Here are some of the top/most‑visible tea chains and organized tea café brands in India (brief notes and recent sources):

1. Chai Sutta Bar (CSB) — very large quick‑service chai chain known for kulhad (clay cup) chai; reported to have 400–500+ outlets across hundreds of cities and a very wide footprint. (hospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com)

2. Chaayos — fast‑growing “customize your chai” café chain (IIT‑founders) with a strong metro presence; various reports place its outlet count in the ~100–200 range depending on the source and date. (financialexpress.com)

3. Chai Point — one of the earliest organized tea café players (technology + kiosk/café formats); publicly reported store counts vary by date but it is a major national chain (~100s of outlets). (indiaretailing.com)

4. Tea Post — a fast‑growing regional tea‑café chain (started in Gujarat) that has scaled rapidly into the 100s of outlets and uses a franchise + company‑owned mix. (teapost.in)

5. MBA Chaiwala — social‑media famous brand founded by Prafull Billore; grew quickly into many franchise outlets (popular among smaller cities/towns). (Note: franchise dynamics and reports vary by time.) (yourstory.com)

6. Wagh Bakri Tea Lounge / Wagh Bakri — legacy tea brand that runs premium tea lounges in multiple metros (smaller in outlet count than the QSR chains but well known for branded tea‑lounge experience). (wbtealounge.com)

7. Dolly Ki Tapri / other celebrity/viral chai brands — several recent viral/celebrity chai brands (e.g., Dolly Chaiwala, The Chai Box abroad) have launched franchise models and are rapidly expanding; interest is high though footprints vary by brand and date. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

Notes and how to interpret this:

• “Top” can mean largest by outlets (Chai Sutta Bar, Tea Post), largest by revenue/VC backing (Chaayos, Chai Point), or best‑known premium lounges (Wagh Bakri). Different sources use different metrics. (theindiawatch.com)
• Reported outlet counts change rapidly (new openings, franchising, occasional closures). If you want an up‑to‑the‑minute ranking or exact outlet counts for a particular chain, tell me which metric you care about (outlets, revenue, cities covered) and I’ll fetch the latest verified numbers and links.