Tea Meal

Yunnan Province is a land of tea, with a great abundance of tea and a wide variety of kinds of tea, from the sundried large-leaf varieties to the popular Pu’er tea, as well as various kinds of green tea and flower tea. Tea itself originated in Yunnan.

Some scholars believe that Camellia sinensis, the bush that all tea comes from, originated in the area that is now Yunnan to eastern India. Tea has been an important part of the life of Yunnan for hundreds of years of growing, processing, drinking, cooking and selling.

Yunnan has a rich tea culture. Tea holds a central place in the lives of Yunnan people. In Yunnan tea is used not only for drinking, but also as a major element in Yunnan cuisine. There are many dishes in Yunnan cuisine that use tea leaves as a major ingredient. 

As a province where 26 ethnic groups live, which borders on Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos, Yunnan has developed over the centuries a cuisine that is an extremely rich cultural blend, combining the choice elements of many culinary cultures. Tea is central to that cuisine.

One of Yunnan Province’s most endearing customs is its Tea Banquet, which uses Pu'er tea as the fundamental cooking ingredient for a variety of dishes, such as Tea Garden Surging, Tea Oil Silk Ribbon, Cock Crow in Jingmai, Thousand-Year Fish, Wuliang Mutton Chop, Camellia Beef, Tawny Eight Diagrams, Pu'er Chicken Tofu Pudding, Land Tea Delicacies, Pu'er Steamed Cake, Love under a Rosy Sky and Screen of Green.

Pu’er tea, which is coveted worldwide as the pinnacle of luxury, sometimes known as the Helen of Troy of teas, is a naturally grown, high-altitude tea that is grown in the mountains of Yunnan. There are 300 varieties of Pu’er tea itself. Yunnan is really the world center of tea.