I didn’t set out to reinvent chai.

I grew up with Karak chai as part of everyday life. Living in the Middle East, and originally from Pakistan, Karak wasn’t a luxury or a trend — it was a constant.

You could find it at every roadside café. It cost 1 dirham (around 20p). Everyone drank it, regardless of wealth, status, or background.

That’s what stuck with me.

Then I moved to London.

Suddenly, Karak chai wasn’t everywhere, it was nowhere. Coffee was on every corner, in every format imaginable. But for Karak, I had to travel 30 minutes one way, pay £4+ for a single cup, and plan my day around it.

That didn’t make sense to me.

Something that was once accessible, affordable, and everyday had become distant and expensive, not because it should be, but because it hadn’t been built for modern retail.

ChaiCo was born from that gap.So I focused on doing one thing properly:
making Karak chai accessible again.