Chai Guy Makes His Move to the Couve

If your only experience drinking chai has been at your local Starbucks, Kevin Wilson (AKA Chai Guy) regrets to inform you that you have not, in fact, been drinking chai. We’re even getting the name, chai tea latte, all wrong. The word chai literally translates to tea, and it is always traditionally made with milk, so we are being unnecessarily repetitive. “Every time someone says chai tea latte in the same sentence, somewhere in the world a brown grandma sheds a silent tear,” jokes Wilson.  

The Art of Making Chai – Chai Guy

Having grown up in Sri Lanka, Wilson is well-versed in the art of making chai. “I’ve been making tea all my life,” he says. “Tea is such a core part of my experience as a South Asian person.” At 18 years old, his whole family applied for visas to come to the United States through a lottery program, and Wilson’s was the only application selected, so he came alone with two suitcases and a backpack to figure out life in a new country. 

His first attempt at Americanized chai at Starbucks missed the mark: “All the hope I had for humanity was sucked out in one sip.” Although his view of local chai has softened, Wilson has quite literally written the book on chai, and believes it isn’t just a drink, it’s an art form and spiritual experience. Other people seem to agree, as Wilson has amassed over 400,000 followers, or “besteas” on TikTok, and over 100,000 followers on Instagram. 

Documenting the Process – Chai Guy

Known as Chai Guy or the CEO of Chai, Wilson wasn’t planning on social media fame. “I had zero expectations of being a TikTok star or even an influencer. Even the word makes me cringe.” A pastor who had been making motivational Christian content, Wilson decided one day during the pandemic to document his chai-making process, and his first video blew up within 24 hours. 

His content has evolved over the past five years: “I initially started off just teaching people how to make a good cup of chai, but then I started to share more stories from my life and from marginalized individuals.” Now he aims to bring people together with chai as the backdrop: “Let’s make a cup of chai and figure out life together.” 

Wilson isn’t just famous on social media, but wears many hats, and recently made the move from Michigan to Vancouver. From his apartment overlooking Esther Short Park, Wilson makes an extraordinary cup of chai and explains how all the pieces of his world came together. “One of my first hats is that of a pastor,” says Wilson, who went to school for theology and under this umbrella works on mentorship, community engagement and media. 

His next hat is that of an entrepreneur. Deeply passionate about justice and equity and giving back to his home country, Wilson co-founded Cross Culture Tours that leads an annual tour group to Sri Lanka, inviting people to experience food, tea and color through a humanitarian focus. “We want to give people the best Sri Lankan experience and also give back to the community.” On his last tour, the group was able to renovate an entire wing of a local school. 

One of his more recent hats as an entrepreneur is the “ChaiXperience,” which involves working with local businesses and organizations to offer multi-sensory, multi-cultural chai demonstrations while speaking about authentic leadership. “What I want people to take away is how we can learn to love each other better and lead in an empathetic way,” he says. “How can we focus on the human behind the operation?”  

In addition to releasing his book, “The Way of Chai,” (Tarcher) in 2023, Wilson is truly excited about creating his own line of tea that comes directly from Sri Lanka. Cross Culture Chai will be ethically sourced and justice-forward, focusing on the deeply human aspect of tea and giving back to the people who harvest it. 

Through all these roles, Wilson finds there is one common thread: “I want to teach people how to build healthy cross-cultural communities. I want to serve as a bridge builder and a peacemaker.” The perfect canvas to do that? Chai. 

So what is it about this beverage that is calling to people so deeply? Wilson says the answer is multi-faceted. First, the act of making chai and drinking chai is a communal act. “You hardly ever hear of anyone drinking chai by themselves,” Wilson says. His first memory of drinking chai is his dad making him a cup before school and he says it would be considered rude to go to someone else’s house without being offered a cup. “Whenever you drink a good cup of chai, it’s a product of memory, especially for people from South Asia.” 

Wilson’s first video that shot him into social media popularity was in 2020 when isolation had never been higher, and people needed community and connection. Five years later, we still suffer regularly from distraction, division and loneliness and are craving something different. 

Chats Over Chai – Chai Guy

The act of making and consuming chai speaks to things we are lacking in our society right now. “The very process of making chai forces presence,” says Wilson, who describes the process as layered and waiting patiently for several different boils. “If I’m distracted, I’m going to have stovetop flavored chai.” And it is this patience and presence that serve as a timeout from hustle and the demands of life. “We are human beings, not human doings,” he reminds us. “Your worth is not validated from your work.” 

But it’s not only the art form of making chai that people are attracted to – it’s Wilson’s philosophy and attention. His thoughts on life and humanity will make your day, your week and your life just a little bit better. It’s not a lecture–it feels like a chat with a friend that you didn’t know how much you needed. 

Wilson uses his time making chai as an opportunity to slow down and talk further about philosophy, life and what we all have in common. “I want to remind people that their stories are beautiful,” he says. 

In these chats over chai, Wilson shares that the responses have been impactful. People will come to the comment section to share about their depression, anxiety or imposter syndrome. Finding common ground for people to come together is the pinnacle of Wilson’s mission to bridge people and cultures together. “People are feeling really alone and often feeling like they have to prove themselves, but we forget there’s more to life than efficiency and optimization.” 

I do have a warning for you: if you come for the tea, you might leave with introspection and reflection you hadn’t bargained for. After one afternoon with Wilson, I found myself reevaluating my life goals–the ones I want in my eulogy and not just my resume. While that might sound a bit on the morbid side, it made for some thoughtful changes I’ve been making lately. 

So, what’s next for the Chai Guy? The future, according to Wilson, remains open as he and his wife settle into their lives in the Couve and he continues his entrepreneurial pursuits. While Wilson and his wife were originally looking for homes in Portland to be closer to work, they spontaneously took a day trip to Vancouver and fell in love with it immediately. (How could you not?!) “I was so impressed with Vancouver’s idyllic community,” he says. “It has such a rich history; we can walk to the waterfront and one day I hope to sell my teas at the farmer’s market.” We are certainly looking forward to it. 

Kevin Wilson doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but he does value quality time together to understand one another and learn from our shared humanity. “When you realize who you are as a human being, created for and by love, that you have the capacity to change people’s destiny and your own destiny, that’s where the magic happens.” 

And in the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to slow down and make a cup of chai. After our interview, Wilson was kind enough to demonstrate the detail and labor of his chai-making process, and unfortunately, it has ruined any chai I’ll ever get at my local coffee shop. If you can have the chai experience in person, I’d highly recommend it, but you can also watch Wilson on Instagram or TikTok and give it a try yourself. 

Here are Wilson’s chai-making tips and tricks, but be warned: he uses the ancestral measuring methods which means he never works from a precise recipe, so this is an estimation. Do your best, take your time and taste and try until you like it! 

If you want to connect with Kevin Wilson, have a ChaiXperience yourself, or join the waitlist for the 2026 tour to Sri Lanka, visit him at crossculturekev.com or on social media @crossculturekev.

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