Drinking tea and basking in the sun in Lhasa is a serious thing.

In those days in Lhasa, we were either drinking tea or on our way to the teahouse.

Sweet teahouses in Lhasa

there are teahouses of all sizes in Lhasa. In every street, in those winding and hidden alleys, teahouses are comfortably open, as if they had been there a hundred years ago. These teahouses are sacred places in the world, and they are corners where you can go back after leaving for a long time. In those days in Lhasa, we were either drinking tea or on our way to the teahouse.

Tea, of course, was first transmitted from the Han Dynasty. It is said that in the Songzan Gambo era, it was one of the dowries that accompanied the marriage of Princess Wencheng. But I think private trade will certainly be earlier. It's just that the previous trade was very small. By the time Songzan Gambo unified the tribes of Tibet, the relationship between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty was stable, and trade naturally flourished. During the Tang and Song dynasties, tea was transported from the Ya'an area of Sichuan to Tibet by caravans, which was called the "Ancient Border Tea Road". Yunnan tea leaves arrive in Tibet later.

Tea must have been a luxury at first, belonging to the class of princes, nobles, and monks. Later, it spread to the people and gradually spread. In the plateau area, people take meat, dairy products, and Zanba (highland barley) as the main food, and tea is a good supplement to the lack of vitamins and amino acids in the Tibetan diet. As a result, it has become a necessity for all Tibetans.

Tibetan tea, from demand to dependence. And then from dependence to love.

when I live in the house of a Tibetan friend, when I get up early in the morning, I must boil water and make tea. There is always a pot of hot water on the stove, and hot tea is always available in winter. If you visit Tibetans, tea will be served soon. Sometimes you pass by a stranger's door, or you meet a group of people passing Linka (a Tibetan outdoor leisure activity) on the grass, and sometimes they will greet you over for tea.

gradually, tea has changed from an initial dietary need to a carrier of communication and goodwill between people. So teahouses began to rise. Teahouse is a very important public place. People drink tea, eat and socialize in teahouses. The prosperity of teahouses must have a lot to do with the custom of pilgrimage to Tibet. Changing scriptures to temples and holy places in the daily life of believers. In Lhasa, the people who turn around the Jokhang Temple, the Xiaozhang Temple, and the Potala Palace never stop. Some of these believers are residents of the city of Lhasa and some are pilgrims from afar. When I am tired from walking through menstruation, I need a place to rest, eat and drink tea. So around the temple and on the transition route, there are always many teahouses.

Fried potatoes and cold noodles  Tibetan noodles and sweet tea in the teahouse in Lhasa are very interesting.

generally speaking, three kinds of tea popular in Tibet, green tea, sweet tea, buttered tea, and teahouses are all available. Green tea is the simplest kind of tea. Boil the tea and add a small amount of salt. Buttered tea is made with ghee. The taste is determined by the quality of the tea and ghee. The best-buttered tea I have ever had is in the temple, and the Tibetans will offer the best ghee to the temple.

but sweet tea is the most popular in teahouses in Lhasa. This kind of tea, with milk and sugar, is very sweet and ridiculously high in calories. Why do Tibetans like to drink such sweet tea? Maybe it has something to do with the physical exertion of pilgrimage and grazing. There are two theories about the origin of sweet tea, one is the habit left over by the British when they invaded Tibet, and the other is spread from Nepal and India. I think the latter is more credible. However, the fact that Indians began to drink tea is also a legacy of the colonial era of the British Empire.

in addition to tea, food is served in the teahouse. Hidden noodles, cold noodles, fried potatoes, beef buns, curry rice. These foods are naturally not a delicacy in the eyes of the most edible mainlanders in the world. However, they all ate happily. Watching them eat happily, so we thought it was delicious.

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in the teahouse, people are very relaxed, even in the noisy occasions of so many strangers, they don't feel nervous. People sit around the table and drink tea and talk as if they were at home. From time to time there was a burst of presumptuous laughter from a corner. There are also people sitting quietly with rosary beads in their hands and chanting the Buddha's name mantra. Dogs can also come to the teahouse in Lhasa. We often take the dog skin to the teahouse. The dog skin is better than us in the teahouse. As long as it sits on the ground and stares bitterly at others, it will soon be able to eat meat.

A dog named Pippi and her uncle

We often go to several teahouses in Lhasa. Old Guangming Tian Teahouse is one of the oldest teahouses, where the interior space is very spacious, full of old wooden tables and chairs, with a dark nostalgic atmosphere. The sweet tea in the Magpie Pavilion teahouse is delicious and has an excellent location on the edge of Barkhor Street. Sitting on the second floor near the window, you can see people passing by on Barkhor Street. The third floor of Magpie Pavilion is open-air and the sun is always shining. In winter, drinking sweet tea and basking in the fierce sun at an altitude of 3600 meters, it is easy to get people out of the body.

the Canggu Temple teahouse is located in the alley near Barkhor Street. It's a teahouse run by a nun temple. It should not be called a nun. This is, after all, the Chinese way of saying. But that's what everyone calls it, and they get used to it. Canggu Temple teahouse is not big, outside is a courtyard, separated by a huge curtain. I like the morning here very much when the sun shines through the curtain, and there is an extraordinarily quiet atmosphere. The revolutionary teahouse is famous for its delicious hidden noodles. There is also a teahouse that uses sheep's milk to make sweet tea. I can't remember its name. There are so many teahouses in Lhasa each has its interest.

when foreign tourists come to Lhasa, they always have to go to several famous scenic spots first. But the best way to travel is to come to a teahouse, chat with Tibetans, drink tea, watch them laugh, and stick out their tongues mischievously at you. The most fascinating thing about Lhasa lies in its almost magical reality. The atmosphere. Watching the Tibetans around you chanting Buddha with ancient expressions while eating yak steamed buns while drinking tea, you must feel that you have come to the right place.