For
herding peoples, whose traditional diet was meat and milk products,
tea has been a necessity for centuries as an aid to digestion and a
source of Vitamin C. For the Tibetan herdsman, butter tea is more
than just a beverage, it is often a way of eating a meal. Preparing
it is one of the daily household chores.
First a piece of brick tea is ground up. Then it is boiled a few
minutes in a kettle of water and the leaves are strained off. The
liquid is poured into a small tea churn and mixed thoroughly with
butter and salt. Then the mixture is transferred to a kettle where
it is kept warm, ready to drink at any time. Often a handful of
ground tsamba (highland barley) is thrown in to make a gruel.
Mongolian milk tea begins the same way, with grinding a piece from a
brick of green tea. Then the leaves are either dropped into boiling
water or into cool water which is brought to a boil. After the tea
has cooked a few minutes at low heat, milk and salt are added. In
Xingjian and Qinghai in the far west the milk is cooked with the
tea.
