Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by **spot52** » Apr 21st, '10, 18:30

Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by spot52 » Apr 21st, '10, 18:30

For those of you who may not have seen it, there is a nice story in the latest natgeo about the tea horse road.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/ ... nkins-text
Pretty interesting story about tea and its impact on life. Great pics too.
njoy

by **geeber1** » Apr 21st, '10, 18:33

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by geeber1 » Apr 21st, '10, 18:33

Thanks, spot! I can't read it until I get home, but it's nice to see tea getting some major recognition!

by **entropyembrace** » Apr 21st, '10, 20:54

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by entropyembrace » Apr 21st, '10, 20:54

"For one little cauldron, 25 bricks of tea, 70 kilos of yak butter, 3 kilos of salt," says Drakpa, stirring this recipe for 200 with a wooden spoon tall as a human. "For the biggest cauldron, we used seven times that much."

Does not sound like a good brew to me :shock:

by **spot52** » Apr 22nd, '10, 16:30

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by spot52 » Apr 22nd, '10, 16:30

I don't know if I would like it, but how can you go wrong with butter and salt? They make everything taste better. But the tea uses the lowest quality tea leaves.

by **rabbit** » Apr 22nd, '10, 16:59

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by rabbit » Apr 22nd, '10, 16:59

spot52 wrote:I don't know if I would like it, but how can you go wrong with butter and salt? They make everything taste better. But the tea uses the lowest quality tea leaves.

yak butter and salt is the common way of preparing tea in Tibet, actually, salt was originally used in England as well as many other cultures.

When you think about it, salt and sugar serve essentially the same function- to define the flavors of the tea and sharpen them.

by **bearsbearsbears** » Apr 22nd, '10, 17:02

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by bearsbearsbears » Apr 22nd, '10, 17:02

spot52 wrote:I don't know if I would like it, but how can you go wrong with butter and salt? They make everything taste better. But the tea uses the lowest quality tea leaves.

They tend to prefer rancid butter yak that's a bit sour, but surprisingly it's not as gross as it sounds. The problem isn't the taste, it's the bowlingball-in-the-stomach feeling after drinking so much fat.

by **entropyembrace** » Apr 22nd, '10, 19:20

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by entropyembrace » Apr 22nd, '10, 19:20

I know in Darjeeling they sometimes put a pinch of salt in their tea

gross things for me are...butter...and brewing it by throwing everything in a cauldron :shock:

Website · by **debunix** » Apr 22nd, '10, 20:20

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by debunix » Apr 22nd, '10, 20:20

I was working on seasoning my yixing pots the other day, and discovered that a lot of some nice cooked puerh essentially stewed in a pot (yixing soaking inside a big pot with the tea soup) not only smelled quite nice, but also tasted pretty good despite a good hour of simmering.

by **IPT** » Apr 22nd, '10, 22:47

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by IPT » Apr 22nd, '10, 22:47

Hi Spot, Thanks for this post. It was an interesting read.

Have you had Yak Butter Tea? I've always heard people hated it, but I actually was quite fond of it. I get yak butter shipped to me on a regular basis so I can make it at home. It sure does fill you up though. Great in the winter.

by **spot52** » Apr 25th, '10, 12:47

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by spot52 » Apr 25th, '10, 12:47

IPT wrote:Hi Spot, Thanks for this post. It was an interesting read.

Have you had Yak Butter Tea? I've always heard people hated it, but I actually was quite fond of it. I get yak butter shipped to me on a regular basis so I can make it at home. It sure does fill you up though. Great in the winter.

I would be open to trying it, I am not opposed to trying new teas!

by **CynTEAa** » Apr 26th, '10, 10:10

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by CynTEAa » Apr 26th, '10, 10:10

Nice article! Thanks for sharing! Mmm yak dung fires. :wink:

by **IPT** » Apr 27th, '10, 02:13

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by IPT » Apr 27th, '10, 02:13

They collect Yak dung and dry it out. You can see it in stacks, or stuck to walls drying all over. When dried, it burns well and has no poo odor. In Wisconsin, when I was young, in particularly bad winters when we couldn't get to the woods for more firewood, we used to burn cow pies (cow poop) too. It wasn't uncommon then.

by **CynTEAa** » Apr 27th, '10, 08:57

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by CynTEAa » Apr 27th, '10, 08:57

IPT wrote:They collect Yak dung and dry it out. You can see it in stacks, or stuck to walls drying all over. When dried, it burns well and has no poo odor. In Wisconsin, when I was young, in particularly bad winters when we couldn't get to the woods for more firewood, we used to burn cow pies (cow poop) too. It wasn't uncommon then.

Beats being cold, that's for sure! The pics with that article are amazing!

by **Poohblah** » May 14th, '10, 13:58

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by Poohblah » May 14th, '10, 13:58

IPT wrote:They collect Yak dung and dry it out. You can see it in stacks, or stuck to walls drying all over. When dried, it burns well and has no poo odor. In Wisconsin, when I was young, in particularly bad winters when we couldn't get to the woods for more firewood, we used to burn cow pies (cow poop) too. It wasn't uncommon then.

It's a common (but not preferred

) technique among backpackers, too.

I saw the article in a copy of Natgeo. The article has reinforced my desire to visit Yunnan and Tibet when I am finished with my studies

by **Tea_Rex** » May 14th, '10, 14:58

Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo

by Tea_Rex » May 14th, '10, 14:58

Cow dung is used for fuel in India also. You often see walls covered in large rounds of drying dung, each one with a hand print in the center so that they actually make a wonderful abstract design. And the smell of the burning dung is actually very nice. Sort of like burning sweet grass if you know that smell.