Yum cha

Yum cha
Yum cha hour in Hong Kong City Hall
Traditional Chinese	飲茶
Simplified Chinese	饮茶
Literal meaning	drink tea
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin yǐn chá Hakka Romanization yim tsa Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization yam2 cha4 Jyutping jam2 caa4 Southern Min Hokkien POJ ím-tê

Yum cha (simplified Chinese: 饮茶; traditional Chinese: 飲茶; Jyutping: yam2 cha4; Cantonese Yale: yám chà), also known as going for dim sum, is a type of Chinese style brunch tea, which involves drinking Chinese tea and eating dim sum. It is popular in Cantonese-speaking regions in China, including the southern provinces of Guangdong and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and has spread to other regions worldwide due to the presence of overseas Chinese.

As Cantonese people tend to avoid fried foods early in the day, steamed dishes dominate most dim sum menus. There are also snack-sized portions of pan-fried, deep-fried, and steamed food served in bamboo steamers, which are designed to be eaten communally and washed down with tea. In general, people go to Yum cha with families, co-workers, and groups of people, so it is also a common choice for people to get together and catch up.

Yum cha in Cantonese Chinese literally means "drink tea". In the US and UK, the phrase dim sum is often used in place of yum cha; in Cantonese, dim sum (點心) refers to the wide range of small dishes, whereas yum cha, or "drinking tea", refers to the entire meal. Cantonese-speaking communities in Canada and Australia, however, still tend to use the phrase "yum cha".