The Jargons Used By Chinese Tea Drinkers

You feel like a water drinker when fellow Chinese tea drinkers talk in Chinese tea jargon that you don’t understand. It’s not trying to be cool, you simply have to learn the language. Period. Here is a list of Chinese tea jargon and commonly mentioned words you will come across in a Chinese tea drinkers’ party.

Tea jargon differs with respect to dialect and geographical location.

The Jargon List

Mandarin	Cantonese	English Meanings
cha	cha	tea
pao	pau	noun: amount of tea leaves enough for one brew verb: brew
yi pao cha	yat pau cha	“a complete cycle of brewing”. a “pau” starts when new tea leaves is added, ends when all it’s flavor is being extracted and brewing stops, regardless of the number of infusions in between.
chong cha	yat chung cha	“an infusion of tea”. an infusion into the brewing container.
Gong Fu Cha	Kung Fu cha	A well-know brewing method. Full pictured illustration of Kung Fu Cha here.
Gai Wan	Guk Jung	“Lidded Bowl”, “Bowl with Lid”. A 3-piece porcelain cup with lid, cup and saucer used for tea brewing. Large Gaiwan (6oz) and small Gaiwan (4oz) can be used for different tea brewing methods. here on how to handle a Gaiwan here on relevant brewing methods
Cha Tang	Cha Tong	“Tea Soup” by direct translation. Means the tea come out of a brewing process. A fancy name for “tea”.
Cha Hai	Cha Hoi	“Tea Sea”. Fancy name for a tea tray.
Ku	Fu	Plain bitterness – one type of bitterness. Plain and flat. It’s the kind of “bitter” most of us understand.
Se	Gip	Rough bitterness – one type of bitterness. “Rough” as opposed to “smooth”. Acute bitterness at the middle to the back of the tongue accompanied by a “not-at-all-smooth” feeling when rubbing the tongue against the roof of the month. This is the worst you can get from a brewing process.
Gan	Gum	Minty bitterness – one type of bitterness. It’s a 2 dimensional taste. Slightly bitter first, then comes the slightly sweet taste (not exactly sweat but forgive me, I can’t tell exactly in English). When breathing, the tongue & month gets a cool feeling. If it’s strong enough, it keeps coming back for a long while and it’s called Hui Gan (see below).
Hui Gan	Wui Gum	“Recurring Gan”. See above for explanation of Gan.
Sheng Jin	Sang Jun	“Stimulates Saliva”. Saliva cells activated and working. To feel saliva flowing into the mouth is a wonderful feeling. Also, it is the best way to quench your thirst.