Tea

Introduction

Tea (茶, chá) is the most important traditional drink in China and one of the country's great contributions to world food culture. Chinese teas are usually grouped by processing method into green, white, oolong, black (called red tea / 红茶 in Chinese), dark tea (including pu-erh), and yellow tea, plus flower-scented styles such as jasmine tea.

Tea is drunk plain in most of China, served at meals, banquets, and tea houses. Famous named greens and oolongs include Longjing (Dragon Well, illustrated on this page's gaiwan photo), Tieguanyin, Biluochun, and Keemun. Regional herbal infusions such as chrysanthemum tea and Guangdong-style cooling teas (凉茶) are also popular; see Chinese Drink for the wider beverage map that also lists Soy Milk, Hong Kong Milk Tea, Yuenyeung, and Bubble Tea.

Types and regional notes

Green tea leaves are heated soon after picking to stop oxidation, keeping a vegetal or chestnut aroma. Zhejiang Longjing and Jiangsu Biluochun are classic named greens; Anhui and Fujian also produce many greens for everyday cups.

Oolong sits between green and black processing. Fujian Tieguanyin and Wuyi rock teas, and Taiwanese high-mountain oolongs, are widely known; roasting level and leaf shape change aroma from floral to roasted-nutty.

Black tea (红茶) is fully oxidized. Keemun and Yunnan Dianhong are common Chinese black styles, drunk plain at home or used as the tea base for café drinks such as Hong Kong Milk Tea and Bubble Tea abroad.

White and yellow teas are lighter-processed specialties; dark tea (黑茶), including Yunnan pu-erh, is piled/fermented and often pressed into cakes for aging and travel. Flower teas (especially jasmine) scent green tea with blossoms rather than adding syrup.

Herbal and cooling drinks—chrysanthemum, Guangdong herbal 凉茶—are culturally adjacent but are usually listed under Chinese Drink rather than leaf-tea taxonomy.

Serving culture

Everyday Chinese tea service is simple: hot water over leaves in a gaiwan, covered cup, or small teapot, often without milk or sugar. Banquets may open with tea before Baijiu toasts; business and family visits commonly begin with a poured cup. Tea houses remain social spaces for conversation, light snacks from Chinese Snack trays, and slow brewing.

Cantonese yum cha pairs tea with Dim Sum; Hong Kong cafés developed milk-tea cousins (Hong Kong Milk Tea, Yuenyeung) that sit beside leaf tea on Chinese Drink. Northern breakfast culture more often pairs Soy Milk with fritters, while leaf tea remains the default table drink nationwide.

Brewing strength, water temperature, and rinse steeps vary by leaf type; home practice is flexible. The Longjing gaiwan image on this page shows a typical green-tea presentation: clear liquor, upright leaves, no milk.

See also

• Chinese Drink
• Soy Milk
• Hong Kong Milk Tea
• Yuenyeung
• Bubble Tea
• Baijiu
• Butter Tea
• Tea Egg
• Chinese Snack
• Dim Sum
• Chinese Food Map
• Guangdong Food