All the Tea in China

[liuzhou]

This arose from this topic, where initially @Anna N asked about tea not being served at the celebratory meal I attended. I answered that it is uncommon for tea to be served with meals (with one major exception). I was then asked for further elucidation by @Smithy. I did start replying on the topic but the answer got longer than I anticipated and was getting away from the originally intended topic about one specific meal. So here were are..

 

I'd say there are four components to tea drinking in China.

a) When you arrive at a restaurant, you are often given a pot of tea which people will sip while contemplating the menu and waiting for other  guests to arrive. Dining out is very much a group activity, in the main. When everyone is there and the food dishes start to arrive the tea is nearly always forgotten about. The tea served like this will often be a fairly cheap, common brand - usually green.

 

You also may be given a cup of tea in a shop if your purchase is a complicated one. I recently bought a new lap top and the shop assistant handed me tea to sip as she took down the details of my requirements. Also, I recently had my eyes re-tested in order to get new spectacles. Again, a cup of tea was provided. Visit someone in an office or have a formal meeting and tea or water will be provided.

 

b) You see people walking about with large flasks (not necessarily vacuum flasks) of tea which they sip during the day to rehydrate themselves. Taxi drivers, bus drivers, shop keepers etc all have their tea flask.  Of course, the tea goes cold. I have a vacuum flask, but seldom use it - not a big tea fan. There are shops just dedicated to selling the drinks flasks.

 

c) There has been a recent fashion for milk tea and bubble tea here, two trends imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan respectively. It is sold from kiosks and mainly attracts younger customers. McDonald's and KFC both do milk and bubble teas.

 

Bubble and Milk Tea Stall

 

And Another

 

And another - there are hundreds of them around!

 

McDonald's Ice Cream and Drinks Kiosk.

McDonald's Milk Tea Ad

 

d) There are very formal tea tastings and tea ceremonies, similar in many ways to western wine tastings. These usually take place in tea houses where you can sample teas and purchase the tea for home use. These places can be expensive and some rare teas attract staggering prices. The places doing this pride themselves on preparing the tea perfectly and have their special rituals. I've been a few times, usually with friends, but it's not really my thing. Below is one of the oldest serious tea houses in the city. As you can see, they don't go out of their way to attract custom. Their name implies they are an educational service as much as anything else. Very expensive!

 

Tea House

Supermarkets and corner shops carry very little tea. This is the entire tea shelving in my local supermarket. Mostly locally grown green tea.

 

 

Local Guangxi Tea

 

The most expensive in the supermarket was this Pu-er Tea (普洱茶 pǔ ěr chá) from Yunnan province. It works out at ¥0.32per gram as opposed to ¥0.08 for the local stuff. However, in the tea houses, prices can go much, much higher!

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

I forgot to mention that the "tea" served in cheaper restaurants often can be hawthorn "tea" rather than real tea.

 

 

Hawthorn Tea Leaves ( 山楂茶叶  shān zhā chá yè)

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

What supermarkets and corner shops tend to sell more of is these tea based soft drinks, usually flavoured with fruit or flowers. And horribly sweet. Again, I only normally see young people drink them!

 

Left is rose and lychee flavoured black tea (red tea in Chinese) and right is pomelo flavoured green tea.

 

Blueberry Green Tea

 

Chrysanthemum Tea

 

It seems when true tea lovers want tea, they go to tea houses or markets to buy the necessary.

 

Tea on sale in the market.
 

Edited November 11, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

Thanks, @liuzhou, for taking the time to explain Chinese tea culture. Despite being a Brit and raised on tea, I still remember my 1st cup of coffee in Canada. By anybody’s standards it was quite disgusting but I’ve been a convert ever since. 
 

Just wondering what happens if you visit someone outside of meal time. Do they offer you tea?  What beverage would be served at home with meals if there were no visitors but just the family eating?

[liuzhou]

54 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Thanks, @liuzhou, for taking the time to explain Chinese tea culture. Despite being a Brit and raised on tea, I still remember my 1st cup of coffee in Canada. By anybody’s standards it was quite disgusting but I’ve been a convert ever since. 
 

