Butter Tea (2025) – Made with Love from Tibet

Independent filmmaker Tenzin Wangchuk Tasur’s Butter Tea brings the flavor of Tibetan love and spirit of friendship to the streets of New York City.

The short film features the story of a young barista Tenzin (Rigzin Phurpatsang) from a Tibetan immigrant family whose café in Queens has the traditional butte tea on its menu but he hasn’t mastered the skill of making it by the book. But when a senior customer Dorjee (Dhamchoe) starts visiting the café and teaches him the secret of making a good cup of butter tea, the cups of hearts are filled with love and respect as well.

Butter Tea passes pretty much all the checkmarks of a good short drama set in a single location and with minimal characters yet rich in expressions and impactful in delivering the crux of the story. It’s one of the chicken-soup-for-the-soul kind of works that carries ethnic flavor with an invaluable oriental value that traditional families in the west also still enjoy – respect for seniors and acknowledging their contribution to our life on this planet.

While viewers may have to look closely to read the subtitles in white font against brightly lit background in some scenes where the dialogue is in Tibetan language and English subtitles are included, the movie’s essential filmmaking components are near perfect. It’s a great movie to watch on a cold day, holding a cup of coffee – or better yet, butter tea.

IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt40523979/

Website: https://www.tenzintasur.com/