Tibetan dietary culture has a long history. According to historical records, Xizang has developed irrigated farmland as early as around the first century AD, and began to combine pasturing land and farmland into one. These farmland and pasturing land provide rich tsamba and butter for the royal family and civilians. Subsequently, the discovery of lake salt and the introduction of tea and porcelain bowls from the Central Plains further enriched the Tibetan dietary culture.

Tea, tsamba, butter and beef and mutton are known as the "four treasures" of Xizang's diet. Tea has been loved by Tibetan people since it was introduced into Xizang, which is closely related to the topography, climate and diet of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. In Xizang, tea has various practices and drinking customs. Buttered tea is made by boiling brick tea or black tea until the color turns red, and then stirring with butter and salt. If walnut kernels, raisins, eggs, and milk are added when brewing tea, the tea will be sweeter, more delicious, and fragrant, making it the best beverage for entertaining guests. Sweet tea is also a favorite drink of the Tibetan people, which is made by adding milk and sugar to black tea when boiling it. Enjoying sweet tea houses is a beloved way for Tibetan people to pass the time.

Drinking tea has tea customs. After the guests are seated, the hosts will respectfully serve butter tea. When pouring tea, first gently shake the teapot several times, and the bottom of the teapot must be lower than the tabletop. Guests should not be too hasty or make noise when drinking tea. They should slowly blow open the floating butter on the surface and drink it several times. After drinking most of it, the host should add tea and continue drinking. As the Tibetan proverb goes, “Drinking only one bowl becomes an enemy.” It is believed that drinking three bowls of tea is auspicious and one cannot leave just after drinking one bowl.

Tibetan people are also very particular about tea utensils. There are pottery pots, copper pots, lead pots, silver pots, and even gold pots used to make butter tea. Only hereditary nobles can possess golden pots. The pottery pot is a popular utensil among the public. It is filled with a pot of butter tea, placed on top of cow dung and ashes to keep warm, and covered with a cotton pad. It can be consumed anytime. Tibetan people cherish tea bowls, which include wooden bowls, porcelain bowls, jade bowls, etc. The most commonly used is wooden bowls.