A traditional kahwa house in the Nowhatta area of the old city, a short walk from the Jamia Masjid. Kahwa — the Kashmiri saffron green tea — is served from a copper samovar into small handle-less cups, and Chai Jaai does it properly: the tea is brewed with cardamom, cinnamon, and a few strands of genuine saffron, finished with a sprinkle of crushed almonds. The result is fragrant, warming, and entirely unlike anything else you will drink in India.
The room is small and unadorned — a few low tables, cushioned floor seating, a samovar that barely stops steaming from morning to evening. The clientele is mostly local. Ordering a pot of kahwa and a plate of baqerkhani bread in the late afternoon, sitting cross-legged on the cushions, is a better way to spend an hour in Srinagar than most of what the sightseeing itineraries suggest. The area around Nowhatta, with the Jamia Masjid a few hundred metres away, is also the most atmospheric part of the old city for an after-tea wander.