HUXINTING TEA HOUSE

While at the inner courtyard, don’t miss trying out chrysanthemum tea at the tea house in the middle of a man-made lake.

Also called the Middle Lake Pavilion , the wooden structured tea house was built in 1855 and is an interesting experience.

The hostess serves a variety of teas, brewed in front of you. Jasmine tea for instance isn’t a flavoured tea but a little bulb of jasmine place at the bottom of a clear glass kettle, topped with boiling water!

Sit back and watch the bulb unfurl to reveal a jasmine flower and wait for the aroma and flavour to brew.

Enjoy a quiet cuppa' of extremely light yet aromatic tea with an on-the-house snack of quail’s eggs, green tea dumplings and prunes, in the tea house that overlooks the bustling courtyard of Shanghai Old Street.