The Brothers Behind Kolkata Chai Co’s On Bringing Their City's Tea Culture To New York

Chai is trendy in New York. Through the year, New Yorkers, especially Manhattanites, in their season-appropriate Pradas, Hunters, and Blahniks, mill about Kolkata Chai Co’s cafes in East Village and Nolita for a pour of its authentic tea blends. Manoeuvring this wind of change are brothers Ani (38) and Ayan Sanyal (34), who started this beverage business in NYC in 2019.

While a Chai tea latte is a popular order in the West, the three words strung together have been known to irk many native tea drinkers.

But Indian-origin, US-born siblings, the Sanyal brothers, took this as an opportunity to educate people and bring their product to the forefront. "Initially, I used to find it annoying. I would tell people chai tea latte is a redundant term and reframed it for them," laughs Ani.

And now the tea they brew is brewing them success. Bungalow Hospitality Investments, owned by Chef Vikas Khanna and restaurateur Jimmy Rizvi, recently invested in Kolkata Chai Co. Together with the Sanyals, they are on a mission to present authentic chai to America, one tea cup at a time.

“Chef Vikas is a very poetic man. He told us, ‘You dont need to run or force things any differently now that we are partners. Focus on community. Don’t think that just because more people are watching, you have to do things differently,” says Ani. The entire Bungalow team is a regular at the brothers’ cafe. The collaboration, Ani explains, came about during a conversation with Rizvi about bringing South Asian culinary ideas to the US in a much larger manner and how to scale that.

This partnership consists of capital invested in the business, as well as an advisory component where the tea company gets to enhance its menu with Khanna’s ingenuity, while introducing their tea blends to restaurants in Bungalow’s portfolio, such as Bungalow itself, GupShup, and Punjab Meet House, among others. 

This is not the only dream association for the Sanyals. In 2024, actor and comedian Hasan Minhaj invested in their business as well. “Hasan’s wife is a big fan of our tea. She had asked us to cater for their daughter’s birthday party. We never thought it would turn into an opportunity for us to travel and set up pop-up stores during Minhaj’s 2024 tour. 

Inspired by the City of Joy

As the name suggests, Kolkata has played a defining role in this company’s journey. That is perhaps where they got acquainted with the tea-time concept that’s synonymous with most Indian homes. An evening routine that continues in their abode in the US. During Ani and Ayan’s childhood, their mother would often be homesick and take them along to Kolkata, the family’s hometown. Over numerous bhaads (earthen teacups) of cha and snack sessions, the brothers embraced this beverage (in its true form) and the many iconic offerings of Kolkata, like kathi roll and singara, which now feature proudly in their cafes in the US. 

The first Kolkata Chai Co. cafe opened in September 2019, but the momentum it gathered was dampened by the pandemic in March 2020. Around the same time, the enterprising brothers took their tea business online, selling a variety of blends. Kolkata Chai Co. now offers 12-14 varieties of tea, with chai matcha being a popular drink this year, along with Darjeeling black tea and saffron ice chai. "All our tea is from a small farm in Assam in the Northeast of India," says Ani.  

Tracing how their beloved cultural drink became their business, Avi says that it started in 2016 when Ayan started making tea. “It was his passion project. He is the artistic one, I am the older pragmatic brother. I said, ‘Ayan, it’s great to make tea, but what’s the plan? He said, I don’t know, I am just making it,” recalls Ani.

When Ayan was 24, he travelled to the tea estates of Darjeeling in West Bengal. He wanted to learn and see how tea is grown. He spent six months going to Glenburn Tea Estate, Makaibari, talking to tea sellers, trying to understand the product. That is when he came back inspired to start a tea company. 

In 2018, Ayan started setting up stalls in small farmers’ markets. “He knew something I didn’t,” smiles Ani. The first one was in Jersey City, where Ayan made masala chai by blending ingredients like cardamom, ginger, and cloves. He also made a non-dairy version with oat milk. According to Ani, the lines that started with five to 10 people grew to 20-30 and ended up touching 100 a day.

In the beginning, Ayan was the head chef, creating recipes. Now, there is a dedicated team. All the recipes are inspired from the brothers’ trips to Kolkata.

Challenges, admittedly, are still endless, but business is steaming hot right now. Expansion is on the horizon with the third cafe set to launch in San Francisco in 2027. Kolkata Chai Co. will also be available at grocery stores. “We have been building slow and steady for the past seven years. Our brand is at an all-time peak. We want to turn that into accessibility,” says Ani, visibly pleased. And as for getting into a business he was earlier reluctant about, Ani smiles, “Ayan knew something I didn’t.”