Po cha vs noon chai
Two salted teas from the Himalayan region, both a long way from what most drinkers expect tea to be. Po cha churns brick tea with butter and salt into an emulsion; noon chai boils green tea with bicarbonate of soda until it turns pink, then finishes it with milk and salt.
tea drink
What is being compared
Point by point
| Aspect | Po cha (Tibetan butter tea) | Noon chai |
|---|---|---|
| Tea used | Compressed dark brick tea, boiled hard. | Coarse green tea, boiled long. |
| Fat | Butter, traditionally from yak milk, churned in. | Milk, added at the end. |
| The distinctive chemistry | Emulsification, which needs a churn. | Bicarbonate of soda and a cold-water shock, which produce the pink colour. |
| Colour | Beige and opaque. | Pink — a genuine chemical effect rather than an added dye. |
| Garnish | None. | Crushed pistachio or almond. |
| Where it is drunk | Across the Tibetan plateau and the Himalaya, in large daily quantities. | Kashmir and the surrounding region. |
The short answer
Both drinks make the case that salted tea is a mainstream practice rather than a curiosity, and both are frequently described in English as acquired tastes by people describing an unfamiliar one. The colour of noon chai in particular is the most common thing assumed to be artificial in the whole catalogue, and it is not.
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