Just wondering what happens if you visit someone outside of meal time. Do they offer you tea?  What beverage would be served at home with meals if there were no visitors but just the family eating?

 

You are welcome! I've rarely been offered tea in anyone's home. In fact, I am not sure I have ever been. Most times, at homes, I'd be offered water (either hot or cold), if anything. At meals, nothing other than maybe beer or rice wine (which isn't wine in any sense, but hard liquor). At restaurant meals or festive home meals, I see most people drink the same, although the non-drinkers may opt for Lilt or a local equivalent. Some sort of poisonous c*rn-based compound is often consumed by the ladies!

 

After writing what I posted, I was talking with a Chinese friend and mentioned all of this. She concurred entirely. "No, we don't drink with dinner." She also said she very seldom drinks tea, and when she does it isn't at home.

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[teonzo]

Thanks!

I have some questions.

 

 

 

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

The most expensive in the supermarket was this Pu-er Tea (普洱茶 pǔ ěr chá) from Yunnan province. It works out at ¥0.32per gram as opposed to

¥0.08 for the local stuff. However, in the tea houses, prices can go much, much higher!

 

 

Can you give the price range for some other teas like tie guan yin please? There are a handful of importers here, the cheapest pu-er I can find is sold for 50 euro/kg and it's loose leaf, so I think it's safe to say it's lower quality than the pressed one in your picture, which is sold at the equivalent of 2.70 euro/kg. This price difference seems astronomical, even considering shipping costs and import duties.

 

 

 

6 hours ago, liuzhou said:

What supermarkets and corner shops tend to sell more of is these tea based soft drinks, usually flavoured with fruit or flowers. And horribly sweet. Again, I only normally see you people drink them!

 

How is tea viewed by the millennials? Are they interested in the traditional ceremony, or do they only care about modern fads?

 

 

 

6 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Left is rose and lychee flavoured black tea (red tea in Chinese) and right is pomelo flavoured green tea.

 

Is rose + lychee a common pairing in China, or is it just a recent flavor? I'm curious about this because Pierre Hermé (now considered the best pastry chef in the world) made his big breakthrough with his Ispahan cake, which flavors are rose + lychee + raspberry. It seemed like an alien combo here, so it would be fun if he just copied something traditional that no one here knew about.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[liuzhou]

13 minutes ago, teonzo said:

Can you give the price range for some other teas like tie guan yin please?

 

I will, but have to find out first. As I said, I'm not much of a tea drinker. Will get back to you!

 

13 minutes ago, teonzo said:

How is tea viewed by the millennials? Are they interested in the traditional ceremony, or do they only care about modern fads?

 

From what an old man can gather about millennials, few are in the least interested in the traditional anything. Anywhere. Not only China. They are interested in the bubble tea and sweet vaguely tea-based soft drinks.

 

13 minutes ago, teonzo said:

Is rose + lychee a common pairing in China, or is it just a recent flavor?

 

I've only ever come across it in the context I gave. Recent, yes.

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Talking about flower teas, here are a few of the dried flowers and other plant bits used to flavour teas, as stocked by my local supermarket. It isn't only Jasmine and Chrysanthemum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Drink flasks in my local supermarket.

a) Non-vacuum

 

 

b) Vacuum

 

[Smithy]

That's quite a selection of drink flasks! I think we'd have to go to a specialty store: sporting goods, or possibly a Starbucks, to see such a variety.

 

The tea flowers are beautiful. I love the intense colors some of them have. I had no idea that peony flowers were edible. With such a variety, do you think people choose teas more for their aesthetic appeal (flavor, color) or for their supposed benefits? For instance, in the USA I see chamomile packaged in "calming" teas.

[liuzhou]

31 minutes ago, Smithy said:

That's quite a selection of drink flasks! I think we'd have to go to a specialty store: sporting goods, or possibly a Starbucks, to see such a variety.

