Kahwah- Kashmir Tea and Kesar Farm

Hi all,

This post is from my Kashmir Diary. We explored so many things over there. Kahwah was one of them.

How many of you know Kahwah? Wondering what is Kahwah?  

It is the special tea of Kashmir which is made by boiling green tree leaves with Kesar (saffron strand) and all dry fruits.

You will not get our regular ginger-cardamom tea in kashmir but you will get KAHWAH at every place which tastes awesome.  I don't know whether it will give out the same taste in Mumbai or not. We have humid weather compared to the Kashmir and every place has its own specialty. I believe the things are special due to its place and weather.

The first time we had Kahwah on Gulmarg visit in a tiny hut. The old man boiled this tea in a copper kettle on coal. Then at every point throughout the whole tour of Kashmir even on normal tea stall, we had the same drink with a little bit of variety in taste. 

Shopping is always an invitable part of any tour. We tourist love to shop special  things belong to that place. We followed the same rule. This is a shop - a wholesale shop where we had 😊 shopping of Kesar (saffron), dry fruits, and this Kahwah.

Once we tasted kahwah at Gulmarg we started to search it at every point. We got the stall and without wasting a time, I rushed to the stall because he was making a Kahwah in front of us on a stove. I try to collect information about Kahwah as much as possible because they did not speak proper hindi. I think it is one of the awesome drinks in the world. According to the tea stall person there are three types of tea masala, which make Kahwah i.e. Zeber, king, and pine. This was his specialty only. You can get varitey of masala all over the Kashmir. He did not add any tea leaves but added the tea masala and little bit of sugar and many dry fruits. Have a glimse of it.

cashew, almond, cardamom along with the boiling water

We all had it and purchase the Kahwah from the shop.

Behind this shop, there was a kesar farm. Yes, saffron grow in this field. But due to off season we have to satisfied with this plain farm only. 😌

And this is the KESAR, which is a highly expensive product

I love this packaging. It cost around approximately Rs. 3500/-, Rs. 2500/-. Rates are varied as per the quantity. 

It was really difficult to find real KESAR. Most of the people will sell you duplicate saffron. You have to be very careful while purchasing it. The shopkeeper guided us on how to find it. We had a test for real Kesar and then only we purchased it. We put the saffron strand in water for a while and after some time the colour of the water changes to yellowish one.  We kept it for some time as we spend almost one hour there to shop variety of products. We shopped some of beauty products too. 😉But the saffron water and colour does not changed at all. Finally we purchased it from this shop in a bulk. 

One of the most adorable was the APPLE FARMS. Kashmir is well known for it's apple, we all know this and when you have a chance to hop in 😎, voila! On the way of Pahalegam, we stopped for our lunch and exactly opposites to it there was a big apple farm. We hopped on the farm like small kids, took so many pics and had lot of fun. These are the baby apples. We travelled in wrong season due to which we miseed many things.

Baby apple 

Highway of Pahalgam.

  It took almost 4 hours to reach Pahalgam from Srinagar. But the nature beauty was awesome. You will never get tired of this travel because of the nature. Just do one thing, switch off the phone and enjoy it.😊

The most interesting part was, almost for three times the Army Soldiers checked our bus. It was really a thrilling experience to saw the soldiers with the cap, metal gun.  Checking was for our safety but felt conscious.😑 This was one of the most critical tour in our lifetime. 

I love this apple farm. 

Have you taste Kawaha in your life time? Do you like it? Have you been to apple farms?

I would like to know your experience. Please share it in comment section.

Till then, 

Happy Travelling