Dostea

Authentic chai means milk, water, tea and spices boiled together, watched for fifteen minutes so it does not boil over, and then cleaned up. The alternative is a weak latte. Dostea is a countertop machine with capsules of blended tea and masala that brews a traditional cup in a few minutes, with a built-in mechanism that stops it boiling over.

Chai is a daily ritual for hundreds of millions of people, and making it properly is a fifteen-minute job that needs watching: the milk boils over, the pan needs scrubbing, and the cup is never quite the same twice. Every shortcut on the market, from instant sachets to café chai lattes, gives up the taste that makes it chai in the first place.

Dostea set out to be the Nespresso of chai. Three friends from India living in London built a machine that measures milk and water, brews leaves and spices together the traditional way, strains automatically and will not boil over, with capsules in masala, cardamom, ginger and coffee blends and a reusable pod for custom blends. The campaign funded in a month, the machine was designed with a UK industrial design studio, and the team is now finishing the manufacturing design.