While you’re retiring from kick-ons in the early hours of Saturday, Daniel Fitzpatrick is up and brewing the perfect cure to nurse your hangover and winter blues. Critic Te Ārohi caught up with Daniel to spill the tea on his farmers market venture, Soul Chai.
As Soul Chai, Daniel brews fresh, warm chai at the farmers market each Saturday. “Everything is done on the day. Normally, about six o'clock, I'm grinding up spices. Seven o'clock, it's all in the pots and boiling away. Eight thirty, we're ready to serve.” There are two flavours, original and coconut, and we can confirm that they are both delicious.
From Monday to Friday, Daniel works as a town planner. He majored in Geography in his undergrad, then completed a postgraduate diploma in Environmental Management. Though the early Saturday starts can be rough, spending his morning serving chais and yarns at the market makes for a good balance after a week in the office. Soul Chai was initially started by his friend, Sophie Richards. She and Daniel began developing the chai stall in the final year of her BCom, after she spent some time travelling in India. Dan and Sophie worked on Soul Chai together for a period before she left Ōtepoti for a job in Auckland. It’s been a year since Daniel took over running the stall.
Even before Soul Chai, the weekly farmers market trip was the usual for Daniel. “I was coming to the farmers market for a solid year before I got a stall here. It’s really cool going from being someone who would shop at the stalls, to having your own stall.” Already knowing some of the vendors made Soul Chai’s beginnings at the market easier. There’s also a lot of support between vendors, who are encouraged to use each others’ produce in making their own produce. For Soul Chai, this means using milk from Holy Cow, a small dairy farm out in Port Chalmers. “It’s a really great community. Everyone’s trying to support each other and wants everyone to succeed.”
In the future, Daniel plans to roll out his chai in loose leaf bags so people can brew their own at home. He’d also like to add a permanent third flavour, a cacao-infused chai in collaboration with CoKo Lounge. If you’re already a long time enjoyer of Soul Chai, you may remember they’ve collaborated before, last year back when CoKo Lounge were also part of the farmers market. There’ll also be some future fundraising days, the profit from which Daniel plans to donate towards Dog Rescue Dunedin, a local charity that rehomes dogs. “I’ve had a couple of gigs where we’ve put around $300 straight to the puppies,” he says. Soul Chai is also a business sponsor for Dog Rescue. “Aside from using this money to buy beer, I can help out in the community with it. It’s really fun.”
There are a lot of reasons why the farmers market is a much more wholesome experience than shopping at some chain supermarket. For Daniel, it’s about “knowing where your food is from and who it’s made by,” a topic he focused on throughout his studies. “You come down here, the food is organic. You know that it's been planted with love and looked after. And it’s cheaper.” Supermarkets really have us believing local, sustainable and cheap is impossible.
Be sure to pop down to the Dunedin Farmers Market, every Saturday morning till noon at the Dunedin Railway Station. Pro tip: a cup of Soul Chai is the perfect hand warmer for your wander.