Lao ba cha

Lao Ba Cha (老爸茶）

When we first moved to Haikou in 2023, we stayed in an apartment with a decent-sized kitchen. Mona could entertain friends with her fusion cuisine. After 3 years, we moved to a smaller apartment in the same residential community. The crucial difference is that the kitchen is now half the size of the previous apartment! It gives me the perfect excuse to stay away from the kitchen, partly because you cannot fit two people in there without creating unwarranted friction, and partly because we bought a dishwashing machine, which is a rare sight in a Hainanese kitchen. Today, we prefer to entertain friends in the morning at a Lao Ba Cha tea shop or invite friends home for afternoon tea with easily prepared snacks! What is the true origin of the La Bao Cha custom? What is the difference between the Hainanese Lao Ba Cha and the Cantonese Yam Cha custom? What food items are served in an authentic Lao Ba Cha tea shop?

Hainan's Lao Ba Cha (老爸茶) is not native to Hainan! It is a lifestyle brought back by Hainanese returnees. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Hainanese traveled to Singapore and Malaysia, which were then British colonies, to make a living. There, they got used to drinking coffee or milk tea, and eating Western-style pastries as an afternoon pastime, like the British. When they returned home with money, they brought this teaandsnack custom back to Hainan. These returnees first opened upscale tea shops in Haikou's historic arcade districts, such as Zhongshan Road and Deshengsha Road, serving coffee, milk tea, and various Western sweets. They were fashionable but expensive. In the 1980s, this teadrinking culture was made more accessible. State and later private tea shops lowered prices so that ordinary folks could afford them. More importantly, they began adding local snacks to the menu, giving birth to the model we see today: tea drinks plus a wide variety of local dimsumstyle bites. Regular customers at these tea shops were mostly middleaged and elderly local men, who were respectfully addressed as "Lao Ba" (meaning "dad," "uncle," or "grandpa"). This blend of Nanyang (Southeast Asian) influence and local Hainanese street life gradually became known as Lao Ba Cha.

The most prominent tea shop in its history is Hengchang (恒昌茶店). Founded by Huang Kangqiang in 1980, it is credited as being the establishment where the term "Lao Ba Cha" was first used. Lao Ba Cha is now an intangible cultural heritage of Hainan. Families and the younger generation have also embraced it as a laidback way to meet up, enjoy food, chat, and pass the time.

You will also hear the fisherman legend from tour guides explaining the origins of Lao Ba Cha. It is the romantic version, which resonates with the name Lao Ba Cha. In the past, Hainan men were primarily fishermen, who had to endure long sea voyages. It was a dangerous and exhausting occupation. After weeks at sea, these men would return to shore at dawn with their catch. They then had to unload their boats and sell their fish, completing their work after noon. After lunch, the fishermen would gather at the local tea shop to catch up, share stories of their voyage, and relax over a pot of hot tea. For these fishermen, the tea shop was not merely a place to rest; it was a vital social and professional meeting place! In fact, Lao Ba Cha was originally enjoyed after noon; today it is popular even in the morning!

The Cantonese Yum Cha is a native tradition with a history spanning hundreds of years. It evolved organically within Cantonese culture, and it was documented as a social custom as early as the Qing Dynasty. While both are cherished social customs centered on tea and snacks, the Yum Cha tradition in Guangdong province is far older, with deep, indigenous roots, while Lao Ba Cha is a recent product of cultural fusion. It is still evolving!

For instance, what was once a limited selection of local snacks has now expanded to include a diverse dim sum menu, often rivalling or even exceeding the varieties found in traditional Yum Cha establishments. The soul of Lao Ba Cha has always been "poor tea, rich snacks" (穷茶富点). The tea is simple and affordable, but the snacks are the shining stars. On the buffet table, you will find traditional dim sum items, like shrimp dumplings (虾饺), chicken feet (凤爪), pork ribs, and fried dough sticks (油条). You will also find Nanyang baked items like brioche buns and sponge cakes, next to Hainanese coconut sticky rice cakes, meat-filled zongzi, and Hainanese rice noodles (海南粉), both boiled and fried.

The default "tea" is often a local black tea (红茶), sweetened with sugar and presented in a small, lidless porcelain pot called a"Cha Er" (茶二), which allows for unlimited refills of hot water. This simple, strong, and slightly sweet black tea is the quintessential choice for many regulars. Coffee (with sugar and condensed milk) and milk tea are also popular choices, adding a distinct Nanyang element to the custom. One beverage you must try at your local La Ba Cha is Partridge Tea (鹧鸪茶). It's not actually a tea made from the Camellia sinensis plant, but rather a herbal tea made from the leaves of the wild Mallotus peltatus shrub. The name itself comes from a local legend about a farmer's pet partridge that was healed after eating the leaves of this wild plant. The tea's flavor is mild and pleasant; its aroma is a fragrant, orchid-like scent; and the taste is sweet and mellow, with a natural, lingering sweetness. The tea leaves are hand-rolled into tight, ball-like clusters, about the size of a ping pong ball. They are often strung together in a long chain and hung to dry naturally. Customers like it for its reputation in aiding digestion. It cuts through the grease of the rich snacks on the Lao Ba Cha buffet table. Bon appetit!