(March 25, 2025) In a sunlit Melbourne market, a young woman in a “Chai Walli” apron leans over a steaming kettle, the air thick with the aroma of cardamom and ginger. With practiced ease, she pours milky spiced tea from a metal pot into little cups for an eager crowd. For Uppma Virdi, the founder of Chai Walli, this daily ritual of brewing chai is more than a business — it’s a personal journey that began in India and matured in Australia, blending two cultures as seamlessly as the spices in her tea. At 26, she stunned everyone by clinching Australia’s Businesswoman of the Year award, but her road to success was anything but conventional.
Raised in a Punjabi family halfway across the world from their homeland, Uppma navigated cultural expectations, a legal career, and her own passion for tea to become a celebrated entrepreneur. Her story is rich in heritage, marked by challenges, and filled with the joy of sharing an Indian tradition with the world.
Migration, Cultural Duality, and the Ayurvedic Legacy: Rekindling Roots Through Authentic Indian Chai
Uppma Virdi’s journey started literally on the move. She was just one year old when her parents migrated from Chandigarh to Australia, carrying with them suitcases of hopes and the rich traditions of their Punjabi heritage. At home in Melbourne, young Uppma grew up amid the aromas of Indian cooking, the sound of Punjabi songs, and the warmth of a large extended family circle. Outside, she stepped into an Australian world of barbecues and footy games. It wasn’t always easy to reconcile these two halves of her identity. “Being a first generation migrant comes with challenges and pressures—who the community thinks we should be, who our parents think we should be, and who we as individuals think we should be,” she said in an interview. As a child and teenager, Uppma often found herself balancing these worlds: celebrating Diwali at home and Christmas with school friends, speaking English at school and Punjabi with her grandparents on weekend phone calls.
Her parents, like many immigrant families, emphasised stability and success. They encouraged her to pursue a “serious” professional degree—medicine, engineering, or in her case, law. Uppma obliged, earning a law degree from Deakin University and embarking on a promising career as a corporate lawyer. Yet, even as she excelled in the courtroom and boardroom, she felt a void. “All these years, I always felt there was something missing,” she later reflected, describing an itch she couldn’t scratch. In her heart, she carried fond memories of India and of one person in particular whose influence would eventually change her path: her grandfather.
Uppma Virdi
Uppma’s paternal grandfather was an Ayurvedic doctor in India, and he was also the family’s unofficial chai-walla, concocting healing teas for any ailment. “My grandfather is an Ayurvedic doctor and he used to make this Ayurvedic tea at his medical dispensary. He taught me the art of Ayurvedic tea,” Uppma has said. As a little girl on visits back to Punjab, she would watch in awe as he blended herbs with a mortar and pestle, creating aromatic masala chai and herbal infusions.
Years later, living in Australia, Uppma Virdi found that making a cup of chai could instantly transport her back to her grandfather’s courtyard in India. “I found that connection in chai. Every sip would bring back memories of India, my dadaji…” she said. Brewing chai became her way of reconnecting with her roots. What started as a personal passion for authentic Indian tea eventually brewed into a business idea.
From Courtroom to Chai: An Accidental Business
By her early twenties, Uppma was juggling two distinct lives. On weekdays, she donned black suits and litigated as a young lawyer in Melbourne’s corporate scene. On weekends, she transformed into a self-described “chai walli” (a woman who makes tea), crushing cinnamon and cardamom to craft the perfect brew for friends and family. What began as a hobby soon took on a life of its own. “Chai Walli started as something that I wanted to tribute to my grandfather… an accidental business that I just started while I was a lawyer, as a side project to keep myself busy on the weekends,” Uppma explains. At farmers’ markets and local events, she set up a stall to brew masala chai on the spot, charming curious Aussies with the sweet, spicy aroma wafting from her stall.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. Many Australians had never tasted authentic Indian chai, only the over sweetened concentrates or teabag versions found in cafés. Uppma’s freshly brewed chai was a revelation. People started bringing their own stories to her stall. “When I started making chai for friends and people here in Australia, they’d tell me stories of how the aroma reminded them of their childhood, their mothers, and took them back to their roots,” Uppma says. In those moments, Uppma realised chai’s power as a great connector. “I felt that chai had the potential to connect people from across cultures and that’s how Chai Walli happened. It was not planned at all—I’d call it an accidental business,” the Global Indian said in an interview.
Brewing Entrepreneurship Against the Odds
Turning a side-hustle into a full-fledged business, however, was not easy. For one, Australia is a nation of coffee aficionados. Though Australia had been a British colony and inherited a tea tradition, it is today addicted to coffee more than tea, making it challenging to carve out a niche for chai. But Uppma was determined. With her sleeves rolled up, she began hosting workshops titled “The Art of Chai”, inviting people to learn how to brew the perfect cup and to discover the Ayurvedic benefits of traditional chai spices. These interactive sessions became quite the hit.
