Tibetan Butter Tea ("po cha")

After landing at the small airport in Lhasa, Tibet in 2001, one of the first beverages consumed was butter tea; graciously offered to us by the hotel our group stayed at. A truly authentic butter tea would be made from yak milk, yak butter, and a special black tea that has been compressed into a brick. In the US, however, yaks are pretty hard to come by and zoos aren't about to give up their yak milk for this recipe. The taste aspect that you lose from using dairy cow milk is the pungent and strong aftertaste from traditional butter tea. You could substitute cow milk for goat milk, I suppose.

2001, Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet
You could say that I am standing on the roof of the "Roof of the World". 

This recipe ratio comes from Lobsang Wangdu, Tibetan cookbook author of "Tibetan Home Cooking".

Serves: 2

Ingredients

4 c water

2 heaping teaspoons of good quality black tea

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp unsalted or salted butter

1/3 c half 'n' half or whole milk

Directions

1. Bring water to a boil in a small pot. Add tea and let steep for a few minutes. Add salt and stir. Then strain out the loose tea, unless using a mesh tea ball or teabags. Add milk. Remove pot from heat.

2. With an immersion blender (or stand blender), mix the tea liquid with butter and churn (or shake in a lidded container) for 2-3 minutes.

Tea is best served when it is very hot.