Grey Duck Chai brewed by two Nokomis friends

While many chais are sweet like cookies, Grey Duck Chai makers pride themselves on balancing bitter, spice, sweetness and milk

Grey Duck Chai owners Katey Niebur and Jon Alden.

by Tesha M. Christensen

When she couldn’t find a cup of chai in Minnesota as good as what she’d found while living in Seattle, Katey Niebur of Nokomis started brewing her own.

A friend gave her the push she needed, and together they started Grey Duck Chai. The duo sold their first bottle of small batch, traditionally crafted chai in June 2012. They can now be found in over 30 businesses in the Twin Cities and Seattle.

“We pride ourselves on being an authentic, lightly sweetened chai where the spice of foremost on the pallet,” observed Niebur’s business partner, Jon Alden, also of Nokomis. “Somehow over the years chai has turned into some kind of overly sweetened, viscous, desert drink. Kind of like drinking a cookie. 

“We think, and many others agree, that chai is a balance of bitter (tea), spice, sweetness (sugar) and fat (milk).  It’s only when those four components come together proportionately that a cup of chai is as delicious as it can be.”

Grey Duck Chai can be purchased at all the co-ops in the Twin Cities, as well as many independent grocers and boutique stores, including Oxendale’s Market and most Kowalskis Markets. It’s also at many coffee shops and restaurants, including Parka on E. Lake St.

Grey Duck uses organic, responsibly sourced teas and whole spices. “We don’t grind the spices until right before the get steeped to help keep as much of their qualities as possible,” said Alden. “For our coffee shops we brew the chai and have it to them within a couple days, sometimes the next day, ensuring that the flavor of the spices is still robust.”

Reducing waste is important to Niebur and Alden, and so they have a returnable system for their coffee shops using the ever popular growler. 

HISTORY IN FOOD INDUSTRY

Both Alden and Niebur have been in the culinary industry for their entire careers. Alden, who grew up in Minnetonka/Hopkins, has always been part of the front of the house, focusing on wine.  “I went to college in San Francisco and was fortunate enough to work with some of the city’s best sommeliers,” he remarked. 

Niebur, who is originally from Miesville, Minn., attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York, and received a bachelor’s in culinary arts and business management. She was a chef in New York for five years before moving to Seattle for five more years to continue her passion for cooking. It was there that she gained her love for chai. 

Minnesota drew both Alden and Niebur home, and they both ended up working at Meritage in St. Paul. “We quickly became friends, and one day she made me my first cup of chai,” recalled Alden. “I instantly fell in love, and knew she had something special. 

“We became partners and Gray Duck Chai was born.”

WHY ‘GREY DUCK’?

“Gray Duck is a name intended to pay Minnesota a little homage,” explained Alden. “It turns out that Minnesota is the only state that plays duck, duck, gray duck. Every other state plays duck, duck, goose. We knew we wanted an animal and an adjective but were having a hard time figuring something out. Our friend Jenn Geisheker actually shouted it out the first time and we really liked it.”

Today, Niebur is a full-time Grey Duck employee while Alden continues working a few nights a week at Meritage.

They work out of a commercial kitchen in St. Paul called the Food Crafters Kitchen. “We share the space with a few other companies that make wonderful products. We chose to go this route because all of the equipment we need is already there instead of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on new pieces,” stated Alden. “Also, it is nice working alongside other professionals that we can discuss common issues with.”

RECIPE TESTING IS THE BEST PART

Their original flavor is Nine Spice Blend, made from organic, fair trade tea from the Assam region of India where chai originates.

“There is no shortage of great flavors coming from India and the surrounding parts of Asia,” stated Alden.

They begin by brainstorming various flavor combinations they think would work great together. Next, they steep a few mainstay ingredients that make chai what it is. Then they add whatever combination of ingredients sounds wonderful at the time, and continue tweaking the recipe for a few months.

“The two hardest parts of recipe development are scaling a small batch to a larger full brew, and consistency from brew to brew,” said Alden. “Brewing tea and spices can be radically different when changing even the smallest variable.”

Earlier this year, the duo added a second flavor, Burnt Sugar and Ginger.

“We knew we wanted to do a second blend of chai and recipe testing is our favorite part of the job,” observed Alden. “Caramelizing the sugar seemed like a good way to add richness without adding more sugar and making it a whole lot sweeter. We decided that when we get the sugar nice and dark brown, not actually burnt, that it adds a really cool smoky element (think crème brule) to the back of the tongue that we both really liked.”

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ENTREPRENEURS PEOPLE WHO LEARN EVERYTHING QUICKLY

Alden confesses that he used to think that entrepreneurs were people that just knew how to do everything well.  “After doing this for some time now I’ve discovered that they instead know how to learn everything quickly,” he said. “The biggest challenge for me personally is being out of my comfort zone repeatedly.” 

His select talents were helpful for getting the business started and work well for making chai, “but so many things that we do on a daily basis are things I was never prepared to do and had little to no experience with,” Alden said.

“Now we have to learn something new and work on projects that are things we have never done before on a constant basis. It is both challenging and rewarding to work on these things.”

SIDEBAR

TRY IT HOT, MIXED WITH LEMONAID, OR IN GELATO

Grey Duck Chai owner Jon Alden loves the chai best served hot on a cloudy, rainy day. “I love it ‘dirty’ with a shot of espresso in it. It is great with lemonade, a Gray Duck Arnold Palmer if you will. I also really like to make cocktails with it. We recently did a riff on a dark and stormy using our burnt sugar and ginger blend,” he said.

Others have experimented with the chai in a variety of recipes. Jackson’s Coffee and Gelato made a rice milk gelato. A couple of bars have used us on their cocktail menu. Meritage Brasserie, where Alden and Niebur met, has made chai macaroons, as well as a pheasant dish with a chai glaze. People have made vinaigrettes, snickerdoodles, candles, chicken brines, and more.

“There are endless possibilities,” stated Alden. “Katey once even made fried chicken and waffles with chai that was delicious. There are always recipe ideas on the website.” More at grayduckchai.com.

This story was published in the October 2014 edition of the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger.