What Is the Tea Used in Chinese Restaurants?
When entering a Chinese restaurant, you’re likely to receive a pot of tea right away. Just this easy action has a rich background in culture, history and cooking just like Jasmine tea. You might have never stopped to ask — what kind of tea servers at Chinese restaurants. Is this just another type of tea or is it something extra?
Here, we will look at the teas usually found in Chinese restaurants, their reasons for being served, their benefits for your health and how you can enjoy them yourself at home.
What Makes Chinese Restaurants Serve Tea?
For the Chinese, tea is seen as a sign of care, history and balance. It’s been traditional for many centuries to have a cup of tea before eating a meal. It gets the palate ready, helps your digestion and can relax you.
The reasons Chinese restaurants offer tea are:
- To help you digest a meal if you are eating a lot
- To enjoy the second course more, it’s good to cleanse the palate.
- To make Chinese meals more interesting.
As a way to avoid sugary beverages. The next step is to learn about the teas you’re drinking at your favorite Chinese place.
Jasmine Tea
What You’ll Usually See at Chinese Restaurants
Jasmine tea is the tea that is offered most often at both Chinese-American and traditional Chinese restaurants. The jasmine flowers used to scent it give this green tea its soft and floral smell and taste.
Characteristics:
- The color is mostly pale yellow.
- Sweet and floral tender scent
- A wonderful and light sensation
What makes it so popular.
- You can serve this with almost all Chinese dishes.
- A floral smell refreshes and uplifts you
- Green tea base gives the drink extra antioxidants.
- Jasmine tea helps relax you and soothes your palate when eating spicy, fatty or salty meals from Chinese cooking, for example, Kung Pao Chicken or Dim Sum.
Oolong Tea
A Taste That’s Worth It
This type of tea is partial oxidized which makes it like neither green nor black tea. You’ll often find these dishes on the menu in Cantonese restaurants and Dim Sum parlors.
Characteristics:
- Color is from amber to dark brown
- A flavor that comes from the earth with a hint of toasty taste
- More potent than green tea, but lighter than black
The Reason It’s Eaten:
- Supports the breakdown of fatty meals (such as Dim Sum and pork dishes)
- Gives a pleasing scent and makes for a wonderful conclusion to a meal
- Popular in many parts of Southern China
- Many Dim Sum restaurants across Hong Kong and Southern China use the Tie Guan Yin variety of oolong tea.
Pu-erh Tea is called Puer Tea
Deep and Aged Tea
As with wine, Pu-erh taste becomes better with each year it ages. Most often you will find it in more authentic or sophisticated Chinese restaurants, especially in the place where it started, Yunnan province.
Characteristics:
- Dark almost to the point of being black
- Slightly earthy, robust with a slight sharpness
- It can be made into tea again after it’s used.
Why This Happened:
- Supposed to lower cholesterol levels
- Great for your digestive system
- A distinctive flavor that brings out the best in heavy or greasy meals
While most people don’t order pu-erh tea casually, it is much-loved by tea experts and can make dining more special.
Chrysanthemum Tea
Floral Herbal is the name I use for the project.
Chrysanthemum tea is an herbal drink made without caffeine from dried chrysanthemum flowers. You’ll find it served hot in northern China, either on its own or when mixed with pu-erh.
Characteristics:
- Shades of light yellow or golden mixed together
- A pleasant smell of flowers
- Cool by nature and easy to keep light
How This Choice Was Made:
- Keeps vehicles from overheating in warm conditions
- It is thought to help clear internal blockages that lead to heat in TCM
- Elderflower is usually enjoyed in the summer season or after a meal of spicy foods.
- This means it contains no caffeine, so it’s perfect for people of any age.
Bo-Lay Tea (Meaning Cantonese Style Black Tea)
Bo-Lay is the Cantonese name for Pu-erh, though when you order it in these restaurants, it usually means a more gentle and lightened version of fermented black tea, sometimes combined with Chrysanthemum or other herbs.
Characteristics:
- Nice and grounded
- Slightly astringe
- very warm
In Cantonese regions, including Guangzhou and Hong Kong, this tea is offered as a common restaurant drink.
Is the type of tea different in different parts of China?
Absolutely. The tea offered in Chinese restaurants often varies depending on the area of China the dish comes from.
Look out its Types
Region The Area’s Main Type of Tea
Oolong, Pu-erh and Bo-Lay are all types of Cantonese tea.
Either a cup of Sichuan Jasmine or a cup of Green Tea
In the north of China, its residents drink chrysanthemum tea.
Tie Guan Yin from Fujian, also known as Oolong
Made in Yunnan and known as Pu-erh Tea
The sweet, fragrant taste of jasmine tea makes it the favorite choice for many restaurant guests in the West.
How Chinese Restaurant Tea is Good for Your Health
Most of the teas at Chinese restaurants are healthy for you. Here you’ll find some typical examples:
- They Help Your Digestion: Both pu-erh and oolong break up oily and fatty foods.
- Taking jasmine and green tea helps to prevent inflammation
- Helps the Body Relax: Drinking chrysanthemum tea can help soothe the body.
- It’s believed that drinking pu-erh tea can reduce levels of LDL cholesterol
- Support your heart’s health by consuming Oolong and green tea.
Is It Possible to Make at Home?
Yes! Not only can you get restaurant-style teas online, but also at the Asian grocery store near you. Let’s see how you can make a simple Jasmine tea at home.
Ingredients:
- Use 1 teaspoon of loose jasmine tea (replaced with 1 tea bag if you prefer)
- A temperature of 80°C (175°F) for hot water
Instructions:
Bring the water to a simmer, just before it’s about to boil. Put the jasmine tea in your water and let it steep for 2–3 minutes.
If you are using loose tea, run it through a strainer and pour the tea as soon as it is hot. You may also like to steep oolong or pu-erh tea instead. Most of these teas can be brewed more than once and each time tastes different.
Final Thoughts
The tea when dining at a Chinese restaurant is important — it honors traditions that have lasted for many years. All teas—whether they taste light or earthy—help to improve your meal.
When you drink tea from that small cup in the future, you’ll understand fully why you should care about it. If you’d like to learn more about tea and dishes from across Asia, keep reading. You can subscribe to our blog or tell us about your favorite way to enjoy tea in the comments.