Tea Meals

Explore Tea Meals through the ways tea meets ingredients, cooking and regional food traditions.

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Tea Meals 6 recipes

Chinese Tea-Soaked Rice

Tea liquor; tea type varies by region and household, with historical Jiangnan sources mentioning Jie tea and modern Nanjing memories mentioning Longjing tea dust · Tea liquor in cooking

A long-standing home-style tea food found in Jiangnan and other parts of China. Hot tea is poured directly over already cooked rice so the tea aroma moves between the grains, with pickles, fermented black beans, fermented bean curd, salted duck egg or other salty accompaniments served alongside. Historical texts also call it cha tao fan.

Gongcheng Oil Tea

Large-leaf green tea (traditional oil-tea leaves) · Direct ingredient

A representative traditional tea food of Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County in Guilin, Guangxi. Large-leaf green tea is stir-fried and pounded with ginger, garlic and oil, then simmered with water, strained and seasoned. It is commonly eaten with fried rice, peanuts, crisp snacks and glutinous-rice cakes, and serves both as everyday food and as an important Yao hospitality and life-cycle custom.

Hakka Lei Cha Rice

Green tea or fresh tea leaves, depending on regional Hakka practice · Direct ingredient

A traditional Hakka meal form in which tea leaves, peanuts, sesame and related ingredients are ground into a paste and mixed with hot water to make lei cha soup. Rice and side dishes such as seasonal vegetables, beans, preserved radish and peanuts are prepared separately, then combined with the soup at the table. Tea type and accompaniments vary significantly among Hakka regions.

Mongolian Pot Tea

Brick tea used as a traditional milk-tea base; Qingzhuan brick tea is common in some regions · Tea liquor in cooking

A traditional Mongolian tea food built on salted milk tea made from brick tea, fresh milk and salt, then enriched with fried millet, butter, milk tofu, milk skin, cheese, air-dried beef and other solid foods. It is both a tea and a meal, important in grassland breakfast and hospitality.

Tsampa Mixed with Butter Tea

Compressed tea used as the base for butter tea, commonly brick tea or tuocha · Tea liquor in cooking

A traditional Tibetan way of eating tsampa: roasted barley flour is mixed with hot Tibetan butter tea and kneaded by hand into soft lumps. Some traditional versions also add extra butter, milk curds or white sugar, while others such as gyomada are mixed into a thinner porridge-like consistency.

Wuyi Tea Noodles

Fresh tea-shoot juice · Direct ingredient

A representative tea food in the modern Wuyishan tea-banquet system, made by kneading dough with juice from fresh tea shoots and rolling it into noodles. The noodle body takes on a light green color and fresh tea aroma, and current Ministry of Culture and Tourism tea-tour materials continue to list it among Wuyishan's well-known tea foods.