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
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
Thanks, spot! I can't read it until I get home, but it's nice to see tea getting some major recognition!
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
Does not sound like a good brew to me"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."
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
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.
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
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.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.
When you think about it, salt and sugar serve essentially the same function- to define the flavors of the tea and sharpen them.
Apr 22nd, '10, 17:02
Posts: 452
Joined: Jun 15th, '06, 13:04
Location: Lawrenceville, GA
Contact:
bearsbearsbears
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
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.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.
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
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
gross things for me are...butter...and brewing it by throwing everything in a cauldron
Apr 22nd, '10, 20:20
Posts: 5896
Joined: Jan 10th, '10, 16:04
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Contact:
debunix
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
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.
Apr 22nd, '10, 22:47
Vendor Member
Posts: 1518
Joined: Nov 13th, '09, 10:16
Location: Guilin, Guangxi China
Contact:
IPT
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
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.
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.
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
I would be open to trying it, I am not opposed to trying new teas!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.
Apr 26th, '10, 10:10
Posts: 704
Joined: Aug 21st, '07, 15:53
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Connecticut
Contact:
CynTEAa
Apr 27th, '10, 02:13
Vendor Member
Posts: 1518
Joined: Nov 13th, '09, 10:16
Location: Guilin, Guangxi China
Contact:
IPT
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
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.
Apr 27th, '10, 08:57
Posts: 704
Joined: Aug 21st, '07, 15:53
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Connecticut
Contact:
CynTEAa
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
Beats being cold, that's for sure! The pics with that article are amazing!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.
May 14th, '10, 13:58
Posts: 852
Joined: Mar 4th, '10, 22:07
Location: somewhere over the rainbow
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
It's a common (but not preferred ) technique among backpackers, too.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.
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
May 14th, '10, 14:58
Posts: 54
Joined: Feb 16th, '10, 22:36
Location: San Francisco, CA
Re: Tea Horse Road NatGeo
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.