Sherpa Tea

Equal parts Tibetan tradition and just keeping warm in the high elevations, the Sherpa people make time for tea often throughout the day. Starting with "bed tea" as a wake up call, then with breakfast, for mid-day rest breaks, as a soothing respite as you get to your camp for the evening, for dinner, and before bed you will enjoy a cup of steaming hot tea. The Tibetans have always enjoyed drinking black tea and used it as a part of their other food recipes. Drinking tea they traditionally used salt since there was no sugar and they gave it a rich flavor by adding nak butter. The taste is a little odd for westerners who are used to a sweeter flavor, but it is a match for the humble and hard working people of the mountains. Tea also serves in many customs for greeting and bidding farewell to honored guests.

In more recent history the Western traders have brought in sugar to the Sherpas and they have adapted their favorite tea. They now call it "dudh chiya" or milk tea, and it is the most common drink that the Sherpas will serve in their kitchens. It is black tea that is mixed with powdered milk and loaded with sugar, boiled, and kept in large insulating jugs. It's an instant hit with westerners with a sweet tooth, and it's a substitute for the much less common black coffee. A wonderful alternative to the milk tea is the simple but delicious and uplifting hot lemon. As the name says it, there is tart but sweetened lemon juice in hot water. It is a refreshing fruit drink and is inexpensive. Soda in the mountain villages are so expensive that drinking tea is a much better habit. If you're still not satisfied though you can bring your own herbal tea and ask for boiled water.