Salted Milk Tea 奶茶

Salted Milk Tea (奶茶) is brick tea mixed with boiled milk, hot water and salt. The Keketuohai Scenic Area Management Committee in Altay calls it the most important item of Kazakh food and drink, and in Ürümqi (乌鲁木齐) Xinjiang milk tea (新疆奶茶) is one of the common drinks.

How it is made

Kazakh herders mostly make it from brick tea or Fu tea (茯茶), a compressed dark tea. The tea is simmered in a pot over a low fire until it smells strongly and turns a reddish colour. Cow's or sheep's milk is brought to the boil slowly, so that a thick layer of cream forms on top, and a supply of boiling water is kept ready. The milk, salt, tea and hot water are then combined in a small bowl.

How it is drunk

Among Kazakh herders milk tea goes with every meal of the day, and a saying holds that one can go a day without food but not a day without tea. A guest in a herder's felt yurt is always offered milk tea first, as the opening step of hospitality, and refusing it is taken as disrespect to the host. A guest who has had enough covers the mouth of the bowl with a hand, and the host stops refilling it. If there are many guests and the tea runs short, the hostess lifts the lid of the pot as a sign of apology.

Where it comes from

In Ürümqi, milk tea sits alongside black tea, brick tea, pomegranate juice and mare's milk among the city's common drinks. In April 2026 the Xinjiang Catering Association included Xinjiang milk tea in its list of the region's ten classic drinks.