Sichuan has grown tea for two thousand years, and Chengdu's teahouse culture is a direct inheritance from the region's market towns, where tea houses served as court, office and news exchange. The classic Chengdu teahouse is not a cafe. It is an open-sided timber hall, shaded by trees, with bamboo armchairs, a tiled floor and a covered bowl of tea refilled all afternoon for the price of the first pour.
Heming Teahouse
The most famous is inside People's Park, a few minutes from Tianfu Square. It is a large, low building wrapped around a courtyard, usually full. Order jasmine or green tea, take a bamboo chair, and settle in. Nobody will hurry you. A covered tea bowl can be topped up for hours, and this is exactly what people come for.
Ear cleaning
The other tradition here is cai er, an ear-cleaning service performed with a set of long metal tools, a tuning fork and a small brush. The practitioner works in the open air beside the tea tables, and the sound of the tuning fork vibrating against the tools is part of the experience. It is a genuine folk craft with a long history in Sichuan and it is entirely optional; a small fee is agreed beforehand. Visitors with ear conditions should skip it.
Other teahouses
The old lanes of Kuanzhai Xiangzi and the riverside teahouses along the Jin River offer the same experience with fewer people. Smaller neighborhood teahouses throughout the city are cheaper and often more talkative.
Practical notes
Tea is charged per person with unlimited refills of hot water; expect to spend two hours minimum, which is the point. Snacks such as sunflower seeds and dried fruit are sold at the tables. Cash is rarely used; phone payment is standard. Weekday afternoons are the calmest and the most local.
