Mongolia milk tea

Milk tea is the mixture of milk and tea. It is popular in many nations. In Mongolia, the milk tea plays an essential role in the daily lives. In the pasturing area, many herders only have one meal in the day but need three tea times. In the morning, the first thing the housewives have to do is to prepare the milk tea. Fried rice and milk tea serve the breakfast, the herders will have another milk tea at noon. Only the supper is a formal meal for the whole day.

The Mongolian herders use compressed tea (tea bricks) to make milk tea, because it is easier to transport from the eastern part of China thousands of miles away. In the morning, the housewives break the tea bricks into pieces, then put 2-3 liters of water into an iron pot, put the pot on the fire. When the water is boiling, they put 25 grams of tea into the water and get another boil, then add about 500cc milk and a little salt, wait until it is boiling again. The Mongolian people believe a good quality milk tea can only be made when the equipment, tea, milk, salt and temperature are all at a perfect time or state to mix together. Defect in any of the five factors can lead to a bad tea. People evaluate young lady's housekeeping skill by the taste of the milk tea they make. Therefore all the young girls start to learn milk tea skills so that they will get a good marriage in the future.

Tea is not only a drink for the Mongolian people. It is actually the major source of vitamin C for the herders. It is as important as air and water in their lives. Since there is no tea production in the Mongolia area, the herders have to export their horse to central China and trade for compress tea. The Chinese central government used tea trading to control the economy of Mongolia area. The similar situation also happens in Southwest China. This is called the Tea-House Trading.