Difference between revisions of "Suutei tsai"

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'''Suutei tsai''' (literally "tea with milk") is a traditional Mongolian beverage. The name suutei tsai in Mongolian means milk tea. The drink is also known as süütei tsai, tsutai tsai, or Mongolian salty tea.<ref>Mongolia, by Michael Kohn, 2008, page 43 “süü (milk) may be cow, sheep, or goat milk.... Mongolian tea (tsai in Mongolian; shay in Kazakh)"</ref>
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{{#ev:youtube|DVIUDTpYN2g|250|right|Dokumentary: Suutei tsai}}
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'''Suutei tsai''' (literally "tea with milk") is a traditional Mongolian beverage. The name suutei tsai in Mongolian means milk tea. The drink is also known as süütei tsai, tsutai tsai, or Mongolian salty tea.
  
 
==Preparation==
 
==Preparation==
The ingredients to suutei tsai are typically water, milk, tea and salt. A simple recipe might call for one quart of water, one quart of milk, a tablespoon of green tea, and one teaspoon of salt. But the ingredients often vary. Some recipes use green tea while others use black tea. Some recipes even include butter or fat. The amount of salt in the tea is also often varied. Sometimes the milk in the tea is omitted if not available. Another common addition to the suutei tsai is fried millet.<ref>The ethnomusicologists’ cookbook:complete meals from around the world, by Sean Williams, 2006, page 58</ref><ref>The National Geographic magazine, Volume 24, Issues 1-6, by National Geographic Society (U.S.), 1913, page 669</ref><ref>http://www.e-mongol.com/mongolia_culture_cooking-recipes.htm#Suuteitsai</ref>
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The ingredients to suutei tsai are typically water, milk, tea and salt. A simple recipe might call for one quart of water, one quart of milk, a tablespoon of green tea, and one teaspoon of salt. But the ingredients often vary. Some recipes use green tea while others use black tea. Some recipes even include butter or fat. The amount of salt in the tea is also often varied. Sometimes the milk in the tea is omitted if not available. Another common addition to the suutei tsai is fried millet.
 
 
The way of preparing the drink can also vary. The traditional way of cooking it includes stirring it by scooping it up while it is boiling and pouring it back in from a height. However, many today omit this step.<ref>Mongolia, by Guek-Cheng Pang, 2010, page 129</ref><ref>http://www.e-mongol.com/mongolia_culture_cooking-recipes.htm#Suuteitsai</ref> 
 
 
 
The tea that the Mongolians use for suutei tsai commonly comes from a block. The block consists of a lower quality of tea that is made up of stems or inferior tea leaves and is compressed into a block that can be easily stored. When needed, the tea is chipped off and added to the suutei tsai.<ref>The changing world of  Mongolia’s nomads, by Melvyn C. Goldstein, Cynthia M. Beall, 1994, page 43</ref>
 
  
==History==
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The way of preparing the drink can also vary. The traditional way of cooking it includes stirring it by scooping it up while it is boiling and pouring it back in from a height. However, many today omit this step.
Milk continues to be a very important part of the Mongolian diet. The milk that Mongolians drink comes from many sources including cattle, camels, horses, yaks, goats, and sheep<ref>http://www.mongolia-dairy.mn/data/pdf/w-06%20dugdill_paper_mongolia-production,%20processing%20and%20outlook%202010.pdf, page iii; viewed using Google quickview</ref>, though cow milk is now the norm. An old tradition among many Mongols was to not drink water straight. This could have been a result of the Mongols’ belief that water was sacred.<ref>the Mongols believed that bodies of water were like gods. (Mongols, by Galadriel Findlay Watson, 2005, page 6) At one time, the polluting of rivers or other flowing water was punishable by death. (Daily Life in the Mongol Empire, by George Lane, 2006, page 186)</ref> It could also have come from the need to conserve water. The amount of fresh water in Mongolia is very limited. Precipitation is very light in some parts of the country. An estimated 70-90% percent of Mongolia’s rainfall evaporates back into the atmosphere.<ref>http://raise.suiri.tsukuba.ac.jp/new/press/youshi_sugita8.pdf, see page 55, viewed using Google quickview</ref> In addition, only 0.76% of the land in Mongolia is arable.<ref>https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mg.html, see "geography" section, subsection “land use”</ref>
 
  
During the mid-thirteenth century, a Franciscan monk, [[William of Rubruck]], set out to the Mongol Empire to make an account of the Mongols. In his account, Rubruck noted the Mongols’ drinking habits with water, saying that the Mongols were “most careful not to drink pure water”.<ref>William of Rubruck’s account of the Mongols, by Rana Saad, 2005, page 19</ref> In a land where juice and wine were not readily available, many Mongols opted to drink milk-based products like suutei tsai or [[airag]] (a type of milk alcohol made from fermented mares milk) instead of pure water.
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The tea that the Mongolians use for suutei tsai commonly comes from a block. The block consists of a lower quality of tea that is made up of stems or inferior tea leaves and is compressed into a block that can be easily stored. When needed, the tea is chipped off and added to the suutei tsai.
  
