Hot tea is a traditional dish after Tarawih in Pakistan
IT was past midnight when Mohammad Asif sat with a group of friends at a roadside restaurant in the Pakistani city of Quetta earlier this week.
Like everyone else, Asif and his friends would be there until 4 am, chatting and laughing over hot tea.
In Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, gathering with friends and family at roadside restaurants after breaking the fast and staying there until suhoor has become a tradition.
People will start heading to the restaurant usually after they finish with tarawih prayer.
The tradition of gathering for “chai and gup shup” (tea and gossip) is not only confined to Quetta but is prevalent in most major cities of Pakistan.
“After breaking the fast, people go out with friends, with relatives until suhoor, it’s a way of spending time for them,” Asif told Arab News at Chai Kada, a famous tea restaurant located on Jalan Samungli in Quetta .
Pakistan is the world’s largest international importer of tea, spending more than US$600 million on the product annually.
According to the Pakistan Tea Association, every year the country imports 250 million kilograms of tea.
Despite inflationary pressures and cold weather in Quetta, people are still flocking to restaurants late into the night, with vendors and waiters saying they have to double their supplies of tea and milk to meet demand.
“On normal days, we order 100 kilograms of milk but during Ramadan, we increase the order of milk to 200 kilograms from the dairy farm because many customers come after tarawih prayers,” said Khursheed Ahmed, a tea maker.
Normally, there are 18 types of tea on the menu but Kashmiri chai, tandoori chai, green tea, coffee and chocolate chai are the most popular drinks during Ramadan.
