page_title: Teahouse
section_title: Asia
hierarchical_section_title: Teahouse / Asia
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Yu Yuan Garten中文: 湖心亭
context_page_description: A teahouse or tearoom is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment which only serves cream teas. Although the function of a tearoom may vary according to the circumstance or country, teahouses often serve as centers of social interaction, like coffeehouses.
  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 cakes.
context_section_description: In China, Japan and Nepal, a teahouse (茶館 cháguăn or 茶屋 cháwū; Standard Nepali: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 tea as an aid to their meditation.
  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 thereafter, tea popularized as a commonplace beverage (replacing the previously consumed milk- and water-based beverages) as Chinese teahouses provided a new kind of social life for the Chinese during the 8th-9th centuries C.E.
  In Japanese 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.
  In Japan during the Edo period, the term "teahouse" could also refer to a place of entertainment with geisha or as a place where couples seeking privacy could go. In this case the establishment was referred to as an ochaya (お茶屋), which literally meant "tea house". However, these establishments only served tea incidentally, and were instead dedicated to geisha entertainment or to providing discreet rooms for visitors. This usage is now archaic. Contemporary Japanese go to modern tearooms called kissaten on main streets to drink black or green tea as well as coffee.
  In Myanmar (Burma), teahouses known as laphetyay saing (လက်ဖက်ရည်ဆိုင်) and 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 (e.g., paratha, poori, etc.) or Chinese pastries (e.g., baozi, youtiao, etc.). Tea shops have traditionally served as venues akin to conversational salons.
  In Central Asia the term teahouse could refer to Shayhana in Kazakh, Chaykhana in Kyrgyz and Choyxona in Uzbek, which literally means a tea room.  In Tajikistan, the largest teahouses are the Orient Teahouse, Chinese Teahouse, and Orom Teahouse in the city of Isfara. On the 15th anniversary of the independence of Tajikistan, the people of Isfara presented the Isfara Teahouse to the city of Kulyab for its 2700th anniversary on September 2006.  Teahouses are present in other parts of Central Asia, notably in Iran and also Turkey. Such teahouses may be referred to, in Persian, as Chay-Khaneh, or in Turkish, çayhane—literally, the "house of tea".  These teahouses usually serve several beverages in addition to tea.
  In Arab countries such as Egypt, establishments that serve tea, coffee and herbal teas like karkade are referred to as ahwa or maqha (Arabic: مقهى‎) and are more commonly translated into English as coffeehouse.
  In Pakistan, the prominent Pak Tea House is an intellectual tea–café located in Lahore known as the hub of Progressive Writers' Movement.
caption: A teahouse at night in Yu Yuan Garden, Shanghai
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