Gone are the days where an acceptable chai latte is just a glass of hot, sugary, sweet cinnamon milk.

Most Australian cafes could get away with it five years ago, but nowadays chai drinkers can be even fussier about their chai than “coffee snobs” are about  their coffee.

“Is your chai sickeningly sweet?”; “Does your chai contain honey? I’m vegan” … are just a few of the many common questions asked by chai drinkers today. How did chai evolve so quickly? Just a decade ago, a chai latte used to be made from one of two basic options: a sweet powder or a sweet syrup.

But more recently, the industry has stepped up a notch with the introduction of “wet”, “sticky” or “fresh leaf” chai (depending on who you talk to. But for now, let’s called it “wet” chai), where customers can experience and see the fresh ingredients of tea leaves and spices strained from a pot.

So, do Australian chai drinkers have a preference? Wet or powder?

Wet chai has become really popular only in the last few years. David Makin of Axil Coffee Roasters says, “When we first started, we used powder because of the ease and convenience of it, but we’ve had some pressure over the last 12 months to also have a wet chai on offer. The demand has come from the customer.”

But as the popularity of wet chai grew, so did the frustration among many café owners and baristas, because it took so long to steep (often two – three minutes) and also required refrigeration, due to its honey content. Chai powder is still probably the most common way that most cafés make chai lattes in Australia, but customers have become a lot more discerning about the quality and sugar content of chai. Ayden Graham from Sensory Lab says that they are “often lacking in flavour and are mostly just sugar; it is rare to find chai with both spice and tea flavour with enough depth to be satisfying”.

So, the question remains, which is better? Wet or powder? There seems to be no clear winner, but with the right formulation, two solid choices. It really depends on the individual café and the preference and demand of their customers.

“They are both very different products. We have some customers that swear by wet, and others who love the powder,” says David Makin. With so much recent growth and innovation, where is the chai industry headed? “I think it will only grow as people continue to put out better, more authentic and flavoursome chai products,” says Ayden Graham.