🍽️ Jiexi Lei Cha

Hakka pounded tea with grains and sides.

Jiexi Lei Cha is a Hakka food kept alive in Jiexi County, Jieyang, Guangdong, a bowl that carries the taste of Hakka migration and mountain life. Tea leaves, sesame, peanut and mint are ground in a clay mortar with a long pestle into a paste, then mixed with hot water into a tea soup. It is eaten with white rice and an assortment of grain-and-vegetable sides such as stir-fried green beans, corn, dried shrimp and diced greens, spooned together. The taste weaves tea, sesame and peanut into a savory, refreshing sip with many chewy accompaniments. As a Hakka heartland, Jiexi inherited lei cha from the Hakka southward migration from the Central Plains, and it remains key to hospitality and festivals. Taken as a meal or afternoon tea, it expresses Hakka warmth, and visitors to Jiexi often experience this freshly pounded bowl.