Neha knows "chai" (tea) is feminine — "thandi chai" (cold tea)

Why

Neha's logic makes sense — if one drink-word is feminine, why not another? But in Hindi a noun's gender isn't decided by its category (like 'drink'); each word carries its own gender, often arbitrary, learned individually. 'चाय' (chai) is feminine and 'पानी' (paani) is masculine — both are drinks, yet different genders, just as 'दूध' (milk) is also masculine ('ठंडा दूध'). Test it: 'कुर्सी' (chair, feminine) and 'मेज़' (table, feminine) happen to match despite both being furniture, but 'घर' (house, masculine) sits in that same household-things category yet differs. No — 'पानी' is masculine, so 'ठंडा पानी' is correct: being a drink does not fix gender, each word must be learned on its own.