Butter tea, also known as Bho jha (Tibetan: བོད་ཇ་, Wylie: bod ja, "Tibetan tea"), cha süma (Tibetan: ཇ་སྲུབ་མ་, Wylie: ja srub ma, "churned tea", Mandarin Chinese: sūyóu chá (酥油茶), su ja (Tibetan: སུ་ཇ, Wylie: Suja, "churned tea") in Dzongkha, Cha Su-kan or "gur gur cha" in the Ladakhi language and Su Chya or Phe Chya in the Sherpa language, is a drink of the people in the Himalayan regions of Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, East Turkestan, Tibet and western regions of modern-day China and Central Asia.

This is then churned until the tea reaches the proper consistency and transferred to copper pots that sit on a brazier to keep them warm.

A ceramic pot is the most widely used, while those made from copper or bronze may be used by families with a higher standard of living.

The Ganden Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, prepares traditional butter tea for their population of monks each night.

Usually the celebration is attended by the parents' friends and relatives, who bring the child gifts including yak butter tea.

[8] Tibetan Buddhism is a common practice and due to such beliefs the yak butter used in the tea is held in high regard such as Karma Palmo[clarification needed].

The Tibetan monks would consume the butter tea twice a day and on occasion enjoy the beverage with paksuma, a special rice porridge.

During a proper Sherpa funeral ceremony, it is custom for the deceased's relatives to invite the guests into their house with a cup of butter tea.

Prior to their long prayers in the afternoon, monks start the morning with butter tea and sweet rice.

[11] Butter tea in Bhutanese culture is also drunk at special occasions such as weddings and Losar.

When being hosted, guests are also typically served Suja along with Zao, puffed rice roasted with butter and sugar.