Talk:Butter tea

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 18 August 2020 and 12 December 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Gilldavid, Alcarter12482, Kl05214, SavannahBeet.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 16:28, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Untitled

What type of tea is used? Black, oolong, green, other type? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.97.194.86 (talk) 11:30, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

There should be a photo of a bowl of butter tea, so that we can see what the drink actually looks like. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.74.230.151 (talk) 21:40, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

It is the most disgusting drink I've ever tasted. Please try it only if you want a bad taste in your mouth. I had to have lemon tea over it to mask the bad taste. It does not taste like tea, nor does it have much a butter flavour. I guess you'd have to get used to it to enjoy it. =Nichalp «Talk»= 15:12, September 9, 2005 (UTC)

Very encyclopedic. —Hollow Wilerding 02:44, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

No really, he's right. - Nat Krause^(Talk!) 05:40, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

I'm assuming that it is intended for very cold areas, rather than for actual taste. It must be a welcomed quick relief from the cold weather. Would the butter and such make it retain heat longer or something? Or is that for energy/flavor? --Keithg 08:01, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Hanzi

Can we get the Chinese characters for the two Asian (presumably Chinese) names of this beverage? And can we also get the various local names in Tibetan and other languages of people who drink it? Badagnani 09:21, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Taste of Tibetan butter tea

Many foreigners find the taste of Tibetan butter tea not to their liking. In fact, it varies considerably in taste and novices may find it better to approach it as a soup rather than as a "tea."

I suggest that some of the reasons for the unusual taste include the use of yak butter and, sometimes, this is not very fresh. However, this does not affect its value as good nourishment unless it is really rancid. Partly, also, like many drinks (think of beer, or whiskey for example), it is an acquired taste. Drinking it regularly is not only healthy, one soon starts to look forward to the next "tea break".

Tibetan butter tea is is a really good and healthy drink for people living at high altitudes as the butter provides lots of energy (or calories - 9 calories per gram, compared with only 4 per gram for straight sugar). It is particularly important for one's body to have plenty of energy when at high altitudes - not only because the temperatures are usually low, and the body needs to keep warm, but any activity at high altitude requires more energy than at low altitudes. Salt replacement is also important. Mixed with tsampa (barley flour) it can provide enough food value to keep a person going for days.

Finally, one of its great merits is that the water must be boiled which tends to kill off any germs if the local water is contaminated. Even though water boils at a lower temperature at high altitudes, it is usually hot enough to kill any unwanted bugs. John Hill 00:11, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Every account I've ever come across - and these mostly by hardened, seasoned explorers and mountaineers - describe Tibetan Butter Tea as "revolting", "unpalatable" etc. I can only imagine it as tasting like stewed tea with rancid milk. And a major reason for me not to go to Tibet! Twizzlemas (talk) 10:36, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Marijuana Used?

I heard it from someone that Marijuana is added into the tea in very small amounts. Is that true? Arbiteroftruth 07:17, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Maybe it is by some people - and maybe not always in small amounts! However, I have never seen it used in the preparation of tea or added to it later and I am sure that it is not allowed to be used in monasteries and nunneries - as monks and nuns are not supposed to take intoxicants. John Hill 05:30, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

This is half true. Well, it's true as far as when some people make it, they use marijuana due to the high fat content of the mixture, as THC is fat soluable, meaning it won't mix with the water, so normal tea won't work for them (Got this from erowid, so the information might be wrong. I don't do drugs, so I don't know personally). However, John Hill is right too, it is not used by the monks as it is forbidden. I don't think this belongs in the article though. Oneoverzero 18:48, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Copyright violations?

Quotes forming a large part of this article have been wiped out due to possible copyright violations. As far as I am aware, copyright usually expires, in the U.S. at least, 70 years after the author's death. If this is the case, the quote from Sarat Chandra Das who died in 1917, it seems, should be well out of copyright, though the other quotes (which I added before I was really aware of these copyright issues), should be rewritten or paraphrased. I am happy to attempt to do this if editors decide this is what is needed. Apologies for any inconveniences I have caused. Sincerely, John Hill (talk) 08:37, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

While copyright is part of the issue, it's also just one of what an encyclopedia is supposed to contain. It's still considered plagiarism if too much of your work is a direct quote from other sources. So I'm going to rephrase all of it. — trlkly 08:34, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

You can't milk a Yak!

Yak is the male of the species. The female, and source of milk for butter is called a Dri or Nak. Please consider revising this article or at least mentioning this. I understand it is universally referred to as Yak Butter Tea so it is fine to call it that but the article specifically mentions milking a Yak...not something I would recommend trying, besides is not accurate.Riwo (talk) 15:39, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

    In most of the scholarly, peer-reviewed sources on butter tea, the butter is referred to as "yak butter." Alternatively, the sources call it "butter tea" without yak being mentioned, since yak or Dri butter is expensive and they'd rather sell the milk than make tea with it. Cow's milk is commonly used instead. I understand that it sounds odd, since yes, it is the wrong gender of the animal, but since the sources refer to it as such, it would probably be best to leave it as yak butter to avoid confusion. SavannahBeet (talk) 16:20, 24 October 2020 (UTC)

What

Not only in Tibetan life but now is being more westernized. This meaning was added to the article, but the sense of it is not clear. Hafspajen (talk) 14:44, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Butter tea/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

I think this is quite a good beginning of an article on butter tea. It contains a good deal of interesting information, some illustrations, references and links. John Hill 00:12, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Last edited at 00:12, 20 March 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 10:35, 29 April 2016 (UTC)