Tibetan tea culture
The Tibetan tea culture emerged later than the Chinese tea culture and was initially strongly influenced by it; According to tradition, the first tea came to Tibet during the Chinese Tang Dynasty . Today, tea is by far the most common everyday drink among Tibetans and is drunk either as a salty (yak) butter tea or as a sweetened milk tea.
history
Popular stories attribute the introduction of tea to the Chinese princess Wen Cheng , who came to the Tibetan court in 641 as the wife of the ruler Songtsen Gampo . But even independently of this princess, there was a lively trade with the Chinese Empire , where the Tibetans exchanged horses for Chinese tea. The corresponding trade route is called the Tea-Horse Trade Route . Stations were in Lhasa , Sa'gya , Xigazê , Gyangzê , Maizhokunggar , Lharze and Ongren .
The habit of drinking tea in Tibet, as in China, gradually spread among the people from the higher classes. Buddhism also contributed to this , as the monks drank tea during their meditations to stay awake and ensured that the drink was further popularized. Tibetan Buddhism continued to develop independently and also produced its own tea culture. Tea is considered a gift from the Buddha and is accordingly valuable. It was considered a sacred drink in the temples of the Tibetan lamas . In the book Journey through the Tatar Empire. In Tibet and China , which appeared around 1800, a tea ceremony in such a temple is described: “The teapots and bowls with golden saucers on the altar are all made of green jade and look very elegant. The Kawenbamu Grand Lama Temple stands out in particular. (...) At the big tea events, tea is given to all lamas by a donor. (...) The pouring of tea is celebrated with a ceremony. The lamas (...) sit in several rows (...) and the donor kneels on the floor and sings hymns. If the donor is rich, the tea is mixed with ingredients such as butter. "
For Tibetans, tea is also a symbol of friendship, admiration, purity and happiness in everyday life .
Making tea
The most important drink in Tibet is butter tea , which is drunk several times a day. This tea is prepared with salt and yak butter and is therefore more like a thin broth for western tastes . It plays a major role in nutrition in this extreme climate zone because it is nourishing and warming. It also stimulates digestion , which is important because the Tibetans mainly eat meat, which the yaks in particular provide.
As a rule, no loose leaves are used for the daily tea preparation, but pressed tea bricks, as they used to be common in China. They are from Sichuan and Yunnan . Part of this brick is crushed to powder, placed in a kettle filled with water and simmered over the fire for a long time. This is how the tea base is created, so to speak. This concentrate is then placed in a large elongated wooden vessel and mixed with butter and salt. This mixture is reheated in the kettle before the butter tea is served. The tea bowls are made of jade , ceramic , silver or (mostly) wood , depending on their wealth .
Sweetened milk tea is also widespread, especially among nomads who raise cattle. For this, the tea is also boiled in a kettle, along with sugar and milk . Milk tea has only been known in Tibet for around 100 years; this type of preparation was adopted by Muslim business travelers. The first teahouses opened in Lhasa in the 1920s , but were reserved for the upper classes and, until the 1980s, exclusively for men.
Tea customs
Traditionally, guests are served tea as a gesture of friendship. It is common to drink this tea in small sips, praising the quality and taste. As soon as a guest has emptied about half their bowl, the host pours fresh tea. The bowl is only drunk completely empty when saying goodbye.
Occasionally one sees Tibetans wetting a fingertip with tea before drinking and sprinkling the liquid by snapping their finger. This "sacrifice" is addressed to the " hungry ghosts ", a level of rebirth in the Tibetan belief system .
The monks in the monasteries have their own tea rituals. Every morning after devotion they gather to drink butter tea and eat a dish called tsampa ( porridge made from butter tea and roasted barley ). At noon they gather again for prayer and recitation of scriptures; they drink tea while doing this. In the evening there is another meeting of the monks to pray and drink tea.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Tibetan tea culture ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
