The Tibetan plateau is cold, dry and high, and its staple foods are built for those conditions. Butter tea provides fat, salt, warmth and liquid in a single cup, and it is drunk many times a day rather than as a treat. In a Lhasa teahouse you will see cups refilled continuously for hours.
How it is made
Brick tea, a compressed dark tea, is boiled for a long time until it is strong and almost black. The liquor is poured into a tall wooden churn with a lump of yak butter and a pinch of salt, then churned vigorously until it emulsifies into a pale, slightly frothy drink. In modern kitchens a blender does the work, and the result tastes savory, buttery and only faintly of tea. Sweet versions exist and use milk and sugar; the savory version is the traditional one.
Tsampa
Tsampa is roasted barley flour, the staple grain of Tibet. You put a few spoonfuls in a bowl, add butter tea a little at a time, and mix with your fingers until it forms a firm dough, then eat it in pinches. It can also be stirred into the tea as a porridge. It is filling, portable, and historically the food that made long journeys across the plateau possible.
Where to try it
Lhasa's teahouses are the right place. They are plain rooms with long benches and low tables, usually full of local people, and a cup of butter tea is cheap. Barkhor Street and the lanes around it have several. The drink is also served in hotels and restaurants aimed at visitors, usually in a milder version.
Practical notes
Butter tea is dairy based and made with yak butter, so it is not suitable for anyone avoiding dairy. The savory taste surprises most first-time drinkers; try one cup before deciding. Tsampa contains gluten. Both are safe to eat at altitude and are genuinely helpful if you feel the cold.
