Dropout Chaiwala — Restaurant in Melbourne

Hello Chaiwala Team,

I visited your shop in Elizbeth Street.

The product is as you describe it to be - authentic flavours like in India. I would buy your Chai as an alternative to coffee. However, the product alone is not enough for me to keep visiting your shop.

I can replicate the flavours by buying a premix and keeping it at my table.

The colour scheme of your shop is eye catching but once I entered, it was a mess. There was stock piling of random things behind the counter. I had to spend time finding your menu. The height of the counter plus the food storage cabinets in a small space makes the customer feel squeezed. The food presentation did not make me want to buy anything. The shop had an awful odour. It wasn’t the aromatic smells of chai spices!

The biggest thing missing from the experience is the theatrics of going to a chaiwala in India or a coffee shop in Australia. Once I ordered my Chai, it was ready with 10 seconds and I was out. My thought was - Why isn’t the Chai being brewed in front of the customer? Why isn’t there a barrister frothing the Chai from a jug(or something similar), which the customer can watch and be engaged by? That’s what I remember from going to the chaiwala in India. The end to end experience not just the product. The prices with the current setup and offering cannot be justified. If I’m paying $8 for a cup, I would expect the experience to be on par with all the leading coffee shops in Melbourne which it isn’t at present for the reasons described above.

I will revisit your shop in a months’ time, I hope to see some improvements.

I wish you all the success because I do believe the overall concept can take off in Melbourne if implemented correctly.

(As a side note, I would have thought naming your shops “Chaiwala” would have been neater – don’t see the need to have “Dropout”...

I have been walking by the shop on Elizabeth Street for some time now. I am so glad I stopped there this afternoon. I ordered the cutting chai with three types of biscuits. The cutting chai is infused with Iranian spices but is reminiscent of the 'cutting tea' we get home, under a neem tree, from a thatched tea stall on NH47. Also, I am glad I saw the glass jars filled with biscuits. I bought the cardamom biscuits, butter biscuits and the cumin biscuits. My personal favourite is the cumin biscuits. They are a delightful mix of savoury cumin with sweetness. However, the sweetness is not overpowering. The butter biscuits reminded me of the ones we would find in the pushcarts in front of our schools. They were buttery without being cloying. As for the cardamom biscuits, they were crumbly and yet not too filling. The menu has a range of teas and snacks. I saw filter coffee on the menu. My plan is to visit the tea shop with my other friends because they deserve to be introduced to authentic Indian tea cum snacks. Before I sign off, I need to mention the person who served me at the counter. He allowed me to ramble on and be nostalgic, even while he maintained a very interested expression on his face. He must be so used to people like me. The service was excellent and the price is fantastic for food that brings back...

I ditched my normal coffee today to try out dropout chaiwala with huge hopes. Unfortunately, I'm hugely disappointed because of following reasons:

1. It costed $11.21 for a large chai , taken out from machine readily with 2 small sugar filled biscuits. I felt very expensive, I think a lot of people in reviews agree too.
2. Now about taste, 8$ chai is not been filled fully and I would vote a naive chai maker better than the ginger chai I had. Taste is similar to 3$ chai I get in Indian grocery shops , straight from similar machines, so felt like a rip off immediately!!
3. Later I did see the combo offers avail ale on their advertisements, which was never mentioned to me today. Instead of asking if I want addon, I would have appreciated if the person serving would have mentioned the offers with addon. So felt like the service did not want to really serve to make customers happy by giving educating with best deals they got. This is very Indian thing to do, but felt lacking.

I want this brand to do well as they are bringing chai, something close to my heart to everyone in Australia. I will see if they change their strategy to serve customers better with authentic chai and...