--- title: 'Tea traditions' url: 'https://howtotea.me/traditions' markdown: 'https://howtotea.me/traditions.md' lang: en date: '2026-11-03' description: 'How people drink tea in China, Japan and Korea, Europe and Russia, the Middle East, and Central, South and Southeast Asia: methods, teaware and customs.' --- # Tea traditions 茶文化 Tea left China by land and by sea, and almost everywhere it went people found their own way with it: whisking it, diluting it with boiling water, simmering it with milk, or eating it. ![A glass of tea in a holder, a bowl of matcha and a gaiwan](https://howtotea.me/images/c/o/v/e/r/cover-87164467.webp) Illustration Over more than a thousand years, [China](https://howtotea.me/traditions/china) boiled its tea with salt, whisked it to a froth and steeped the whole leaf. Each era left behind its own teaware, from the Tang brazier to the [Yixing teapot](https://howtotea.me/teaware/brewing-vessels/yixing), and its own methods, down to Chaozhou gongfu. [Japan](https://howtotea.me/traditions/japan-and-korea) preserved the whisked tea of the Song and built the [chanoyu](https://howtotea.me/traditions/japan-and-korea/chanoyu) ceremony around it. Korea's [darye](https://howtotea.me/traditions/japan-and-korea/darye), a rite centered on loose-leaf [green tea](https://howtotea.me/teas/green), took shape between the 1960s and the 1980s. The Dutch brought the first cargo of tea to [Europe](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia) in 1610, Britain first tasted it in the London coffeehouses of the 1650s, and Russia got it from Mongolia between 1616 and 1638. Across the [Middle East and Central Asia](https://howtotea.me/traditions/middle-east-and-central-asia), people dilute strong [black tea](https://howtotea.me/teas/black) with boiling water right in the glass, the Maghreb takes green tea with mint, chaikhanas serve tea in bowls, and on the steppe brick tea simmers in a cauldron with milk and salt. In [South and Southeast Asia](https://howtotea.me/traditions/south-and-southeast-asia) people boil tea with milk and spices. Tibetans churn it with butter, the Vietnamese drink it over ice, and in Myanmar the leaf is fermented and eaten. In this section - [![](https://howtotea.me/images/c/o/v/e/r/cover-465a0faf.webp) China 中国 Chinese tea past and present: Tang boiled tea, Song whisking, Ming loose leaf, water in the classics, then gongfu, chayi, teahouses, Yunnan and lei cha. ](https://howtotea.me/traditions/china)[History of Chinese tea](https://howtotea.me/traditions/china/history) · [Living traditions of China](https://howtotea.me/traditions/china/living-traditions) - [![](https://howtotea.me/images/c/o/v/e/r/cover-e947c591.webp) Japan and Korea 茶の湯 The chanoyu ceremony with matcha, senchado with leaf tea, the folk whisked furicha, and the Korean darye rite. ](https://howtotea.me/traditions/japan-and-korea)[Chanoyu: the Japanese way of tea](https://howtotea.me/traditions/japan-and-korea/chanoyu) · [Senchadō: the way of leaf tea](https://howtotea.me/traditions/japan-and-korea/senchado) · [Furicha: Japan's folk whisked teas](https://howtotea.me/traditions/japan-and-korea/furicha) · [Darye: the Korean way of tea](https://howtotea.me/traditions/japan-and-korea/darye) - [![](https://howtotea.me/images/c/o/v/e/r/cover-df352d1c.webp) Europe and Russia How Europe and Russia drink tea: the samovar and diluted zavarka, British tea with milk, East Frisian cream and rock candy, and the Dutch cargo of 1610. ](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia)[Russian tea drinking: zavarka, glass and sugar in the teeth](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/russian-tea) · [Tea in Britain and Ireland](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/british-tea) · [Tea in continental Europe](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/european-tea) - [![](https://howtotea.me/images/c/o/v/e/r/cover-229f67aa.webp) Middle East and Central Asia The Turkish çaydanlık, the Iranian guri, sweet Arab tea, mint atai, the chaikhana piala and salted steppe tea. ](https://howtotea.me/traditions/middle-east-and-central-asia)[Tea in Turkey and Azerbaijan: the çaydanlık and the armudu](https://howtotea.me/traditions/middle-east-and-central-asia/turkey) · [Tea in Iran and Afghanistan](https://howtotea.me/traditions/middle-east-and-central-asia/iran) · [Tea in the Arab world: the glass, the sugar, the qouri and karak](https://howtotea.me/traditions/middle-east-and-central-asia/arab-world) · [Atai: mint green tea of the Maghreb](https://howtotea.me/traditions/middle-east-and-central-asia/atai) · [Chaikhana and piala: tea in Central Asia](https://howtotea.me/traditions/middle-east-and-central-asia/chaikhana) · [Steppe milk tea: cauldron, brick, salt and butter](https://howtotea.me/traditions/middle-east-and-central-asia/steppe) - [![](https://howtotea.me/images/c/o/v/e/r/cover-ae2fe7b4.webp) South and Southeast Asia Masala chai and pink noon chai, milk teas from Hong Kong to bubble tea, Tibetan butter tea, Vietnamese lotus and laphet. ](https://howtotea.me/traditions/south-and-southeast-asia)[Tea in South Asia: masala chai and its neighbors](https://howtotea.me/traditions/south-and-southeast-asia/south-asia) · [Asian milk teas: from Hong Kong to bubble tea](https://howtotea.me/traditions/south-and-southeast-asia/asian-milk-teas) · [Tibetan butter tea: po cha, the dongmo churn and tsampa](https://howtotea.me/traditions/south-and-southeast-asia/tibet) · [Tea in Vietnam: chuyên trà, lotus and trà đá](https://howtotea.me/traditions/south-and-southeast-asia/vietnam) · [Tea you eat: laphet and miang](https://howtotea.me/traditions/south-and-southeast-asia/laphet-and-miang) --- ## Navigation - Previous: [Tea science](https://howtotea.me/science.md) - Next: [About](https://howtotea.me/about.md) - Children: - [Tea traditions of China](https://howtotea.me/traditions/china.md) - [Tea traditions of Japan and Korea](https://howtotea.me/traditions/japan-and-korea.md) - [Tea in Europe and Russia](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia.md) - [Tea in the Middle East and Central Asia](https://howtotea.me/traditions/middle-east-and-central-asia.md) - [Tea in South and Southeast Asia](https://howtotea.me/traditions/south-and-southeast-asia.md)