Tibetan Butter Tea: Po Cha

"Butter Tea" is a common beverage in Tibet, a region of the northern side of the Himalayan Mountains, designated as an "autonomous region" of China. The region has plains, but even these areas are at high elevations, and the climate is low humidity, breezy in many parts, with cold winters and relatively mildy summers (temperatures in the 80s F are considered "hot"). 

 

This is a "creamier" version of butter tea, as many recipes use primarily water with little milk. "Pu-erh" tea is commonly used, but Russian Caravan black tea is said to be a good substitute for this, although I've not tried it in this recipe,* or you can just use your favorite black tea. "Traditionalists" simmer the tea for hours to make a tea concentrate. To serve, they then add very hot water (and sometimes a measure of milk), and they churn it in a wooden churn (a chandong) with chunks of yak butter until it's very creamy. Nowadays, some people use electric blenders instead of the wooden churns. Because they make this very strong concentrate, they can dilute the concentrate with 3 or 4 times the amount of fresh water. Not all Tibetans use milk or cream, but the butter and the churning still give the tea a creamy texture. Likewise, not everyone uses sugar, but I prefer sugar in my butter tea, and I actually use more sugar than I use in regular tea. I streamline things by using more milk, with far less cooking time involved. Because I use more milk, I've found that using a blender doesn't really do much for the tea, so I simply stir the tea well. Now, if you do not use milk or cream, I would suggest using a blender to mix the butter in very well, and it also gives the tea a little more body. One other thing, unless you're in Tibet, I have a feeling you don't have a neighborhood yak butter shop, but you can use regular butter. I use salted butter, but I also add some salt to the tea, because it is supposed to have a bit of a salty taste.   

Ingredients (3 to 4 servings):

 

2 tablespoons black tea

2 cups water 

1 cup milk (I use evaporated canned milk, not sweetened condensed milk)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 to 2 tablespoons sugar (optional, but I suggest first trying the tea without sugar and then deciding)

2 tablespoons salted butter

 

Bring the water to a boil in a heavy bottom sauce pan and add the tea. Adjust the heat to maintain a gentle, steady simmer for about 3 or 4 minutes. Add the milk, continue to simmer the tea for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir well, then add butter and simmer until it melts and stir well (or whisk). Remove the tea from the heat and strain it into small cups or into a tea pot. 

 

* "Pu-erh" is a fermented tea from China that is available in some tea and coffee shops and Asian stores, and it is easily available online. It is usually described as "earthy," a description I find appropriate. For some, pu-erh could prove to be an acquired taste. Russian Caravan tea has a smoky smell and taste, and it is much more readily available in tea and coffee shops, and in some supermarkets. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Callus-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, although there are relatives in other Indo European languages (for example: Old Irish "calad" and Welsh "caled," both meaning "hard," and both are Celtic languages, and Russian "kalit," meaning "to heat, to roast" (application of heat to "harden"), Serbo-Croatian "kaliti" meaning "to temper metal (to harden it)" (Russian and Serbo-Croatian are Slavic languages).^ It is far from certain that the word "callus" is even of Indo European origin, although an Indo European root of "kal" + the suffix "no" have been proposed and meaning "hard," from Indo European "kel(he)," with "kal," seemingly from the notion of applying heat to harden. This gave Italic "kaln" or "kaln-so," with the same meaning. This gave Latin the noun "callum," meaning, "thick hardened skin;" thus, "animal hide," and this produced the noun "callus," a word borrowed by English from Latin in the mid 1500s. Latin "callum" also produced the adjective "callosus," meaning, "relating to hard, thick skin," and this was borrowed into English in the early 1400s as ''callous,'' but the meaning was more about "hardened in emotions;" thus, "unfeeling," a secondary meaning in its Latin ancestor.

 

^ See "The Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages," by Michiel de Vaan, Brill (Publishing), Leiden (The Netherlands) and Boston, 2008