Standing over a simmering pot of chai, Stella Ku’s (古詩筠) gold bangles jingle as she crushes ginger roots and mixes freshly ground cardamom into individual saucepans. The tea leaves, handpicked from the misty mountains of Assam and Darjeeling, take 10 minutes for the perfect brew.
Ku herself is from Taichung, but this recipe hails from generations of her husband’s family, the skills passed down to her by her mother-in-law and perfected over months of practice in Punjab, India.
Indus Chai in Daan District (大安) is a small family-run business, blending rich Indian traditions with Taiwan’s growing demand for gluten-free dining. This spot is a rarity: a celiac-owned and operated business with an entirely gluten-free menu. For us gluten-eaters, it’s a quiet spot to while away a rainy afternoon with owner Rajat Majitha, always keen to share his wealth of tea-related expertise over a mug of spicy chai.
Photo: Hollie Younger
Chai is the most consumed drink in India after water.
“We don’t have a common language, dress or culture, but what unites India is chai,” Majitha says.
British colonialists took tea from China to India and utilized the lush climate, fertile soil and, ultimately, cheap labor. For the British elite, 90 percent of the tea leaves ended as waste, discarded as a fine dust. But for poorer local tea farmers and factory workers, it was gold dust: cheap caffeine.
Photo: Hollie Younger
“India loves milk, and India loves spice,” says Majitha, which soothed the beverage’s bitterness as it spread across the country, sold from the shoulder poles of Chai Wallahs.
Today, chai is as much an art and a delicacy as its British-brewed ancestor. Majitha uses the world’s two best black teas, Darjeeling and Assam, which he hand-selects at auctions in India.
Indus Chai sells a range of brews, from fall specials with cinnamon and ginger to a green cardamom Elaichi Chai and their classic Masala Chai (all NT$340). Cardamom reduces body temperature for summer sipping, while ginger heats the body with a spicy kick. These China teapots of chai are expensive by Taipei standards, but each is made to order and uses only the best ingredients.
Photo: Hollie Younger
For the food options, I admittedly look to my celiac accomplice for her opinion; there’s a reason we typically use gluten for fluffy doughs and crispy batters. But the bread used for their Masala Sandwich (NT$260) is delivered by Taichung’s Kiseki Bakery and is pretty darn good, with the right balance of chewy and airy.
The samosa (NT$180) casing is crispier than expected, but it keeps the snack light with its heavy chickpea and potato-based filling. Without gluten as a binding agent, the chickpea, tapioca and rice flour dough cannot be folded or stretched. Majitha takes up to two hours each morning to hand-make the day’s samosas. My only complaint, why am I served Mexican-style salsa on the side when there exists such a thing as mango chutney?
The best snack is overwhelmingly the sabudana vada (NT$180), Indian-style hash browns served in thin discs with a mint-yogurt dip. These traditionally use tapioca pearls, an interesting use of Taipei’s beloved ingredient for desserts and bubble teas.
Photo: Hollie Younger
Celiac options in Taipei are extremely limited; there exists just a small selection of gluten-free restaurants and a discouragingly small Facebook group. Gluten-free diets appear to be incredibly rare here, due to genetic or lifestyle factors, when compared to Western capital cities. It’s not just noodles and bao buns to watch out for — gluten lurks in nigh-on everything Asian, from soy sauce to Taiwan Beer. But Majitha takes care to keep every process and every surface free from flour and contaminants, while Ku puts just as much love into each pot of chai.
Overall, Indus Chai delivers on its promise: exceptional tea, celiac-safe snacks, and a warm slice of India in the heart of Taipei.
Photo: Hollie Younger
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, speaking at the Reagan Defense Forum last week, said the US is confident it can defeat the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Pacific, though its advantage is shrinking. Paparo warned that the PRC might launch a “war of necessity” even if it thinks it could not win, a wise observation. As I write, the PRC is carrying out naval and air exercises off its coast that are aimed at Taiwan and other nations threatened by PRC expansionism. A local defense official said that China’s military activity on Monday formed two “walls” east
The latest military exercises conducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) last week did not follow the standard Chinese Communist Party (CCP) formula. The US and Taiwan also had different explanations for the war games. Previously the CCP would plan out their large-scale military exercises and wait for an opportunity to dupe the gullible into pinning the blame on someone else for “provoking” Beijing, the most famous being former house speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022. Those military exercises could not possibly have been organized in the short lead time that it was known she was coming.
The world has been getting hotter for decades but a sudden and extraordinary surge in heat has sent the climate deeper into uncharted territory — and scientists are still trying to figure out why. Over the past two years, temperature records have been repeatedly shattered by a streak so persistent and puzzling it has tested the best-available scientific predictions about how the climate functions. Scientists are unanimous that burning fossil fuels has largely driven long-term global warming, and that natural climate variability can also influence temperatures one year to the next. But they are still debating what might have contributed to this
For the authorities that brought the Mountains to Sea National Greenway (山海圳國家綠道) into existence, the route is as much about culture as it is about hiking. Han culture dominates the coastal and agricultural flatlands of Tainan and Chiayi counties, but as the Greenway climbs along its Tribal Trail (原鄉之路) section, hikers pass through communities inhabited by members of the Tsou Indigenous community. Leaving Chiayi County’s Dapu Village (大埔), walkers follow Provincial Highway 3 to Dapu Bridge where a sign bearing the Tsou greeting “a veo veo yu” marks the point at which the Greenway turns off to follow Qingshan Industrial Road (青山產業道路)
RSS