JANVI TOURS

Canton people love to drink tea, especially morning tea. They always send their morning greetings to each other by asking “Drink tea already?”, which shows that tea drinking has already merged with the local-life of Canton people. And there’s an old saying that “one pot of tea in the early morning, no more hospital in a lifetime.” When Canton people say “drink tea”, it means drinking tea in a tea house. Not only to drink tea, but also eat Dim Sum as breakfast; not only morning tea, but also afternoon tea and late-night tea; not only to get full, but also to spread the news, talk about friendship, or discuss business. Thus it can be seen that tea drinking is, in fact, a way of socializing for Canton people, and it has turned into not only a kind of lifestyle, but also a very important culture. And this is the most fundamental reason why the tea house business in Guangzhou has been kept its flag flying for hundreds of years.

The Canton “tea guest” can be divided into two different kinds: one kind is the “familiar guest” who goes to the same tea house every morning and order the “1+2” for breakfast which refers to one rib rice and two kinds of Dim Sum. These guests are mostly retired, elder citizens. The other kind is the ones who drink the weekend tea, which only go to the tea house in the non-working days. There is no restriction on the choice of food, but to try different kinds of Dim Sum and enjoy the time with friends and family.

There are three-time slots for tea drinking, which are morning, afternoon and late at night. Morning tea is the most prosperous slot, there’s almost no empty seat in those famous tea houses from early morning till around 11 AM. Late-night tea also became more and more popular especially in the summertime, people can enjoy tea and Dim Sum while listening to the Cantonese opera under cool air-conditioner. The morning tea in Guangzhou usually starts at 4 in the early morning and ends at late night around 1-2 AM.