There’s nothing like a hot cup of creamy milk tea to keep you cozy and warm on a rainy autumn day 🍂. Like the title suggests, this drink is inspired by the Tibetan Butter Tea (酥油茶).
Traditionally, the Tibetan Butter Tea is made from Pu-erh (AKA Pu’er) tea leaves, yak butter, water, and salt. The history of tea in Tibet dated back to the 7th century during the Tang Dynasty. The most common and widely used one is Pu-erh, which is a variety of fermented tea originally produced in Yunnan, China.
Because of the unique climate in Tibet, combined with the lack of transportation and storage options in the past, vegetables were scarce, Tibetan folks consumed mostly red meat. In order to have a more balanced and healthy diet, they drank and ate (they still do) a lot of Pu-erh tea because they believed it served the purpose as a vegetable and beyond.
Later the scientists conducted lots of researches based on their dietary tradition and have found that Pu-erh tea has various health benefits just like the legend suggests, such as regulating blood sugar, improving cholesterol, boosting liver health, inhibiting cancer growth, etc. These findings have further proved that the ancient Tibetan folks were very wise indeed.
Now enough about the history, I’ll get back to the making of the drink…
Since I don’t have any yak butter and I was feeling quite innovative 😝, I decided to use cream cheese and heavy cream instead. The tea I used here is an organic premium grade 12yr aged raw Pu-erh (long name, I know 🤣), picked from the ancient tea trees in Yunnan. You can use any Pu-erh tea for this recipe, both raw and ripe, personally I prefer an aged raw or a ripe one. Ripe Pu-erh will have an earthier taste, which will give this drink a very rich flavor.
INGREDIENTS (choose organic if possible)
☕️ Aged raw or ripe Pu-erh 5g
🫖 Boiling water 100ml or enough to steep the tea
💧 Water 250ml
🥛 Heavy cream 50g
🫕 Cream cheese 10g
🍬 Sugar 2g (add more if you have a sweet tooth)
INSTRUCTIONS
1️⃣ “Wake up” the Pu-erh tea by steeping it in boiling water for 20 seconds, discard the water and put the tea leafs in a small pot with a cover.
2️⃣ Add 250ml of water to the pot and bring to a boil, simmer with the cover on over low heat until the tea “soup” turns dark red or black, about 10-15 minutes. The longer you cook it, the stronger the tea will be, adjust the time to your taste.
3️⃣ While the tea is cooking, add heavy cream, cream cheese and sugar in a bowl, use an electric mixer, mix ingredients on low speed, gradually increasing the speed to high, and keep mixing until the cream has reached a thick, billowy consistency. Don’t over-mix it!
4️⃣ Remove the pot from fire. Use a sieve and drain the tea “soup” into a coffee mug or heat resistant glass, top it with the cream and serve immediately.
5️⃣ Stir well with a spoon before consumption 😉
Inner Orbit 