Serve & glassware

温 (wēn) means warm, and it is a good reminder that not every Chinese drink is served cold. Temperature changes everything: the same drink can taste sharp and closed, or round and generous, depending on how you serve it. Here is how to serve each of the five drinks, how to pour them, and how to keep them once opened.

Wine

Serve Chinese wine as you would European wine.

Sparkling wines: well chilled, about 6–8 °C. White wines and rosés: chilled, about 8–12 °C. Fuller whites, such as oaked Chardonnay, at the warmer end. Red wines: slightly cool, about 15–18 °C. "Room temperature" was meant for cold European cellars, not warm apartments: a red that is too warm tastes heavy and alcoholic. Twenty minutes in the fridge often helps.

Young, structured reds, like many from Ningxia, benefit from being opened an hour before serving, or poured into a decanter.

Baijiu

Baijiu is served neat and at room temperature. Ice and the freezer are not traditional, and the cold hides its aroma. At a dinner it is poured from a small decanter, the 分酒器 (fēnjiǔqì), into tiny glasses that hold about a mouthful, and the glasses are filled again and again during the meal.

Pour the glass full. A Chinese saying, 酒满茶半 (jiǔ mǎn chá bàn), "wine full, tea half", explains it: a full glass of alcohol shows respect, while tea is poured only halfway.

Baijiu is increasingly used in cocktails, especially the cleaner light aroma styles. In that case, follow the recipe: ice is welcome.

Rice wine

Huangjiu is the drink that is most often served warm, and warming is worth learning.

Why warm it. Gentle heat softens the alcohol, rounds the sweetness and releases the aromas. In winter, and with certain foods such as crab, it is the traditional way.

How to warm it. Pour the wine into a jug or a small heat-proof bottle and stand it in a pan of hot water for a few minutes, until it feels warm to the touch, about body temperature. Never boil it and never heat it directly on the flame: the alcohol and the aromas would be lost.

What to add. In Shaoxing, it is often warmed with a few shreds of ginger, or with a dried plum, 话梅 (huàméi), which adds a sweet and sour note.

Cold is fine too. In summer, many people, especially younger drinkers, serve huangjiu chilled or over ice, sometimes with a slice of lemon.

Beer

Chinese lager is served cold, about 4–7 °C, in a glass or straight from the bottle. At a shared table, large bottles are opened and poured for everyone, and glasses are refilled by whoever sits closest. Craft beers can be served a little warmer, about 8–12 °C, to let their aromas show.

Spirits

Chinese brandy, whisky and gin are served like their Western equivalents: neat at room temperature, with a few drops of water, over a large ice cube, or in cocktails.

Keeping open bottles

Wine: close it and keep it in the fridge; drink it within two or three days. Baijiu: thanks to its high alcohol, it keeps for a long time once opened. Close it tightly, keep it upright, away from heat and light. Rice wine: once opened, close it and keep it in the fridge, and drink it within a few weeks. Its aromas fade with time. Beer: drink it the day you open it. Spirits: like baijiu, upright, closed and away from light.

Common mistakes

Baijiu from the freezer. Red wine served too warm. Boiling huangjiu while warming it. Leaving an open bottle of rice wine out of the fridge for weeks.

In short

Wine as in Europe, baijiu neat at room temperature, rice wine warmed gently or chilled in summer, beer cold, and always pour generously for others

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杯 (bēi) means cup or glass. The vessel changes how a drink smells and tastes, and in China it also says something about the occasion: a banquet, a tasting, a tavern meal. You do not need special equipment to start, but knowing the traditional vessels helps you understand how each drink is meant to be enjoyed.

Wine

A standard wine glass with a bowl that narrows at the top is all you need. The narrowing traps the aromas and brings them to your nose. A medium tulip-shaped glass works well for both reds and whites. For sparkling wine, a flute or a white wine glass. Fill the glass no more than a third, so there is room to swirl.

At Chinese banquets, wine is often drunk in the same rhythm as baijiu, with toasts, so glasses tend to be filled less and emptied more often.

Baijiu

At the table. Baijiu is drunk from tiny glasses that hold about a mouthful. Each guest usually has a small decanter, the 分酒器 (fēnjiǔqì), sometimes with a spout, from which the glass is refilled. The decanter lets everyone pace themselves and see how much they have drunk.

For tasting. Serious tasters use small tulip-shaped glasses, narrow at the top, which concentrate the aromas without letting the alcohol overwhelm the nose. If you do not have one, a small wine glass works better than a shot glass.

What to avoid: wide shot glasses, which let the aromas escape, and large glasses, which invite big sips.

Rice wine

Huangjiu is traditionally poured from a jug or pot, 酒壶 (jiǔhú), into small cups. When served warm, it is heated in the jug first. Traditional warming pots were made of pewter, 锡壶 (xīhú), which holds the heat well.

In the old taverns of Shaoxing, rice wine was served in bowls, 碗 (wǎn): Lu Xun's character Kong Yiji famously drinks his warm wine from a bowl, with a plate of fennel beans. Today small ceramic cups are the most common choice at home.

For tasting, a small white wine glass lets you see the colour and smell the aromas better.

Beer

A simple tumbler, or straight from the bottle. At a shared table, small glasses are common: large bottles are poured for everyone and refilled often. For craft beer, a tulip or a stemmed glass brings out the aroma.

Spirits

For sipping, a small tulip-shaped tasting glass. For brandy, a small snifter. For cocktails, a tumbler or a highball glass, depending on the recipe.

Looking after your glasses

Wash them with very little detergent and rinse them well: soap residue spoils aromas and flattens beer foam. Do not store glasses upside down in cupboards with strong smells. Before tasting, smell the empty glass: it should smell of nothing.

In short

A small tulip glass is the most useful glass you can own: it works for wine, baijiu tastings, rice wine and spirits. For the full Chinese experience, add a set of tiny baijiu glasses with a decanter, and small ceramic cups for warm rice wine.