While many chais
are sweet like cookies, Grey Duck Chai makers pride themselves on balancing
bitter, spice, sweetness and milk
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| 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.
This story was published in the October 2014 edition of the Longfellow/Nokomis Messenger.
