Butter Tea - a beverage that travels nearly 4,000km to reach its destination, aiding the people of Tibet in surviving for thousands of years amidst the chilly high plateau

Although the 'national soul' butter tea of the Tibetan people carries three different layers of flavors that captivate anyone who tastes it, a surprising fact is that tea cannot be grown in Tibet.

Butter Tea - a beverage that travels nearly 4,000km to reach its destination, aiding the people of Tibet in surviving for thousands of years amidst the chilly high plateau

Tibet is a tranquil and meditative highland, where one can live in harmony with nature, calmly and peacefully amidst the land and sky without the need to chase the hustle and bustle like anywhere else. Not to mention, Tibet is also a place that preserves unique cultural traits, crystallized from the convergence of many major neighboring cultures such as India and China. Among these, tea, or more precisely, the tea-drinking culture, is a core part of this diverse culture.

If you have the opportunity to visit Tibet, you will surely be astonished to realize that people in such a harsh land maintain inner peace every morning at sunrise, or even at noon and evening when they leisurely enjoy a warm cup of tea. For them, tea is not just a natural beverage but also the national spirit and pride of the Tibetan plateau.

Explaining this, many believe that the people of Tibet cherish tea so much because the land where they were born and raised is extremely harsh, with temperatures always lower than in other regions. Therefore, besides equipping themselves with many types of warm clothing and energy-rich foods, they also need special drinks to warm themselves, supplement essential energy, and tea is precisely that special drink. More accurately, it is the butter tea (Yak Butter Tea) made from black tea, yak butter, salt, and cow's milk.

For many international tourists, this peculiar tea with its rich, aromatic, and slightly salty taste is a precious gift, reflecting the hospitality of the Tibetan people. No matter where you're from, stepping into a house in this region, you're graciously offered a heartwarming cup of butter tea.

However, the initial sip of butter tea might discomfort those unfamiliar, as the blend of tea, salt, and butter isn't an immediate delight for many. By the second sip, the discomfort gradually fades until the unique flavor of butter tea truly captivates the heart around the fifth or sixth sip. Some even say they become addicted to butter tea while in Tibet, considering it the perfect drink during the freezing days of Tibetan winter. Therefore, if you visit Tibet and don't try a traditional cup of butter tea, it's a significant omission.

Delving into specifics, the Tibetan butter tea offers layers of peculiar and intertwining aromas and flavors, maintaining the necessary harmony to win over even the most discerning tea enthusiasts. Initially, with the first sip, the salty taste of salt and the rich, creamy taste of butter dominate the palate, while the aroma of tea remains subtle.

Following that, the fragrance of Pu-erh black tea (a type of tea processed from leaves of old, wild tea trees or from mountain ranges) truly assaults the olfactory senses. The tongue will experience a slight bitterness, astringency, and a lingering sweetness at the back, courtesy of the yak milk squeezed from the dreamy mornings in Tibet. Moreover, to make the most of the warm sweet aftertaste of the milk, Tibetans accompany their butter tea with 'tsampa' – a food made from barley flour.

Elegance in the tea-drinking culture is undeniable, but a surprising fact that will surely astonish you is that in Tibet, it's challenging to grow tea due to the harsh weather conditions. Consequently, the majority of the tea here is imported through the 'Tea Horse Road.' This is an extremely arduous and distant route traveled by tea traders bringing delicious tea to Tibet in exchange for high-quality horses.

These traders, along with their horse caravans or mule trains, traverse one of the two challenging snow routes to reach Tibet. One route starts from Ya'an in Sichuan province, passing through Luding, Kangding, Batang, then down to Nepal and further to India (3,100 km). The other route begins from Pu-erh in Yunnan province, heading to Tibet through Dali, Lijang, Zhongdian, Deqin, extending through Myanmar, Nepal, and India (3,800 km).

Due to its length and the challenging nature of these two tea-for-horse trade routes on the 'Tea Horse Road,' it has become one of the legendary trade routes in the world, on par with the famous 'Silk Road.' Surrounding the transportation of tea on this route, there are many fascinating and mythical tales within the business community.

As reported by Afamily

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Reference: Travel guide Mytour