The bhaar is thrown on a wheel, fired once, never glazed, used once. It adds a wet-earth note to the tea that no ceramic reproduces, and then it goes back into the ground.
Standard is strong, boiled with milk and a great deal of sugar. Ask for liquor cha if you want it black with lemon, which is the College Street default.
The tea shop, the cha-er dokan, is civic infrastructure. It is where the adda happens, and adda, the long unproductive argumentative conversation, is close to the city's actual religion.
Do not take the cup with you. Drop it. It is meant to break.
