Tibetan buttered tea culture

In Tibet, drinking tea's accessories are also very fashionable. Tea bowls are porcelain, silver, jade, wooden and so on. Commoners generally use wooden bowls, which are usually sculpted from birch wood. Using wooden bowls to drink tea helps avoid people from burning their mouths, enhances the flavor of the tea and are easy to carry.

In Tibet, tea also acts as an important ritual to wish friends and family a safe journey. At village entrances, railway stations, and airports it is common to see people being sent off carrying buttered tea in a thermos or bottle. This tea is used often to see friends and relatives off on their journeys.

When children are born, on the second day for a boy and the fourth for a girl, friends and family will bring buttered tea to congratulate the new parent. Friends and family will also bring a bottle of thick, sweet buttered tea to patients in the hospital to give them extra comfort.

Buttered tea is served to visitors as it represents the entirety of the Tibetan tea customs, from rural and pastoral areas to urban and modern areas. When visitors enter the house, the owner of the house will present them with the sweet-smelling buttered tea, and will invite them to drink a cup before proceeding on to the rules of procedure. To invite someone to tea is a way for Tibetan people to express their hospitality.