The Return of the Chai Cart: Burning Man 2022

The return of the Chai Cart! This was my eighth Burning Man, and our fourth year serving hot masala chai on the playa. It brought me so much joy as always! Photos below, and then some reflections.

There is nothing better than creating ~ playa magic ~ for strangers who least expect it. We’d take the cart out to our favorite art installations out in quiet, remote parts of the playa, and serve anyone who happened to wander nearby. The surprise and delight on people’s faces — I live for it! I especially love serving other South Asians — without fail, their response is, “oh wow, this is REAL chai!” (Shoutout to Jaipur Avenue, the only chai mix I’ve found that tastes like my family’s recipe!)

Some other highlights:

Seeing live music! I saw live orchestras on four separate occasions. I also saw a brass band, and a solo violinist. These are just regular folks who brought their instruments to the desert to play for free. It was really incredible. I skipped almost all the electronic music this year!

Quality time with my loved ones. Getting to spend long stretches of time with some of my closest friends was such a gift. Phil and I worked really well as a team on chai cart operations, and had lots of sweet silly moments together.

One of my favorite things about Burning Man is that every art installation, workshop, bit, concert, or food offering you encounter — no matter how tiny or how organized — was brought out to the playa by regular people who just wanted to create a certain kind of experience for others. All labors of love, like our little chai cart. It’s really astounding to see so many passion projects gathered in one place. This year, I felt especially grateful for the folks who are out there, behind the scenes, creating magic for others.

Photo credits: Kayley Hake, Michael Kebbekus, Nicole Sweeney, Phil Reyneri, Jasmin Pamukcu.

The Chai Cart: Burning Man 2019

For my sixth Burning Man, Phil Reyneri and I (along with my parents!) served ten to fifteen gallons of hot masala chai every night out of this little handmade chai cart. We ran a similar project in 2014 and 2015, but this year, we debuted an all-new cart.

Every night, as soon as it got dark, we’d brew ten gallons of chai in camp, and then load up the cart. We took turns deciding where to serve the chai — a beautiful art installation, a friend’s camp, a dance party, or way out by the trash fence (the perimeter of the event). It usually took about three to four hours to go through ten gallons (we’d serve each person a few ounces at a time). Almost everyone had their own cup on them, but we kept a few loaner mugs on hand for anyone who for didn’t. I’m guessing we served chai to around 2,000 people over the course of the week?!

My favorite night was when we found a concrete fire pit and bench way out in the middle of nowhere. We set up shop, played quiet jazz music, and served chai to the small group of folks who had gathered around the warmth of the fire. It was cozy and intimate, and it was a nice respite from the loud and chaotic burn that was happening in the distance. By the time we ran out of chai a few hours later, we had amassed quite a crowd of people. They were chatting, sipping chai, and roasting s’mores (!) over the fire — another couple had shown up and handed out s’mores ingredients to everyone. I loved creating our own little chai party wherever we went!

Phil’s favorite approach was to make the chai around 3am so that we could serve in time for sunrise. Our last morning, we served chai during the sunrise set at Robot Heart, which delighted partygoers who had been dancing all night long. They paused their dancing to enjoy a bit of caffeine and sugar as they watched the sun come up.

Over the course of the week, we delighted, comforted, and caffeinated a LOT of people. We got feedback like, “this is the best chai I’ve ever had,” “this totally turned my night around,” “ARE YOU SERIOUS!! IS THIS FOR REAL?!” “oh my gosh I think I had your chai in 2014 and I can’t believe I found you again!” “I’m sober and it means a lot to me to find a yummy non-alcoholic beverage out here,” and “I’m also Indian and this chai is the real deal.”

Even if Burning Man isn’t your thing, I highly recommend doing something unexpected and delightful for strangers sometime. It’s truly amazing. It brings out the best in them, and in you.

Volunteer Welding for the Temple of Promise

I recently started volunteering to help build a part of the Temple of Promise for Burning Man 2015. My friend Jazz Tigan is the artist who created this year’s winning design, and he's been bugging me for months to put my metalworking skills to use. I finally joined the volunteer team of builders, and I'm so glad I did!

The design of the Temple is a giant, sweeping spiral made of wood and copper. In the center is a grove of steel trees -- that's the part that I've been working on. Though most of the Temple construction has been happening in Alameda, sculptor and metalworker Kevin Byall has been spearheading the Grove fabrication at American Steel in West Oakland -- just a couple blocks away from my studio at The Crucible. Hear Kevin describe the project in his own words:

So far, it’s been an absolute blast. They’d already created the tree frames out of steel rod when I joined, and now we're cutting steel screen into slivers and wrapping it around the tree frames. I don’t have much experience working with organic, flowing curves, and I’ve learned a lot of new fabrication tricks already.

One aspect that I've really enjoyed so far is the experience of being a worker bee on a large team of volunteers. I’m used to working solo on Elektra Steel stuff, and it’s really cool be able to tag-team construction challenges with a buddy or two.

It’s also given me an opportunity to brush up on my MIG welding and plasma cutting skills, neither of which I’d used since high school. I forgot how many sparks there are with MIG! I foolishly welded without a jacket one day, and I'm pretty sure I singed off most of my arm hair. 

Helping out on such a giant project is starting to give me a sense for how massive sculptures are constructed. I’m getting inspired! I'm thinking that I might want to design something huge at some point in the next year or two...

This is just a small peek into one portion of the Temple prep -- there's a whole other circus going on in Alameda, where a team of volunteers have spent the entire summer working on the Temple itself. They're loading up the trucks now and will be hitting the road soon! Follow Temple of Promise on Facebook for more updates.

If you’re going to Burning Man this year and would like to contribute to the Temple of Promise, please consider donating to the Kickstarter campaign. It’s going to be a stunning space in which to reflect, and its existence is due to the passion, money, and elbow grease of the Burning Man community. Thank you, and see you on the Playa!