The towering mahogany trees hug each other overhead while their leaves lie flat on the streets below and collect dust from the oncoming traffic. Each day, hundreds of people cut across the busy four-way intersection at SuhrawardiUddyan Road. Most of them are students at the University of Dhaka and they are usually headed to or from the Teacher-Student Centre that's located just beyond the Raju Memorial Sculpture. The scene in front of the pavilion is always alive with the steady buzz of conversation and faint strumming of guitar chords. Small crowds throng around makeshift tea stalls which have nothing to shield them from the scorching sunlight and heat. But as the steam rises from the piping hot cups of tea, the adda only gets better.

“I spend the best part of my day here,” says Shahriar Mahmud, a student residing at the Haji Muhammad Mohsin Hall in the university. “Even if it's 2 in the morning, I always find people to chill and sing along with.” SaminYasar, another student, initially felt differently about TSC. He says, “I remember that at the beginning I wasn't as enamoured with this place as I am now. I couldn't bring myself to understand what the hype was about. But one day changed everything for me. I was here for my regular cup of tea when I saw a bunch of guys playing music beside the sidewalk. They were nice enough to lend me their guitar. Soon after I had started playing more people huddled around me and by the end of the day I made friends from eight different departments.”

The University of Dhaka has been a long standing host to students hailing from different corners of the country and abroad, making it the quintessential melting pot of ideas, cultures and dialects. And TSC remains at the heart of it all. Whether they are artists, intellectuals or misfits, even if they've never met each other before, people will still bond over a cup of tea at TSC.

When it comes down to choosing which tea to drink, however, the options are seemingly limitless; each more quirky than the other and sure to pique your curiosity. Altogether, there are currently forty different and enticing brews available to choose from. “We're ready to work with whatever ingredients you bring us. We'll prepare any kind of tea you want,” says Md. Mokhtar Hossain, keeping his list of ingredients open-ended. He and his brother Mohsin take turns to prepare the tea and manage customers at their stall. They've been working at TSC for the past three years which is not nearly as long as some of the other tea-stall owners. But they've quickly come to win the hearts of many of the students at the university. “They are just so incredibly hospitable,” says Onnesha Morshed, a first-year International Relations student. She adds, “I come here all the time with my friends and when any of us is feeling a bit under the weather, Mohsin mama suggests different teas to help uplift our spirits.” Samiul Kaiser, a first-year Civil Engineering student at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, visits TSC just as often. He mentions how there were times when Mokhtar had allowed them to snack from his stall even if they couldn't pay on the same day. “The students have shown a lot of affection towards me,” says Mokhtar. “Once a group of students brought a pair of pants, a shirt and a tie for me as gifts. But how am I supposed to sell tea outside while wearing a tie around my neck? So I eventually gave them away to other students who needed them.”

Some of his famous crowd-pleasers come in flavours of mint, malta, apple, chili, lemon and ginger, Maltova and of course the regular milk-tea. Some of his lesser known but more eccentric teas are banana and guava flavoured. All of the teas are priced at Tk 10 except for the regular tea which costs Tk 6 per cup. He makes his malta-cha dropping a quarter of malta into the liquor and lets the heat work at infusing the citrus into its flavours. This makes for a refreshing brew. The apple tea contains freshly grated apples, so when you're almost done downing the cup, you'll be left with apple shreds for dregs. These dregs will taste delightfully sweet alongside the tea. On the opposite end of the spectrum lies the chili tea. The sight of green chili slices floating over the tea can be intimidating at first. The heat builds up slowly but never to the point where it gets overwhelming. The addition of tamarind and rock salt to the brew effectively cuts away at the spiciness so it tastes quite balanced.

The one right next to Mokhtar and Mohsin's stall is Rubel Tea Stall. This one sells the best milk tea in the whole campus. It is made from fresh cow milk and is priced at Tk 8. “It takes me back to my roots, kind of reminds me of Graam Bangla,” says Chowdhury Noshin. They sell seventeen kinds of tea in total. But no other stall comes close to Kona Tea Stall when it comes to variety. They sell 36 different flavours of tea. This makes for the perfect place to take a large group of friends and get to experimenting. Badaam (peanut), Malai, Kashmiri, Black Coffee, Cadbury, Jaggery, Jolpai (olive), Paneer milk, green mango andAlu Bokhara are only few of the offbeat flavours of tea they brew. These will cost anywhere from Tk 6 to Tk 20. Personal favourites of yours truly are the Badaam chaa and the Alu Bukhara chaa. The nuts are blended into gritty goodness and add a mild textural surprise to the tea. It is sure to be a hit with peanut-butter lovers. The Alu Bokhara was described as “a tastier version of the Chili tea” by Fuad Ahmed, another student at the university. But beware because its tangy sour flavour might leave your mouth puckering.

The tastes are subjective but you'll only need an open mind to enjoy them. At the end of the day, tea is just an excuse to meet friends and new people. So even when it's hot and humid outside, everything fades away when you have good friends, good music and a cup of your choice of brew in your hands.

Photo courtesy: Antara Islam