Best Tea Houses in Chongqing: 4 Local Tea Houses to Visit

Tea houses in Chongqing are less about formal tea ceremonies and more about everyday life. A cup of tea often comes with mahjong, old movies, neighborhood gossip, or simply a few slow hours away from the city outside.

If you want to experience this side of Chongqing, these four tea houses are worth knowing. They are all very different, from a genuinely old neighborhood tea house to a tea room hidden inside an air-raid shelter.

Jiaotong Tea House — The Classic Old Chongqing Tea House

Jiaotong Tea House (交通茶馆) is probably the best-known old tea house in Chongqing.

Opened in 1987 in Huangjueping, it still keeps much of the atmosphere of a traditional neighborhood tea house: worn wooden tables, long benches, dark brick walls and old-fashioned tea bowls. The building itself dates back even further and was once connected to a local transport company before the space became a public tea house.

This is not the place to come for an elegant tea-tasting experience. The real attraction is the room itself and the people inside it. Locals sit around drinking tea, chatting, playing cards or chess, while visitors try to take in a version of Chongqing that feels far removed from the skyscrapers downtown.

It has also appeared in films and television, including the Chinese movie Crazy Stone, which helped make it much better known outside the neighborhood.

How to Get There

Search:交通茶馆

It is located on Huangjueping Zheng Street in Jiulongpo District, close to the Huangjueping graffiti area.

Best for: Old Chongqing atmosphere, street photography and local everyday life.

Daqi Tea House — Best for Tea, Mahjong and Live Performances

Daqi Tea House (大旗茶馆) looks old at first glance, but it is actually a newer-style tea house inspired by traditional Sichuan and Chongqing tea-house culture.

The Chongqing branch is located around Chaotianmen · Chengli, close to Chaotianmen Metro Station. It combines retro interiors with activities that people traditionally associate with Sichuan-style tea houses, including mahjong, tea service, face-changing performances, music and tea-art shows.

That makes it a very different experience from Jiaotong Tea House.

At Jiaotong, you mainly observe a tea house that has grown naturally with its neighborhood. At Daqi, the experience is more organized and visitor-friendly. You can sit down with a bowl of tea, watch performances and even spend a few rounds playing mahjong.

If you are visiting Chongqing for the first time and want something easy to experience without needing much local knowledge, this is probably the most accessible option on the list.

Quick Info

Location: Chaotianmen · Chengli Nearest Metro: Chaotianmen Station, Exit 4 Tea: Gaiwan tea from around RMB 28; early-morning tea options are cheaper Opening Hours: Around 7:30 AM–9:00 PM

Best for: Mahjong, performances and an easy introduction to local tea-house culture.

Jiangling Tea House — Drink Tea Inside an Old Factory Cinema

Jiangling Tea House (江陵茶馆) is one of the newer tea houses on this list, but the building has a much longer history.

It occupies the former Jiangling Machinery Factory workers' cinema, originally built in 1957. Instead of completely redesigning the space, the renovation kept elements of the old cinema, including the ticket window, stage and screen. Classic films are still shown inside while people sit below drinking gaiwan tea.

What makes Jiangling interesting is that it does not feel like a staged “ancient Chinese” tea house.

The atmosphere is more closely connected to Chongqing's industrial past. For decades, factories were not just workplaces here; they also had housing, cinemas, clubs and other facilities that formed entire communities around them.

Today, local residents still use the space alongside younger visitors, which gives it more life than a simple retro-themed café. Recent local reporting describes it as a neighborhood gathering place as much as a tourist attraction.

Quick Info

Address: 39 Dashiba Zheng Street Nearest Metro: Dashiba Station, Line 5, Exit 1B Gaiwan Tea: From around RMB 8 Opening Hours: Around 9:00 AM–9:00 PM

Best for: Industrial history, old movies and a quieter local atmosphere.

Underground City Tea House — Drink Tea Inside an Air-Raid Shelter

For something that feels uniquely Chongqing, visit the Underground City Air-Raid Shelter Tea House (地下之城·防空洞老茶馆).

The tea house is built inside part of a huge former underground military complex in the Hongtudi area. The wider Underground City project includes a network of 18 interconnected air-raid shelters, some of which have now been converted into restaurants, cultural spaces and other public venues.

Inside the tea house, the original cave-like structure is still easy to recognize. Wooden tables, bamboo chairs and old objects have been added, but you are still sitting inside a long underground tunnel.

It is also naturally cool inside, which makes it especially pleasant during Chongqing's very hot summers. Local reporting notes that the tea house deliberately preserves the air-raid shelter environment while using historical objects and old Chongqing details to create the atmosphere.

This is less about finding the city's oldest tea and more about experiencing two very Chongqing things at once: gaiwan tea and underground air-raid shelters.

Quick Info

Address: Underground City, Area A, Cave No. 2, Ji'an Road, Longta Subdistrict Nearest Metro: Hongtudi Station, Exit 1A Gaiwan Tea: Around RMB 9.9–29.9 Opening Hours: Around 10:00 AM–8:00 PM

Bring a light layer if you are sensitive to cold — the underground space can feel noticeably cooler than outside.

Best for: Air-raid shelter architecture, summer visits and a uniquely Chongqing setting.

Which Chongqing Tea House Should You Choose?

If you want the most traditional tea-house atmosphere, go to Jiaotong Tea House.

If you want to drink tea, watch performances and try mahjong, choose Daqi Tea House.

If you are interested in Chongqing's industrial and factory history, Jiangling is the most interesting.

And if you want something you are unlikely to experience in another Chinese city, the Underground City Tea House is probably the most distinctive.

In Chongqing, the tea itself is only part of the experience. The better reason to visit a tea house is to sit down, slow your pace, and watch how the city lives when nobody is in a hurry.