Buttered tea is one of special Tibetan drinks. It is regarded as the staple food with zanba for Tibetan people. it is made with butter and strong tea.
One way of making buttered tea is to boil the brick tea and put into butter, then pour them into a vimineous wood vat, stir and beat until they turn emulsion. Another way is put the butter and tea into a leather bag, seal the mouth and beat hard with sticks. So making buttered tea is also called “beat buttered tea” in tibet. it is a hard work to make buttered tea for the hostess to treat the guests. While now many people begin to use electric agitator instead of beating manually. Buttered tea are commonly used to treat guests.
The brick tea contains abundant tannic acid, which will help intestines and stomach wriggle faster. Only drink the brick tea is easy to get hungry. So people add butter or milk. The output of milk of the yaks is not too much, local people usually use buttered tea to treat guests. It is effective to drink buttered tea to supplement energy and relieve high altitude sickness. Buttered tea contains high quantity of heat with mellow taste and rich nutrition. You will feel refreshed after drinking a sip of it. It tastes sweet and sour with strong milk flavor.
People always say that if you have not dunk buttered tea, you never been to Tibet. When the first time you drink buttered tea, you may feel intolerable of the taste. Just take another sip of it; you will feel its purity and delicacy. When you have the third sip, you will not forget the flavor in your lifetime. While fighting with the tough natural environment on the plateau, Tibetan people created the culture of buttered tea. Tea parties are always held when meeting friends, celebrating festivals, seeing of relatives, etc.