Mongolian Milk Tea

Mongolian milk tea ("süütei tsai" in Mongolian) is a salty tea made by boiling blue or black brick tea into a strong liquor, then adding fresh milk and a pinch of salt, full-bodied and savoury, often served with parched millet, cream and butter — the most representative traditional drink of the Mongolian people.

The origin of milk tea is inseparable from the Mongolian herding civilization: the steppe people lived by livestock and dairy, while tea reached the grasslands from the south through the ancient tea-horse trade and, married with fresh milk and salt, grew into a distinctive salty-tea culture sometimes called the ancestor of the world's milk teas.

On the steppe a herdsman's wife begins the day by boiling tea, and every meal comes with tea; to welcome a guest the host personally fills the bowl as a sign of respect, often paired with parched millet, dairy and hand-grasped lamb — at once a soup to accompany food and a vessel of grassland courtesy.

The mellow aroma of brick tea, the richness of fresh milk and the savoury touch of salt, together with the steppe habit of adding parched millet and dairy, are what set Mongolian milk tea apart from sweet milk teas.