The Kolkata Chai Co. Playlist Is a Bridge Between Cultures

Brothers Ani and Ayan Sanyal founded Kolkata Chai Co. in 2019 with the opening of a 100-square-foot café in New York City’s East Village. Today the business boasts two locations (their Nolita café opened in 2023), a product presence across the country, and celebrity partner Hasan Minhaj as the brothers continue to lead with education and a personal passion for authentic chai. While the bulk of their revenue now comes from online product sales, the cafés continue to serve an integral role in the culture of Kolkata.

“We felt like our own culture and all the beautiful aspects of where we came from—the food, the culture of the community—were being left out of conversation in the Western world,” says Ani Sanyal. “There weren’t any third spaces that were reflective of not only authentic chai, but what this first-gen experience looked like. … We had 800 people show up on opening night. I think there was a deep desire and demand for what we were doing.”

Between Worlds

Ani and Anyan’s parents emigrated from Calcutta, India, and the brothers were born stateside and grew up in Massachusetts. “Ours is a classic first-generation immigrant story,” explains Ani. “We spent a lot of summers in Calcutta as kids. It was always culture shock, going both ways.”

Back in Calcutta (the British pronunciation of Kolkata), chai was a part of daily life. And the brothers would often sneak out to get their favorite treats and cups of chai from the street vendors. “It was almost like a portal for us to experience our culture in the most authentic way,” says Ani. “We had a desire to bridge our two worlds: the one we grew up with here in America listening to hip-hop and playing basketball, and our world back home, sipping tea with our aunties for hours, talking about nothing in particular or watching cricket. But just having these really rich cultural experiences.”

Meanwhile, in the U.S., coffee’s Third Wave had consumers more interested than ever in coffee’s geographic origins, processing, and flavor nuances. The same could not be said for chai. “Historically, in the Western world, chai has been bastardized into this sugary, cinnamon, milky, three-pumps-of-this and two-pumps-of-that type of beverage,” says Ani. For their signature Kolkata Chai, the brothers source organic Assam tea from a single farm in India. The added spices include cardamom, cloves, black pepper, and cinnamon. “It’s inspired by the taste and the flavor profile of chai found mostly in Calcutta,” Ani says.

Café Culture

Beyond the tea served, Kolkata Chai Co.’s two locations embody the juxtaposition of the brother’s American upbringing and Indian heritage. “The energy of our cafés reflect the energies of New York City and Kolkata—tasteful, multicultural, colorful, and curated,” says Ani. “Both NYC and Kolkata are two of the most dynamic cities in the world. And we try to reflect that in our cafés through our music, artwork, and design choices.”  

From the global hip-hop vibes of Bangladeshi rapper Anik Khan to South African pop singer Tyla to the slow jam R&B of American singer/songwriter Brent Faiyaz, the café playlists span the globe while maintaining a cohesive energy. “Music is integral to bridging worlds because it serves as a universal language for many,” Ani says. “We grew up listening to an amalgam of ’90s hip-hop, Bollywood, classic rock, jazz, R&B and more. And we wanted our cafés to reflect that diversity of taste.”

While the music curation is a collaborative effort, the brothers don’t always agree on what should be playing in the café, as humorously evidenced in this reel shared to their Instagram account. But whether it’s high-energy hip-hop or a more mellow and esoteric global selection, the music at Kolkata leads with authenticity and undeniable appeal. “Regardless of which language you speak or where you grew up, a good tune unifies all and that’s what we want to achieve in our cafés,” says Ani.