Like many other Asian peoples, tea is the drink that Tibetans enjoy every morning, until noon or even in the evening. There are places in Tibet where people drink up to 60 cups of tea a day. However, Tibetan tea is more special when it has a little butter from the milk of the Yak cow - a typical animal of this place.
To cope with the cold air here, Tibetans not only need warm clothes, they also have to use special drinks to warm up and replenish essential energy for the body.
Butter tea is a precious gift that Tibetans offer to visitors, showing their hospitality. No matter who you are or where you come from, just set foot in any house in this land, you will receive a cup of warm butter tea from the local people.
Tibetan Butter Tea, also known as Yak Butter Tea, is made from Pu-erh black tea, yak butter, a little Himalayan pink salt and milk. With harsh weather all year round, Tibet cannot grow its own tea. Most of the tea in Tibet is imported through the "Tea Horse Road". This is a long and arduous road of nearly 4,000 km long by traders, overcoming many difficult roads to bring good tea to Tibet in exchange for good horses. Because of the arduous nature and length of this road, the "Tea Horse Road" has become one of the legendary business routes, even comparable to the "Silk Road" in the world.
To prepare Yak Butter Tea, Tibetans will boil the tea in boiling water for a much longer time than other common teas. After about an hour of boiling the tea, they add butter and salt, then use a Chandong tea pot to dissolve the tea, milk and butter.
Butter from yak milk
The first sips of butter tea can easily make those who are not used to it feel uncomfortable, because the taste of the tea is a combination of 3 flavors: strong, rich and salty. However, after the second and third sips, this unpleasant feeling will gradually disappear, leaving a warm aftertaste that can conquer anyone. Even many tourists from all over the world still remember this addictive tea after returning home, because in the cold space, there seems to be nothing more suitable to sip than Tibetan butter tea.
To analyze specifically, Tibetan butter tea has many layers of aroma and flavor that intertwine quite strangely in harmony. The salty taste of salt, the rich, fatty taste of butter will dominate in the first sip of tea, the flavor of the tea is not yet clearly revealed. But then, the flavor of black tea begins to attack the taste buds, making us feel a bit astringent and refreshing. Finally, when the sip of tea passes, there will be a warm, sweet feeling, this is the taste of cow's milk milked from the early morning on the Tibetan plateau.
If you have the opportunity to set foot on the mythical land of Tibet, do not forget to enjoy this quintessential tea. Holding a cup of hot tea in your hand, enjoying it in the peace of the cold Tibetan land is an experience not to be missed in life.
