Though technically it wasn't chai that we had from this counter right in front of the Boarding Gate 9, we think this experience is worth capturing and sharing. So, it goes like this - Our flight to Bangalore was scheduled to depart at 6:30 in the morning. Accordingly, we woke up at 3:30am and got ready. The bitter cold had given both Vijay and me a sore-ish throat. But when we reached the airport, the long check-in queues and later the longer ones for security checks made us postpone our cup of tea. And finally, after we were done with all the formalities, we were left with 5 minutes before the boarding would start so we went to the nearest coffee stall. And it happened to be a Buy n' Fly outlet. Without thinking about it we ordered two coffees and watched as he mixed coffee syrup with milk and prepped it. He asked us to take sugar pouches from the counter outside. We gladly grasped the warm paper cups.
And then he asked for Rs.300/-. We looked at each other and then at the coffee vendor. At the end of this staring match, Vijay gave in and paid up. But both of us then held on to the cups more firmly - each cup after all costed Rs. 150/-. But was it worth it? Following is our review:
Serving: Generous. The paper cups were quite big.
Temperature: Just hot enough. Not too hot, so as to burn the tongue, and not too cold as well.
Appearance: Too milky, but nice froth
Aroma: Not coffee-ish enough.
Taste: Too mild and milky. The coffee gave no kick. Sugar could be added to taste, so no complaints there.
Value for money? We found it unreasonably expensive even for an airport
Other Observations: The cups were comfortable to hold and didn't get too hot and burn our hands. And the coffee gets bonus points for curing our sore-ish throat.