Chongqing's teahouses are not designed for visitors. They are rooms with concrete floors, low bamboo or wooden stools, square tables, enamel cups and thermos flasks, where men and women in their sixties and seventies spend the morning over tea, cigarettes and mahjong. The oldest and best known sits in a former transport company building in the Huangjueping area, in a high-ceilinged hall with light coming in from the roof, and it has been in continuous use for decades.
How it works
You sit down, someone brings a covered cup of tea and a thermos, and you top yourself up for as long as you like. Tea is green or jasmine, cheap, and unlimited. Mahjong sets are available, cards are played, newspapers are read and arguments are had at volume. Nobody will hurry you and nobody will ask whether you want anything else. Payment is settled when you leave, in cash or by phone.
Where to go
The classic teahouses are in the older neighbourhoods rather than the centre: around Ciqikou, in Huangjueping near the art college, in the lanes of the Nan'an district, and in the parks, where courtyard teahouses fill up on sunny mornings. Hotel lobbies and riverside cafes serve tea too, but they are a different thing entirely.
What to eat with it
Teahouses usually offer a small menu: peanuts, sunflower seeds, dried tofu, sometimes noodles or a bowl of sweet glutinous rice. Barbershops in the same streets still shave with a straight razor and clean ears with long steel tools, and a shave at a chair in the open air is part of the same culture.
Practical notes
Go between 8 and 11 a.m. for the full room; the light and the atmosphere are better in the morning in any case. Ask before photographing anyone - most people will agree, but the request matters. Bring small notes, and expect to be the object of friendly curiosity if you are the only foreigner in the room.
