Tongba & the Warmth of the Hills

Tongba is eastern Nepal's answer to mulled wine: fermented finger millet packed into a tall bamboo vessel, filled with boiling water, and sipped slowly through a pipsing—a bamboo straw with a filtered bottom. As the hot water steeps through the fermented grains, it releases a gentle, warming, mildly alcoholic brew with a flavor profile reminiscent of sourdough and honey. It is a drink designed for communal storytelling; as the vessel is refilled with hot water, the conversation continues, and the brew remains potent. At Brewstation, we source our millet from the Limbu highlands of the east, where the fermentation process is still treated as a sacred family secret. We serve it during the cooler winter evenings in Tilottama, providing a space where the ancient traditions of the hills meet the modern traveler.