Mongolian Milk Tea at Positivity Cafe

I recently checked out an authentic Mongolian cuisine joint, Positivity Cafe, for a meal, and to my delight, they served us a pot of traditional Mongolian milk tea in this cute tea set on a complimentary basis.

Mongolian milk tea is also called suutei tsai, which is distinguished by the salt they add to it. Apparently, most people aren't used to salt in tea, but having experienced how salt goes extremely well with complex flavours such as milk and miso (or just think salted caramel), I actually thought it was a highlight.

But first, how did it taste? It tasted like a savoury meat broth or consommé, would be a quick summary. There was no sugar in it. I think this version used black tea instead of green, as it did not taste woody or grassy. Also, it was light and not too thick. They did not seem to have used a lot of milk, as it was not opaque at all - the slightly green tinge you see in the picture is the hue of the teacup underneath the milk tea. My friend said it was like chicken soup, while I thought it was a bit more like mutton soup.

Apart from the salt, the other peculiar thing to me, which my friend did not notice for some reason, was that it tasted somewhat gamey. Like in some mutton soups or lamb pies. I tried it many times and it was just so present to me, so I do not think I imagined it. At first, I thought it might have been some raw milk, sheep milk or camel milk, but the waitress said none was added. After I left the cafe, I tried researching this, and apparently, sometimes tail butter (also known as sheep tail fat or tail butter) is added to enhance the richness. If so, that might explain what I was tasting. The only other potential ingredient that is sometimes added is fried millet, but this did not seem like a grain taste.

Overall, I would actually love this as a warm and comforting drink if I wanted something savoury instead of sweet! However, I could not get used to the gamey taste, so perhaps if I can find a version without the sheep tail butter, that would be awesome.

And just for fun and pretty pictures, we also ordered Mongolian dumplings (beef) and Mongolian meat pastry (chicken). I loved both! They tasted authentic, like cuisine I tried from Eastern European places or when I visited Central Asia. Great experience overall.