Burmese tea shop culture comes to India: Try Myanmar’s paukse, palata and pulled teas
The restaurant chain Burma Burma is launching a limited-edition menu across India to introduce the traditional Burmese tea shop culture. The initiative aims to showcase Burmese culinary staples like laphet and paukse while highlighting the social significance of tea shops in Myanmar.
Why it matters
It reflects the growing trend of cultural exchange through gastronomy and the expansion of niche international cuisines in the Indian market.
In Myanmar, you can eat your tea. The country is unusual in the tea drinking world for its laphet , or fermented tea leaves, that are eaten, often tossed into a salad with tomatoes, garlic, chillies, sesame or peanuts. Tea is food here in a very literal sense. And the tea shop, where cups of sweet, milky laphet yay (traditional Burmese milk tea) arrive alongside breads, curries and fried snacks, has long been one of the most ordinary and important rooms in Burmese life.
There might be a retired teacher catching up with an old colleague at one table, students sharing homework at another, and monks or street hawkers eating breakfast at another. A football match might even play on television.
Hot and cold teas from the menu | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
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