Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Suutei Tsai
Mongolia's savory salted milk tea, brewed with a green tea brick and milk, a warming, sustaining fuel for life on the steppe.
Mongolian · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 12 min
~75 cal · 4g protein · 6g carbs · 4g fat · 0g fiber · 6g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Suutei tsai is the everyday milk tea of Mongolia, and the first thing to know about it is that it is salty, not sweet, which surprises nearly every outsider. It is the constant drink of the steppe, brewed all day and offered to every guest the moment they step into a ger.
It is made from a pressed brick of green or dark tea, chipped off and boiled in a mix of water and milk with a pinch of salt; depending on household and season, a spoon of butter, fat, or even toasted may go in too, making it richer and more sustaining. It is closer to a light, savoury broth than to a Western cup of tea.
In the bitter cold of the Mongolian steppe, that salt, fat, and milk are not incidental but nourishment, calories and warmth for herders working long hours outdoors. Warming, savoury, and endlessly hospitable, suutei tsai is the liquid heart of Mongolian daily life.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 tbsp green tea (brick or loose)
2 cups water
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
1
Boil the water and add the green tea, simmering a few minutes to make a strong brew.
2
Pour in the milk and bring back to a gentle boil, ladling it up and back to aerate.
3
Add the salt to taste, it should be savory, not sweet.
4
Strain into bowls and serve piping hot.
Mongolian steppe tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ulaanbaatar. Buuz get counted in the hundreds. Families fold them in batches ahead of Tsagaan Sar, the lunar new year, and set them outside where the weather does a freezer's work, then steam them for every guest through the holiday beside a built-up tower of fried biscuits.
🗺️
Mongolia. Meat is cooked with hot stones as often as with fire. Khorkhog puts mutton and river stones together in a sealed metal churn; boodog cooks the animal from the inside, stones packed into the cavity. Buuz, the steamed dumplings, belong above all to Tsagaan Sar, the lunar new year, when households make them by the hundred and stack them for arriving guests.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Mongolia
Khuushuur (Fried Meat Pastry)Crisp deep-fried half-moon pastries filled with minced mutton, onion, and garlic, the taste of the Naadam festival.
TsuivanSteppe-style fried noodles steamed over a mutton and vegetable braise, Mongolia’s one-pan answer to a cold night.
BoortsogSimple fried dough biscuits eaten with milky, lightly salted tea across the Mongolian steppe.
Browse all Mongolia recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Mongolia meal
Guriltai Shul (Mutton Noodle Soup)Dinner
Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream)Dessert
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Shaah bil CaanoDjibouti
Kenyan ChaiKenya
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Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Suutei Tsai?
Mongolia's savory salted milk tea, brewed with a green tea brick and milk, a warming, sustaining fuel for life on the steppe.
Where does Suutei Tsai come from?
Suutei Tsai is a Mongolian dish from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Can Suutei Tsai be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Suutei Tsai recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Suutei Tsai safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Suutei Tsai take to make?
About 17 minutes total (5 minutes prep, 12 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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