teahouse

Yugao-tei, Kanazawa

Ihōan at Kōdai-ji in Kyoto

Tchai-Ovna, Glasgow

A tea house or tearoom is a venue centered on drinking tea. Their function varies widely depending on the culture, and some cultures have a variety of distinct tea-centered houses or parlors that all qualify under the English language term "tea house" or "tea room."

Asia

China

See also: Chinese tea culture, Hong Kong tea culture, and Taiwanese Tea Culture

In China, a tea house (茶馆, "cháguăn" or 茶屋, "cháwū") is traditionally quite similar to the American "cafe", albeit centered around tea rather than coffee. People gather at tea houses to chat, socialize, and enjoy tea. Young people often meet at tea houses for dates.

Japan

Main article: Chashitsu

In Japanese tradition a tea house (茶室, chashitsu lit. "tea room") can refer to a structure designed for holding Japanese tea ceremonies. Tea rooms for tea ceremonies are also called cha-shitsu, but they are located within a dwelling. The tea house was created for aesthetic and intellectual fulfillment.

In Japan a tea house (お茶屋, ochaya) can also refer to a place of entertainment with geisha. These kind of tea houses are typically very exclusive establishments.

Tajikistan

There are many tea houses in Tajikistan. The largest tea-houses are Orien Tea house, Sino Tea house, Orom Tea house in (Isfara) town. On the 15th anniversary of Independence in Tajikistan, the people of Isfara town presented Isfara Tea house to Kulyab city for its 2700th anniversay on September 2006.

Britain and British colonies

The gallery in The Willow Tearooms.

Main article: Tearoom (U.K. and U.S.)

In the U.K. and the U.S., a tearoom is a small room or restaurant where beverages and light meals are served, often catering chiefly to women and having a sedate or subdued atmosphere. A customer might expect to receive cream tea or Devonshire tea, often served from a china set, and a scone with jam and clotted cream – alternatively a High tea may be served. In Scotland teas are usually served with a variety of scones, pancakes, crumpets and other cakes.

The tearoom arose as an alternative to the pub during the temperance movement in the 1830s. The form developed in the late 1800s, as Catherine Cranston opened the first of what became a chain of Miss Cranston's Tea Rooms in Glasgow, Scotland, and similar establishments became popular throughout Scotland. In the 1880s fine hotels in both the United States and England began to offer tea service in tea rooms and tea courts, and by 1910 they had begun to host afternoon tea dances as dance crazes swept both the U.S. and the UK. Tea rooms of all kinds were widespread in Britain by the 1950s, but in the following decades cafés became more fashionable, and tea rooms became less common.

In a related usage, a tearoom may be a room set aside in a workplace for workers to relax and (specifically) take refreshment during work-breaks. Traditionally a staff member serving food and beverages in such a tearoom would have been called a tea lady.

Elsewhere

Around the world, the term "tea house" or "tea room" may be used to refer to a restaurant or Salon de Thé. Notable institutions include New York's venerable Russian Tea Room, and Glasgow's Willow Tearooms and Tchai-Ovna. "Tea house" may also be used synonymously (or confused) with "tea room", a gay slang term referring to a venue where public sex occurs.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Tea house

• Cha can ting
• Coffee house
• Tea
• Tea ceremony
• Tea culture
• Tea garden
• Yum cha

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