The Styrous® Viewfinder: food

photo by Styrous®

Butter tea, also known as po cha (Tibetan: བོད་ཇ་, Wylie: bod ja, "Tibetan tea"), cha süma (Tibetan: ཇ་སྲུབ་མ་, Wylie: ja srub ma, "churned tea"), Mandarin Chinese: sūyóu chá (酥油茶) or gur gur in local Ladakhi terms, is a drink of the people in the Himalayan regions of Nepal, India and Bhutan and most famously, Tibet. Traditionally, it is made from tea leaves, yak butter, water, and salt.

making butter tea in Tibet

photo by Michael S. Yamashita

(see link below)

Monks enjoy yak butter tea at Shechen Monastery

Dêgê County, Sichuan Province, southwest China

photo by Michael S. Yamashita

National Geographic Creative

Yak butter is butter made from the milk of the domesticated yak (Bos grunniens). It is a staple food item and trade item for herding communities in south Central Asia and the Tibetan Plateau. Many different political entities have communities of herders who produce and consume yak's dairy products including cheese and butter – for example, China, India, Mongolia, Nepal, and Tibet.