Editor’s Note:  Coffee or tea? That is the question diners are often asked. Many Westerners are likely to choose coffee, while Chinese prefer tea. Tea is the national drink in China and serves as an important part of Chinese history, tradition and culture.

Eat, drink, live China

Tea picking season    

Experts brew ideas for China tea

Coffee or tea?

That is the question diners are often asked.

Nation's tea culture brews up lovely surprise 

Even before I came to China, I was excited to come to a country that also had a rich and long-established tea culture.                     

 "Huishan tea party" depicts Wen Zhengming and a few friends in Wuxi Huishan tea. Two people sit on the ground in chating well, Wen Zhengming unrolling odes, friends in the listening pines; a child Beicha tea, tea stove is boiling water, tea table with all kinds of tea.  

To chitchat in Chengdu tea houses

Tea housesare traditional places that give the most expression to Chengdu’s leisurely pace of life.[more] 

Take a tea break in Taihu Lake

A homestay on an island in Taihu Lake is a welcome retreat from the hustle and bustle of urban life.  [more]

Big city attracts expats with small-town feel

Walking around Chengdu, a big city in southwestern China, tends to make people feel about the same as they would in Beijing, Shanghai or other big cities. [more]

Tea's refreshing change
Rather than while away their time in coffee shops like most of their peers, Li Jiayi and her friends are happy to spend 1,000 yuan ($158, 122 euros) between them over a pot of tea.  [more]

China National Tea Museum 
The museum is comprised of four groups of buildings which display the history and development of tea in China. [more]

Teahouses in Beijing
These teahouses are a good reflection of Beijing tea culture and are truly worth a thoughtful observer's eye. [more] 

Always tea time in Chengdu
It has been said that China has the best teahouses in the world, and Chengdu has the best teahouses in China.[more] 

Tea ceremony: more than drinking tea 
The tea ceremony is an important part in drinking tea, also called the Kung Fu Tea Ceremony. [more]

Jinshan Tea Culture
Jingshan Temple was well known for its extensive and profound tea culture and listed as “the No 1 Zen Temple in South East China” during the Southern Song Dynasty.[more]

Old town on the tea-horse road--Du Kezong 
In Shangri-La, there's an old town named Du Kezong, which means the white rock city in Tibetan language.[more]