Visit Tibetan Tea House – A Real Experience of Tibetans’ Life in Lhasa
To Tibetans, tea is just like coffee to the westerners. In the past, drinking tea was only limited to noble class, however, with time changing, all Tibetan come to drink tea in their daily life. When you visit Lhasa, you will not miss a chance to have a cup of sweet tea in a local tea house, where you can experience leisure tea time as the locals do. Though local tea houses are always simply decorated, both poor and rich people love to come there to kill time and change information.
In fact, sweet tea is a kind of milk tea that not the specialties in Tibet, but it has already go deep into the life of Tibetans. Different with the traditional Tibetan butter tea, sweet tea is an imitation of English tea and Indian tea. But its brewing process is unique to Tibet.
Guangming Gangqiong Sweet Tea House is one of the most popular tea house in Lhasa city.
There are sweet tea houses in Tibet, especially in Lhasa, which area also the recreation rooms for Tibetans. It is a popular way for people living or staying in Lhasa to spend their leisure time by drinking sweet tea in a tea house. You can see the locals drinking sweet tea and playing chess or card together.
Local Tibetans are playing cards in a sweet tea house.
Recommended Tea House in Lhasa
Guangming Gangqiong Sweet Tea House
Located on Barkhor Street, the well-known Guangming Gangqiong Sweet Tea House is one of the oldest tea houses in Lhasa, which is just like a cafe for the locals. You can get there to have a cup of sweet tea with Tibetan noodles or Tibetan Dumplings to experience the local lifestyle with the locals.
You can also taste authentic Tibetan snacks and noodles in the tea house.
A cup of sweet tea is quite cheap, less than CNY 1, but you will get rich experience in the tea house where you can enjoy the authentic Tibet snacks and join in the real life of local Tibetans.
Leave small changes on the table for your tea.
When you get there, you first pick up glasses and find a seat. A waitress will go around the tables and pour sweet tea into your glasses. You just leave cash on the table and the lady will take the charge for the tea.