 

The tea flowers are beautiful. I love the intense colors some of them have. I had no idea that peony flowers were edible. With such a variety, do you think people choose teas more for their aesthetic appeal (flavor, color) or for their supposed benefits? For instance, in the USA I see chamomile packaged in "calming" teas.

 

That selection of drink flasks is one of the smaller ones I've seen!

 

The flowers are mainly appreciated for their supposed medical benefits. Most have little detectable flavour. I bought that lot just to photograph them, then gave them to my dear friend, J. She was delighted!

 

Edited November 11, 2019 by liuzhou
typo (log)

[Anna N]

2 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I bought that lot just to photograph them, then gave them to my dear friend, J. She was delighted!

Now that is really taking one for the team. Thank you!

[MelissaH]

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Talking about flower teas, here are a few of the dried flowers and other plant bits used to flavour teas, as stocked by my local supermarket. It isn't only Jasmine and Chrysanthemum!

Those are beautiful. Even if they don't taste like anything much, I bet it's fun to watch them unfurl, if you have a transparent teapot.

[liuzhou]

Another place to get both real teas and flower or other teas, which I prefer to call tisanes, are these outlets. This one is very near my home, but I've never bought anything, despite its obvious popularity. It is called 瑶山凉茶 (yáo shān liáng chá) which literally means 'Jade Mountain Cold Tea'.  This does not mean it is iced teas; just room temperature. Her selection includes some real tea, but most are tisanes.

 

 

 

Her shop is at the entrance to the local market, a busy place, so she does just fine, I guess. She stays open from early morning, well into the evening.

 

Edited November 12, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[eugenep]

16 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Another place to get both real teas and flower or other teas, which I prefer to call tisanes, are these outlets. This one is very near my home, but I've never bought anything, despite its obvious popularity. It is called 瑶山凉茶 (yáo shān liáng chá) which literally means 'Jade Mountain Cold Tea'.  This does not mean it is iced teas; just room temperature. Her selection includes some real tea, but most are tisanes.

 

 

 

Her shop is at the entrance to the local market, a busy place, so she does just fine, I guess. She stays open from early morning, well into the evening.

 

 

 

thanks for sharing. what does the photo of the man with the turban and beard mean? I wonder if the clothes means he's from the Muslim western region of China? 

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, eugenep said:

what does the photo of the man with the turban and beard mean? I wonder if the clothes means he's from the Muslim western region of China? 

 

The writing below  the picture implies it is one of her ancestors, whose "secret recipes" she uses. Could be Muslim, yes. There has been a small Muslim community here for centuries.

Edited November 13, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

I have posted this before, but not in a dedicated tea topic.

 

 

虫宝茶 (chóng bǎo chá) literally means 'insect treasure tea'. The caterpillars of a certain type of moth feed on the baby tea leaves in the plantations. Their droppings are then collected by the farmers and dried. They are then used to make a refreshing cup of tea! They are mixed with regular undigested tea. It is considered medicinal and effective against stomach complaints. I tried a cup before buying this jar. It tasted like tea but with a sort of fungal taste in the background. Not bad.

 

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I tried a cup before buying this jar. It tasted like tea but with a sort of fungal taste in the background. Not bad.

Keep the tea.  But I’ll take the dish!

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Keep the tea.  But I’ll take the dish!

 

Ah! One of my teardrop dip dishes.  I have a few of those.

[Hassouni]

I just got back from a short trip to Chengdu (and a day trip to Leshan) and was pretty underwhelmed by the "standard" tea. We went to a fancy tea shop and they did a full gong fu tasting for us and that was quite nice (and of course guilts one into buying tea, though I wanted to anyway), but most restaurants just unceremoniously plopped a large metal pot of barely lukewarm, preposterously weak tea down on our table, and at the famous and quite busy He Ming teahouse in central Chengdu, there were several choices of decent-sounding teas, and fair enough, the water provided was quite hot, but the amount of tea given in the gaiwan was fairly stingy for the 20 kuai they were charging. 

