Chai and Conversation Review: The Free Farsi Podcast in 2026

Chai and Conversation is one of the most often recommended Farsi resources, and for good reason: the free podcast, hosted by Leyla Shams, has been teaching spoken Persian since 2010.

This is the deep-dive review. Not the quick comparison in the shorter review, but a full breakdown of the free podcast and the paid membership.

What Is Chai and Conversation?

A podcast and online course hosted by Leyla Shams that teaches conversational Persian. The public podcast feed holds 237 episodes, the first from December 2010 and the newest from October 2026: 76 numbered speaking lessons plus poetry, interview and culture episodes.

The free tier is the podcast itself, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the website. A paid membership adds course materials; the site lists pre-recorded video lessons and downloadable printed worksheets. Check the current price on the site before you sign up.

What Works

Leyla's Teaching Style Is the Real Product

The lessons teach spoken, colloquial Persian, the way an Iranian friend talks, not the way a textbook presents the language. Grammar comes through conversation rather than tables, and the cultural asides teach you a lot about Iran along the way. Two lessons are given over to ta'arof, the Iranian etiquette of polite offers and refusals.

Most importantly, it's consistent. More than fifteen years of episodes add up to a catalog no app can match, and there is an episode for many of the topics a learner runs into.

It Teaches What People Actually Say

The speaking lessons start from real situations: greeting people, saying where you are from, ordering in a restaurant, talking about what you want. Lesson 3 introduces the different forms of "you", formal shomâ and casual to, early, because you need them in your first conversation.

The Back Catalog Is a Course

The numbered speaking lessons run in order from greetings upward; the poetry, interview and culture episodes branch out from there. It's not perfectly organized as a curriculum, but the breadth is hard to beat.

Where It Falls Short

No Script Teaching in the Free Podcast

The podcast is audio. You'll learn to understand spoken Farsi, but on its own it won't teach you to read Persian script. You need the paid materials or another resource for that, and it's the biggest gap for beginners.

Not a Structured Course

Outside the numbered speaking lessons, episodes are standalone, and there's no "start here, then go here" path through the poetry and interview episodes. The paid membership adds structure, but the free podcast is a buffet, not a menu. For self-directed learners, this is fine. For people who need someone to plan their path, it's a problem.

Grammar Coverage Is Incomplete

Grammar comes up when the conversation needs it, not systematically. If you need grammar as a system (rules, then exceptions, then practice), you need a textbook alongside this podcast.

The Paid Membership Question

Is the membership worth it? If you want to read along and work from printed material, probably yes for a few months. Once you can follow the audio without help, you have likely got most of its value.

Best Episodes to Start With

Speak Lesson 1: How to Greet People and Ask How They're Doing. The obvious starting point.

Speak Lesson 3: How to Introduce Where You are From, and Introducing the Different forms of You. Formal and casual "you", which you need from day one.

Speak Lesson 37: A Dialogue in a Restaurant. A full dialogue in a real situation.

Speak Lesson 43: Talking about Wants and Possibilities. How to say what you want to do, one of the most useful structures in spoken Farsi.

Speak Lessons 51 and 52: Introducing Ta'arof, and Navigating Ta'arof in Different Social Situations. The cultural lessons that explain why an Iranian host keeps insisting.

Who Should Listen

Most Farsi learners. Beginners for ear training and cultural context. Intermediate learners for colloquial grammar and register awareness. Advanced learners for the poetry, culture and interview episodes. Heritage speakers for filling gaps in conversational Farsi they never formally learned.

The only learners it doesn't suit: pure reading/writing learners who have no interest in spoken Farsi, and learners who need rigid structure and can't handle self-directed listening.

The Verdict

Chai and Conversation is one of the best free Farsi listening resources available. The podcast alone won't teach you to read, write, or learn grammar systematically, but it will train your ear for spoken Persian.

Pair it with an alphabet and vocabulary tool for the two things the podcast doesn't cover, and a grammar textbook like Persian of Iran Today if you want the full picture. Our app, ZabanYar, is coming soon.

See the shorter review: Chai and Conversation Quick Review. For the complete picture, see our guide to all Farsi learning resources where we rank every option.

Get it wrong and the worst that happens is a warm laugh and a story they’ll tell for years. Get it right — refuse the tea twice, accept on the third — and you’ll watch a face open up. You didn’t just speak Persian. You played the game.