She used social media to amplify the message, dubbing herself and her small team the “chai crusaders” on a mission to, as she once quipped, “rid the world of bad chai.” Bit by bit, what started at community markets grew into an online store for her signature blends.
All the while, Uppma Virdi was still holding down her day job as a lawyer, which meant her new enterprise grew in the margins of her day. But the pull of her passion proved stronger. For Uppma, making chai was never just about business; it was about identity and joy. “There was something really special in the ability for me to be able to be myself completely, and that’s what I got from Chai Walli. It was my ability to really tell the world, this is me. I’m an Indian Australian and this is what it’s all about… this is what I am.”
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Sharing Indian Culture, One Cup at a Time
From day one, Uppma Virdi has been clear that Chai Walli is more than a retail brand—it’s a cultural mission. “My real aim is to educate the Australian society about the Indian culture through tea.” Over time, her efforts have built more than just a customer base – they’ve fostered a community. At Chai Walli’s workshops, one might find an Indian grandmother and her Australian neighbor bonding as they crush ginger for chai, or a young Australian-Indian professional learning the stories behind the ritual her parents practiced daily. Uppma uses these moments to bridge cultures. “I’d use chai as a way to educate non-Indians on what it means to be a first generation Indian migrant.” In her own life, chai was the bridge connecting her Australian upbringing with her Indian heritage; now it performs that role for others. “In my own life and career, I have used chai as an element to introduce and connect people to Indian culture, and I can proudly say that people are loving it,” she notes.
Chai Walli’s popularity has also resonated with the Indian diaspora spread across the globe. For many Indians living abroad, Uppma’s chai blends are a taste of home. The nostalgia she herself experiences in a sip of masala chai is now packaged and delivered to Indians in Europe, North America and beyond. This diaspora connection is deeply satisfying for Uppma, who sees her work as, in a way, community service. She often hears from Indian-Australians who say her chai brought back memories of their childhood in India, or from second-generation kids who use her kits to learn about their parents’ culture. Through a simple cup of tea, Uppma Virdi is helping young Indians abroad reconnect with their roots and giving non-Indians a flavourful gateway into a vibrant culture.
Rise of Chai Walli and Global Recognition
What started as one-woman operation has now grown into a thriving small business with a warehouse in Sydney, a distribution network, and a team of fellow “chai crusaders” who share her zeal. Her innovative work has not only captured the imagination of tea lovers in Australia but also earned her significant accolades. In 2016, she was named Businesswoman of the Year at the Indian Australian Business Community Awards—a moment that catapulted her story into the spotlight. Forbes later recognized her impact by featuring her in their 30 Under 30 Asia list, affirming her status as a rising star in retail and e-commerce.
Brewing ‘Brand India’ Abroad
Through Chai Walli, she is effectively exporting a treasured piece of India – the culture of chai – and cultivating it on foreign soil. Her brand resonates not just with Indians living abroad, but with anyone curious about the subcontinent’s traditions. By insisting on authenticity, she has shown that the world is ready to embrace Indian culture in its true form. The very name “Chai Walli” – a term that literally means a female tea vendor in Hindi – is a playful reclamation of Indian street lingo on a global stage.
Uppma’s success also contributes to the broader narrative of “Brand India.” Alongside yoga, Bollywood, and curry, chai is now becoming a beloved Indian export, and Uppma has played a role in that surge. By educating Australians about the significance of chai in Indian society, she’s deepening cross-cultural understanding. It’s not unusual now to find trendy cafes in Sydney or Melbourne carrying authentic masala chai on the menu, or gourmet stores stocking Chai Walli’s beautifully packaged tea blends. Each cup sold or workshop given is a gentle diplomacy of culture — a way of saying, this is India, aromatic and inclusive. And for the Indian diaspora, Chai Walli offers a comforting taste of home while also making them proud: seeing something as nostalgic as their grandmother’s chai earning mainstream repute is a boost to collective cultural pride.
Uppma Virdi’s journey shows that success brews when one blends passion with purpose. In her case, a love for chai and a longing to express her full identity came together to create a unique enterprise. She’s a corporate lawyer-turned-teapreneur, a Punjabi-Australian bridging continents in each cup she serves. And she’s still innovating: whether it’s hosting bhangra dance classes on the side or mentoring other South Asian women in business, Uppma is continually finding new ways to celebrate her dual culture. Each morning, as she stands over a pot of simmering chai, she’s not just making her customers’ next cup of tea – she’s stirring in a pinch of India, a dash of Australia, and a spoonful of her own hard-won wisdom. The result is a brew that the world can’t seem to get enough of.
- Follow Uppma Virdi on Instagram and LinkedIn
- Place your chai orders at Chai Walli
