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Chinese Tea House: The Customary Place of Leisure

It is a well-known fact that next to plain water, the most populardrink on earth is tea.In China, almost

every aspect of the growing and production of traditional teas is controlled.The Chinese drink green

teas and some oolongs without milk, and black teas are produced solely for export.Tea drinking in

China has long been considered as a Chinese socialactivity.Stories have it that tea drinking began

from the Tang Dynasty, when the Buddhist monks gathered to drink their brew aftermeditation.The

practice soon spread to the general public, while the refinedscholars that time endeavored to perfect

the art of tea drinking.Then, as the volume of tea production increased, the number of Chinese tea

houses began to flourish, particularly in the SongDynasty (960 - 1279).From the Song Dynasty, the

number of Chinese tea houses peakedin the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911).By that period, both the

style and function of the Chinese teahouses had become diversified.The tea houses started to adopt

elegant setting decorated withpaintings, bonsai and calligraphy.They sold only tea.There were also

others that combined Chinese tea house andChinese restaurant and offered the traditional brew.

Some locally flavored snacks were also offered at these settings.Style of a Chinese Tea HouseToday's

Chinese tea houses can be divided into three differentstyles: the traditional, modern and fusion.In

the first place, the traditional tea house aim to promote thenational culture while offering an urban

hub for leisure and business.The modern variety is represented by the Taiwanese styled eatery. At

these modern settings, the main attraction is a sweetened low-graded green or red tea, which is

added with small sticky taro balls.Lastly, the fusion type, as the name implies, is a combination of

thetwo styles. According to some resources, the Chinese tea houses, especially thetraditional type,focus mainly on cultivating a taste for pleasure.The tea houses are more expensive than the Chinese

coffee shops, but the cost includes a choice of tea as well as an assortment of snacks like melon

seeds, biscuits, preserved plums, and candies.The visitors at these tea houses usually sit on cushions

at low tables to drink the fine quality Chinese teas.Their tea is often brewed in a tiny, Satsuma-sized

teapot, and thenpoured into even smaller cups.Reports noted that the teapot may be infused three

or four times.In the Chinese tea house, the drinking of tea is generally aboutappreciating tea for its

aroma, appearance, and flavor, rather thanthe quenching of thirsts.For the Chinese, it is a special

occasion, without formal dress, at which small snacks accompany the tea.Chinese Tea House Today

These days, most of the tea houses in China are scattered in thecity.They are usually set up on bridge

piers along the river, to provide aresting place for the visitors and travelers coming afar. Although not

large in size, the tea houses are neat in configuration. As many have claimed, they look like pergolas

to some extent.The tea served in tea houses vary from green tea to black tea, along with local

delicacies and desserts.There are some instances that one comes in the early morning andorder a pot

of tea, chat and enjoy the warm sunshine at the sametime, until the tea house closes in twilight. At

this setting, refills for the tea are given free of charge as long asthe cup is left open