What's in a name? - to Chai is to Tea
Chai is another word for tea, used mainly in countries along the land trade routes for tea and spices out of China during the thousand years old Silk Road. The word originates from the Sinitic character 茶 which is pronounced ‘cha’ in the Mandarin language. This pronunciation eventually morphed into ”chay” (چای) in Persian as tea traveled across the continent.