comparison of the methods carried out in both the traditional method and the ChaiBrew Machine method. The largest difference between the two is that the traditional method requires a person to constantly watching and stirring, while the ChaiBrew Method only requires the user to input all the ingredients and push a switch.
Traditional Chai Latte Method
1. Water and spices is added to a small pot and brought to boil
ChaiBrew Machine Method
1. Water is added to water container
Tea and spices are added to brewing container
Milk is added to glass kettle
2. Tea and milk is added to the pot
3. The mixture is brought to a boil again so that the tea properly steeps for 2-3 minutes
4. Mixture is strained into a cup
5. Ready to be served!
2. When the water is at steeping temperature, it dispenses into the brewing container
3. Milk is warmed by heater underneath kettle, stir bar continuously stirs milk in kettle
4. Tea is dispensed after 3 minutes of brewing and strained into the kettle with the warmed milk
5. Ready to be served!
Table 1: Comparison of Methods
Using this, we developed a prototype as seen here:
Acknowledgements
We’d like to thank Professor Jerry Tustaniwskyj, Pedro Franco Navarro, Tom Chalfant, Ian Richardson, Steve Roberts, Chris Cassidy, Kevin Yu, and Matthew Ho for helping us in building this product.
We’d also like to thank Prince Gupta and Anand Parikh for their guidance and the opportunity to create this product.
References
1: Chai Tea Set (http://indiaphile.info/chai/)
2: Health benefits of Chai Tea (http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/health-benefits-chai-tea-9942.html)
3: Chai Tea Latte Sugar amount (http://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/tea/chai-latte)
4: Chai Tea Latte and Candy Bar Comparison (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/21/chai-latte_n_6006012.html)
5: ChaiBrew Machine Prototype #1 (https://sites.google.com/a/eng.ucsd.edu/mae156b-projects/2015-spring)
6: Chai Tea made in a pot (http://www.thesensualfoodie.com/2013/10/authentic-indian-chai-tea-recipe/)
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