Noon Chai

Kashmiri pink salted tea — black tea boiled with baking soda until it turns deep burgundy, then diluted with milk which reacts with the baking soda to turn the liquid a distinctive pale pink or rose. Finished with salt (noon = salt in Kashmiri) and garnished with crushed almonds or pistachios. Brewed in a samovar and served in small handleless cups, it is the morning tea of every Kashmiri home and the antithesis of sweet chai.