Burmese tea shop culture comes to India: Try Myanmar’s paukse, palata and pulled teas

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.