▲ There is a kind of warmth that is a bowl of mellow butter tea on the plateau
In the lives of Tibetan compatriots, there has always been a saying that "it is better to have no grain for three days than no tea for one day." Because of the diet structure of Tibetan compatriots, milk meat accounts for a large proportion, vegetables and fruits are few, tea can not only replace vegetables and fruits to take in various vitamins, but also can resist cold, alleviate high reaction, and help digestion, so everyone often uses tea to accompany food. In Tibet, every Tibetan family drinks tea at least three times a day, sometimes dozens of times.
In the thousand-year-long history of tea drinking, the Tibetan people have formed a unique way of drinking tea, mainly including butter tea, milk tea, salt tea, clear tea, etc., of which butter tea is the most popular and the most Tibetan characteristics. Butter tea is mainly made of ghee and strong tea processing, its color is light yellow, the taste is mellow, both to quench thirst, but also to fill hunger.
The process of making butter tea
One of the most important ingredients for making ghee tea is ghee. The traditional method of refining ghee by the Tibetan people is to first heat the milk milk milked from cattle and sheep, pour it into a special large wooden barrel (this barrel is locally called "Xuedong", which is specially used to refine ghee, about 4 feet high and about 1 foot in diameter), and then use special ghee utensils to whip the milk up and down hard, back and forth hundreds of times, until the milk oil and water are separated, and a layer of lake yellow fatty matter floats on it, scoop it up, rinse it with cold water, pour it into a leather pocket, and after cooling, it becomes ghee. Nowadays, many parts of Tibet are gradually using cream separators to refine ghee.
▲ Beat the ghee
▲ Beaten ghee
Once the ghee is ready, the next step is to make tea. There are a variety of methods of making butter tea, generally boiled first and then boiled: that is, first add cold water to the teapot or pot, put in an appropriate amount of brick tea or tuo tea and then cover and boil, and then slowly boil over low heat until the tea is dark brown and the entrance is not bitter. A little salt is added to this boiled strong tea to make a salty tea. Then put a piece of ghee in the bowl and dissolve it, which becomes the simplest butter tea.
▲ Traditional ghee barrel
But the more orthodox approach is: the boiled strong tea is filtered out of the tea leaves, poured into the butter tea barrel specially used for butter tea, and then added ghee, salt or other condiments, pumping up and down dozens of times with force, so that the oil tea is fully blended, and then poured into the pot to heat, it becomes a fragrant and delicious butter tea. Nowadays, many Tibetan families use electric agitators more often, which is convenient and fast, but also clean and hygienic.
Although the production of butter tea seems to be relatively simple, in fact, the taste is good or bad, the amount of nutrients, and the pot used to cook the tea, the tea put, the water added, the milk mixed, the boiling time, and the order and order are all related. The Tibetan people believe that only when utensils, tea, milk, salt, and temperature are coordinated with each other can they cook salty and sweet, delicious butter tea.
The intensity of the taste of ghee tea, the amount of ghee and the saltiness of the tea also vary from person to person. In general, manual workers, especially men, like tea with a strong taste, ghee, and drinking it with sticky butter tea, and they feel that it is more enjoyable to drink in this way. The elderly, children, and women prefer to drink butter tea with a clear, light and fragrant taste.
In the past, there were guests visiting, there were very few things that could be entertained, and coupled with the unique role of butter tea, it became a precious etiquette for the Tibetan people to entertain guests. Now, whenever you visit the Homes of the Tibetan people, the hospitable Tibetan compatriots will first serve a bowl of hot, fragrant butter tea and take a sip of it, warming it to the bottom of your heart. When you come to Tibet, be sure to drink a bowl of the purest butter tea!
Toast to a cup of tea, you are a stranger;
Serve the second cup, you are our friend;
The third cup of tea, you are my family, I will use my life to protect you.
- "Three Cups of Tea"