About us

The Shanghai Tea House philosophy is to provide patrons with an exciting new Oriental Experience with authentic Shanghai food, Yum Cha and traditional Tea.

The Yum Cha style menu provides quick, easy to eat meals which generate a fantastic buzz in the air filled with the wonderful aromas of freshly made Mouth Watering Chinese Food and Tea.

We will be also be serving traditional Chinese tea – Black, Green, Red, Oolong, Jasmine, Herbal teas and Fruit Flavoured teas. The essence and taste of these teas are integrated carefully with the food and atmosphere in a contemporary style to create a wonderful dining experience.

We have also set an area aside where patrons can experience the traditional Chinese Tea making process which involves the staff in explaining and demonstrating the process step by step in order to appreciate the flavour of the tea and enhance the experience.

The tea products and various tea accessories will be available for sale.

Bookings for Yum Cha will be recommended but not essential.

The art of drinking and serving tea plays a major cultural role in China. It inspires poetry and song. Mutual love of tea cements lifelong friendships. For centuries, the ritual of preparing and serving tea has held a special place in the hearts and minds of Chinese Aristocracy, court officials, intellectuals and poets. The Chinese tea ceremony emphasis the tea, what the tea tastes like, smells like, and how one tastes compared to the previous tea, or in successive rounds of drinking. Each step in the ritual is meant to be a sensory exploration and appreciation.

Most teas used in the Chinese tea ceremony are grown in the rolling countries of Southeast China at around 4,000 feet. These teas are particularly refined, such as oolong teas which are lightly fermented and red teas that can be moderately to heavily ferment.

This style of tea drinking uses small cups to match the small unglazed tea pots; each cup is just large enough to hold about two small swallows of tea. Each pot of tea serves three to four rounds and up to five or six, depending on the tea and the server. The goal is that each round tastes the same as the first. Creating consistent flavour is where the mastery is.

Step 1 – the patrons are shown the various utensils used in the ceremony and their purpose.

Step 2 – water heated to about 95 degrees is used to wash and heat the pot and cups.

Step 3- The presenter shows the tea, puts the tea in the tea ladle and allows the patrons to see the colour and smell the tea aroma

Step 4 – The wooden ring is place on top of the pot and hot water is poured over the pot and into the pot

Step 5 – First pour is discarded as it is use to wash the tea

Step 6 – next and subsequent pours is placed in the little tall cups, the cups are inverted to release the tea into the drinking cup

Step 7 – the presenter shows patrons how to smell the tea aroma before enjoying the flavour.

In addition snacks are provided that complement the tea tasting.

To facilitate the demonstration of the tea ceremony, we have two dedicated booths at the restaurant that can accommodate somewhere between 6 and 12 people.