Drink · Milk tea

Cha Ngamo (Tibetan Sweet Tea)

📷 Closely related photo — Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

Unlike the salted butter tea more commonly associated with Tibet, this version is sweet and milky — closer to Indian chai.

Black tea is boiled with milk and sugar into a sweet, milky brew, served hot in small glasses at dedicated sweet tea houses, refilled through long sessions.

Why it's made this way: Sweet tea houses function as Lhasa's informal community living rooms, where socializing is as central as the drink itself.