A bowl of butter tea is the highlander's energy and etiquette.
The warmth of Tibetan hospitality is steeped in butter tea.
At dawn on the plateau, Tibetan households begin churning butter tea. Brick tea boils into a strong brew, then butter and salt go in, churned up and down in a tea barrel until the fragrance of tea and milk blend. One hot bowl and the highland morning gains its strength.
Butter tea is essential for guests. When a visitor arrives, the host pours a bowl and offers it with both hands; the guest drinks, the host refills, and they talk. On the cold plateau, a bowl of butter tea is the most practical warmth there is.
First-timers find it salty; after a few bowls, they are hooked. With tsampa, a mouthful of tea and a bite of barley dough, that is the highland breakfast. City Tibetan restaurants serve butter tea too, but the bowl on the plateau is the real taste.
