India sometimes seems to run on tea or chai , grown in Darjeeling, Assam and the Nilgiri Hills, and sold by chai-wallahs on just about every street corner. However, although it was introduced from China by the East India Company in 1838, its use was only popularized by a government campaign in the 1950s.

 

Tea is usually made by putting tea dust, milk and water in a pan, boiling it all up, straining it into a cup or glass with lots of sugar and pouring back and forth from one cup to another to stir. Ginger and/or cardamoms are often added. If you're quick off the mark, you can get them to hold the sugar. English tea it isn't, but most travellers get used to it. Sometimes, especially in tourist spots, you might get a pot of European-style "tray" tea, generally consisting of a tea bag in lukewarm water - you'd do better to stick to the pukka Indian variety, unless, that is, you are in a traditional tea-growing area.

Instant coffee is becoming increasingly common, and in some cases is more popular than tea. At street stalls and on trains the familiar cry of "garam chai" (hot tea) is giving way to "kofi", while the bhand , a disposable mud teacup, is gradually disappearing in preference to inferior plastic cups. In the north, most coffee is instant, even that advertised as "espresso". Good vacuum-packed filter coffee from Coorg (Kodargu) in Karnataka is now available but is yet to have an impact in cafés and restaurants. Café society has finally arrived in the major cities, and Delhi and Mumbai now have a fair share of trendy coffee shops serving real cappuccino and espresso.

In the south, coffee ( kofi ) is just as common as tea, and far better than it is in the north. One of the best places to get it is in outlets of the India Coffee House chain, found in every southern town, and occasionally in the north. A whole ritual is attached to the drinking of milky Keralan coffee in particular, poured in flamboyant sweeping motions between tall glasses to cool it down.

With bottled water so widely available, you may have no need of soft drinks (known as cold drinks in India). These have long been surprisingly controversial in India. Coca Cola and Pepsi returned to India in the early nineties after being banned from the country for seventeen years. That policy was originally instigated, in part, to prevent the expatriation of profits by foreign companies; since their return, militant Hindu groups such as the RSS have threatened to make them the focus of a boycott campaign against multinational consumer goods. The absence of Coca Cola and Pepsi spawned a host of Indian colas such as Campa Cola (innocuous), Thums Up (not unpalatable), Gold Spot (fizzy orange), and Limca (rumoured to have dubious connections to Italian companies, and to contain additives banned there). All contain a lot of sugar but little else: adverts for Indian soft drinks have been known to boast "Absolutely no natural ingredients!" None will quench your thirst for long.

More recommendable are straight water (treated, boiled or bottled), and cartons of Frooti Jumpin, Réal and similar brands of fruit juice drinks, which come in mango, guava, apple and lemon varieties. If the carton looks at all mangled, it is best not to touch it as it may have been recycled. At larger stations, there will be a stall on the platform selling Himachali apple juice. Better still, green coconuts , common around coastal areas especially in the south, are cheaper than any of these, and sold on the street by vendors who will hack off the top for you with a machete and give you a straw to suck up the coconut water (you then scoop out the flesh and eat it). You will also find street stalls selling freshly made sugar-cane juice: delicious, and not in fact too sweet, but not always as safe healthwise as you might like.

India's greatest cold drink, lassi , is made with beaten curd and drunk either sweetened with sugar, salted, or mixed with fruit. It varies widely from smooth and delicious to insipid and watery, and is sold at virtually every café, restaurant and canteen in the country. Freshly made milk shakes are also commonly available at establishments with blenders. They'll also sell you what they call a fruit juice, but which is usually fruit, water and sugar (or salt) liquidized and strained; also, street vendors selling fresh fruit juice in less than hygienic conditions are apt to add salt and garam masala. With all such drinks, however appetizing they may seem, you should exercise great caution in deciding where to drink them: find out where the water is likely to have come from.