Teahouse

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A teahouse

Some cultures have a variety of distinct tea-centered establishments of different types, depending on the national tea culture. For example, the British or American tearoom serves afternoon tea with a variety of small snacks.

East Asia

Throughout China and Japan, a teahouse (Chinese: 茶館, cháguăn or 茶屋, cháwū; Japanese: chaya (茶屋); Standard Nepali: chiya ghar (चिया घर)) is traditionally a place which offers tea to its customers. People gather at teahouses to chat, socialize and enjoy tea, and young people often meet at teahouses for dates. The Guangdong (Cantonese) style teahouse is particularly famous outside of China, especially in Nepal's Himalayas. These teahouses, called chálou (茶樓) serve dim sum (點心), and these small plates of food are enjoyed alongside tea.

Before tea was used as a social drink, Buddhist monks drank it to aid their meditation.^[2] During the Chinese adaptation of Buddhism between 200 C.E. and 850 C.E., tea was introduced as a medicinal herb. It was then evolved to assist Buddhist monks in their meditation by providing the energy needed to stay awake (likely via the effects of caffeine as a stimulant on the brain). Soon after that, tea was popularized as a commonplace beverage, replacing the previously consumed milk- and water-based beverages and Chinese teahouses provided a new kind of social life for the Chinese during the 8th-9th centuries C.E.^[3]

According to Japanese cultural tradition, a teahouse ordinarily refers to a private structure designed for holding Japanese tea ceremonies. This structure and specifically the room in it where the tea ceremony takes place is called chashitsu (茶室, literally "tea room"). The architectural space called chashitsu was created for aesthetic and intellectual fulfillment.

During the Edo period, the term "teahouse" came to refer to the place where geisha would entertain their clients or as a place where couples seeking privacy could go.^{[citation needed]} In this case, the establishment was referred to as an ochaya, literally meaning "tea house"; however, these establishments only served tea incidentally. Though the usage of the term chaya for teahouses in the modern sense is now considered archaic - with modern tearooms known as kissaten, serving tea as well as coffee - the term ochaya is still used in Kyoto to refer to the establishments where geisha perform and entertain clients.^[4]

Central and West Asia

In Central Asia, the term "teahouse" refers to several variations on teahouses found in different countries; these include the shayhana in

In Myanmar, teahouses known as laphetyay saing (လက်ဖက်ရည်ဆိုင်), formerly known as kaka saing (ကာကာဆိုင်), are a staple of urban centers throughout the country. These teahouses, which first emerged during the British colonial era, serve milk tea and a variety of delicacies ranging from native dishes like mohinga to Indian fritters (such as paratha and puri) or Chinese pastries (such as baozi and youtiao).^[6] Tea shops have traditionally served as venues akin to conversational salons.^[7]

South Asia

In

Tea drinking is a pastime closely associated with the English.^[8] A female manager of London's Aerated Bread Company is credited with creating the bakery's first public tearoom in 1864,^[9] which became a thriving chain.^[10] Tea rooms were part of the growing opportunities for women in the Victorian era.

In the UK today, a tea room is a small room or restaurant where beverages and light meals are served, often having a sedate or subdued atmosphere.

In France, a tea room is called Salon de thé, and pastries and cakes are served. It seems that having a separate teahouse was a tradition in many European countries.^{[citation needed]}

In the Czech Republic, the tea room culture has been spreading since the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and today, there are nearly 400 tea rooms^[12] (čajovny) in the country (more than 50 just in Prague), which is according to some sources^[13] Europe's largest concentration of tea rooms per capita.

In Kosovo, there are teahouses known as "çajtore".^[14]

Relationship to nineteenth-century temperance movement

The popularity of the tea room rose as an alternative to the pub in the UK and US during the temperance movement in the 1830s. The form developed in the late nineteenth century, as Catherine Cranston opened the first of what became a chain of Miss Cranston's Tea Rooms in Glasgow, Scotland, and similar establishments became popular throughout Scotland. In the 1880s, fine hotels in both the United States and England began to offer tea service in tea rooms and tea courts, and by 1910 they had begun to host afternoon tea dances as dance crazes swept both the US and the UK. Tea rooms of all kinds were widespread in Britain by the 1950s. In the following decades, cafés became more fashionable, and tea rooms became less common.

Other meanings and related words

The term "tea shop" may also refer to a retail shop selling dry tea to take home. Dry tea (first, as loose leaves, and then in

In the workplace, the term tea room ("break room" in North America) is a room set aside for employees to relax, specifically a work break refreshment. Traditionally, a staff member serving hot drinks and snacks at a factory or office was called a tea lady, although this position is now almost defunct.

Tea is a prominent feature of

• Cha chaan teng, Hong Kong eating establishments (literally "tea restaurant")
• Coffeehouse
• Dabang (Korea), the Korean word for such establishments
• Nakamal, a traditional meeting place in Vanuatu, where kava is drunk

Other

• Tea garden, see pleasure garden
• Teahouse scam
  , a type of fraud
• The Teahouse of the August Moon, a novel and works derived from it
• Yum cha - "going for dim sum", a sort of Cantonese brunch
• Tea ceremony

References