At Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, hi-tech tea stall wows Harvard professor: ‘Eat your heart out, Starbucks’

The Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh has not only excited attendees but also piqued the interest of observers, Mahindra Group chairman and industry titan Anand Mahindra recently shared in a blog post by Harvard Business School professor Tarun Khanna.

Khanna is now attending the mega event in Prayagraj.As for Mahindra’s post on X, the professor mentioned Chai Point in his blog.

“Harvard Business School Professor Tarun Khanna is at the Maha Kumbh. His daily observations give a fascinating insight into the happenings there. This blog post was particularly interesting and worth sharing with you all,” Mahindra wrote on X.

“The stores are also pop-up shops, the chai is made by the best in the world, served with consistency and high quality, at very low prices. Eat your heart out, Starbucks. Again, traditional chai married with modern technology,” it reads on the blog.

Chai Point and its partner Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) hope to break the Guinness World Record for the most cups sold at a single event.They hope to sell more than 1 million cups of tea at the Maha Kumbh.

Each cup of tea served at the booths will have milk from Nandin, as well as sweets and milkshakes from the same brand, according to media reports.

Prof Khanna also said in his post that the ‘city’ is a miracle in itself as it is ‘built on the banks of a regularly receding holy river to eventually be dismantled in an environmentally efficient manner’.

He also shared a picture of the Para Commandos armed with space-age monitoring infrastructure such as a NASA-style control room, surveillance and surveillance drones and distributed sensors for troubleshooting and security.

Maha Kumbh Mela is an important Hindu event that takes place every 144 years. This year, the event is expected to attract more than 40 million visitors. Maha Kumbh 2025 is held in Prayagraj from January 13 to February 26. .

Important bathing dates during the festival are January 29, February 3, February 12 and February 26.