==Popularity==
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== See also ==
While many Mongolians enjoy suutei tsai, some Westerners have a hard time adjusting to its distinctive flavor. This is particularly because of the salt in the drink.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=A3lCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA76#v=onepage&q&f=false With the Russians in Mongolia, by Henry George Charles Perry-Ayscough, Robert Bruère Otter-Barry, 1914, page 76]</ref><ref>Beyond the House of the False Lama: Travels with Monks, Nomads, and Outlaws, by George Crane, 2006, 276 “Salty and weak, Mongol milk tea was an acquired taste I’d never acquired.”</ref>
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* [[Butter tea]]
 
 
Suutei tsai is one of the most common drinks in Mongolia. It is often drunk at meals and throughout the day. It is usually served to guests when they arrive at a Mongolian home, known as a yurt or ger. Upon arriving, guests are usually served suutei tsai with a hospitality bowl filled with snacks.<ref>Mongolia, by Guek-Cheng Pang, 2010, page 129</ref><ref>Teen life in Asia, by Judith J. Slater, 2004, page 118</ref> Suutei tsai can be drunk straight, with boortsog (Mongolian fried biscuit) or with dumplings.<ref>World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia, Volume 2, by Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2007, page 269</ref>
 
 
 
In addition, suutei tsai is available in instant packet form.
 
 
 
==See also==
 
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*[[Mongolian cuisine]]
 
*[[Boortsog]]
 
*[[Kumis]]
 
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== References ==
 
<!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically -->
 
{{Reflist}}
 
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVIUDTpYN2g&feature=related Short video about Suutei Tsai]
 
 
* [http://www.e-mongol.com/mongolia_culture_cooking-recipes.htm#Suuteitsai Recipe for Suutei Tsai and a video of traditional method of stirring it]
 
* [http://www.e-mongol.com/mongolia_culture_cooking-recipes.htm#Suuteitsai Recipe for Suutei Tsai and a video of traditional method of stirring it]
* [http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:vauc7SDl33IJ:www.mongolia-dairy.mn/data/pdf/w-06%2520dugdill_paper_mongolia-production,%2520processing%2520and%2520outlook%25202010.pdf+mongolian+dairy+products&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjMvKSk-WhkWaT91RE_WfNiOUqE59Y-x82g-xkwpqOMEEvReugo9pIbGdzmS1yFGd5s_kWE718M4tWZxzxBhj0hKN25A3Ohen6gArlZpj-YaZfwJ5hXcrEx7qe-QPy-ZWugqNqe&sig=AHIEtbSWY0QhLuLKTHFkL0ZYrS7lS8dTuQ Information about Mongolian dairy and dairy products]
 
* [http://raise.suiri.tsukuba.ac.jp/new/press/youshi_sugita8.pdf Information about weather in Mongolia]
 
{{Teas}}
 
  
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[[Category:Mongolian cuisine]]
 
 
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Latest revision as of 15:45, 9 November 2013

Dokumentary: Suutei tsai

Suutei tsai (literally "tea with milk") is a traditional Mongolian beverage. The name suutei tsai in Mongolian means milk tea. The drink is also known as süütei tsai, tsutai tsai, or Mongolian salty tea.

Preparation

The ingredients to suutei tsai are typically water, milk, tea and salt. A simple recipe might call for one quart of water, one quart of milk, a tablespoon of green tea, and one teaspoon of salt. But the ingredients often vary. Some recipes use green tea while others use black tea. Some recipes even include butter or fat. The amount of salt in the tea is also often varied. Sometimes the milk in the tea is omitted if not available. Another common addition to the suutei tsai is fried millet.

The way of preparing the drink can also vary. The traditional way of cooking it includes stirring it by scooping it up while it is boiling and pouring it back in from a height. However, many today omit this step.

The tea that the Mongolians use for suutei tsai commonly comes from a block. The block consists of a lower quality of tea that is made up of stems or inferior tea leaves and is compressed into a block that can be easily stored. When needed, the tea is chipped off and added to the suutei tsai.

See also

External links