Tea!

A drink with jam and bread . . . 
salt and butter?

Today at lunch, we learned how to make milk tea--and you know how much I love tea!

This tea here is prepared a little bit differently than what I've seen (and done) before.  Instead of water, the base is equal parts hot water and steamed milk.  To this, green tea is added--sometimes in the form of a tea bag(shown on the plate above) and often as a chunk from a block of compressed green tea.

Next, butter, more fat, and sometimes jerky (see the small dish of dried shredded meat on the plate above?) are added.

Then salt is stirred into the brew.

This tea is mixed by ladling it up and pouring it back in.

For the local people, this tea is a common beverage for meals and is also served to guests upon arrival in a home.  For us, it was a warm welcome drink with our lunch of of fried bread (which reminded me of sopapilla without the powdered sugar or drizzle of honey), fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, a shredded carrot salad, and a wonderful noodle soup flavored with a bit of lamb.  The tea mostly has the flavor of the steamed milk, but it is savory with the flavors of the fat and salt and just the mildest hint of tea. 


Do a little research and a lot of careful thinking, and let me know your hypotheses (and your evidence) about what country you think we may have traveled to.