 

I actually got one of those 茶π teas, the rose and lychee, from what looked like a fridge, but was heated to 38ºC. Not hot. Literally body temperature. 

 

As I understood it, the Chinese drink lots of hot things (including lots of plain hot water), but it seemed that "hot" rarely exceeded slightly warm. Is this just a phenomenon in Sichuan?

[heidih]

We had a tea shop in a local suburb that held weekly tastings. There were enthusiasts but  it could not sustain itself. I am fond of the flowering teas from a visual point of view. - the ones that open up. It was a fad a few years ago to sell special glass brewers so you could watch them unfurl. (Los Angeles Chinatown) I was fond of a peach flowering one and the globe amaranth posted earlier. I grow the latter plant but can't capture the color in my drying efforts. 99 Ranch (a huge chain) also has a great selection). For fun the amaranth at Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's estate)  The unfortunately gone local shop  https://www.teamap.com/place/2876/tea-habitat.html

Edited December 7, 2019 by heidih (log)

[KennethT]

4 hours ago, Hassouni said:

I just got back from a short trip to Chengdu (and a day trip to Leshan) and was pretty underwhelmed by the "standard" tea. We went to a fancy tea shop and they did a full gong fu tasting for us and that was quite nice (and of course guilts one into buying tea, though I wanted to anyway), but most restaurants just unceremoniously plopped a large metal pot of barely lukewarm, preposterously weak tea down on our table, and at the famous and quite busy He Ming teahouse in central Chengdu, there were several choices of decent-sounding teas, and fair enough, the water provided was quite hot, but the amount of tea given in the gaiwan was fairly stingy for the 20 kuai they were charging. 

 

I actually got one of those 茶π teas, the rose and lychee, from what looked like a fridge, but was heated to 38ºC. Not hot. Literally body temperature. 

 

As I understood it, the Chinese drink lots of hot things (including lots of plain hot water), but it seemed that "hot" rarely exceeded slightly warm. Is this just a phenomenon in Sichuan?

I've haven't been to Sichuan yet, but maybe @liuzhou can weigh in?

 

On another note, when we were in Hong Kong, we went for yum cha several times and each time, the tea was as hot as normal and used a good amount of tea. Most of the time we would get lung ching (cantonese... long jing in mandarin - otherwise called Dragon Well).  We also went to a tea class in a high end tea house where the tea master demonstrated how to make a few different teas - green, gong fu tikuanyin (oolong) and red teas, and all were what I would call perfectly done. The gong fu oolong was poured just off the boil then distributed using a small pitcher.  The green tea was poured into two small cups - one was the smelling cup whcih was tall and narrow, which my wife dubbed the "finger burning cup" and after smelling, it would go into the shorter, wider tasting cup.  Personally I didn't have a problem with the finger burning cup, but I drink a lot of chinese tea and am used to holding the cup by the edges - I think my wife held the cup further down the side where it was much hotter.

Edited December 8, 2019 by KennethT (log)

[liuzhou]

4 hours ago, Hassouni said:

most restaurants just unceremoniously plopped a large metal pot of barely lukewarm, preposterously weak tea down on our table

 

4 hours ago, Hassouni said:

it seemed that "hot" rarely exceeded slightly warm. Is this just a phenomenon in Sichuan?

 

No. It's all over. Tea is often served lukewarm or just room temperature.The exception is in more serious tea tastings, where the tea is central to the event, and it is normally hotter, but never boiling hot.

[Strongsoul]

I really like this bubble tea. It's so nice. I can't explain, but these coffee jellies in it are so delicious. 

[liuzhou]

Reviving this to say that if you are serious about your tea drinking, you require the appropriate table. I came across these "river tea tables" for sale today. You have a landscaped river scene running the length of the table and draining into what appears to  be a bucket (I've only see these photographs from their advertising).

 

They range in price from ¥900 to ¥10,000. That is the equivalent of $124 to $1375. The second picture is to the higher end of that scale, at around $900. All dollars shown are USD.