There isn't a universally right answer to whether a coffee shop should use chai concentrate or chai powder.
But they are very different products.
And if you're running a speciality café, it's worth understanding the difference.
Powders have some obvious advantages.
They're easy to store, generally have a long shelf life and can be relatively inexpensive per serving.
They can also be very sweet.
A lot of chai powders are designed to dissolve into milk and create an instant chai latte. That makes them convenient, but depending on the product, the flavour can sometimes feel closer to a flavoured milkshake than traditional chai.
A liquid chai concentrate works differently.
Usually, the tea and spices have already been brewed and extracted, meaning the barista simply combines a measured amount with milk.
Personally, I prefer this approach.
But then I would — we make one.
The reason we went down the concentrate route with Jeeves & Jericho wasn't simply because we wanted another product to sell.
It was because we wanted something that tasted as though somebody had actually made chai.
Tea.
Spices.
Heat.
Extraction.
Flavour.
Then we needed to make that practical for a café.
Because the completely traditional method of simmering chai from scratch for every customer simply isn't realistic for most modern coffee shops.
Concentrate gives you a halfway point.
You get the depth and spice character of something brewed, while keeping the speed and consistency that a commercial café needs.
There are operational advantages too.
With liquid concentrate, the recipe can be incredibly simple.
Measure.
Add milk.
Steam.
Serve.
Once your staff know the ratio, there isn't much room for variation.
The biggest argument in favour of powder is generally cost.
But I'd encourage cafés to calculate the actual cost per finished drink rather than simply comparing the cost of a tub with the cost of a bottle.
And then look at the selling price.
If a better chai costs you an additional 15p but you're comfortably selling the finished drink for £4 or more, does saving that 15p actually improve your business?
Possibly.
But perhaps the better question is whether customers notice the difference.
I think they increasingly do.
For a high-volume commercial environment where price and speed are everything, powder might be the right answer.
For a speciality coffee shop where flavour, ingredients and the customer experience matter, I'd generally lean towards a good brewed chai concentrate.
But whichever route you choose, taste it properly.
Ultimately, the customer's opinion is going to matter far more than mine.