What Is Tea Resin? A Guide to Cha Gao

Tea resin is a prepared tea concentrate, commonly sold as cha gao or tea paste. The tea has already been extracted and concentrated into a small solid portion. To make a cup, you dissolve it in water instead of steeping loose leaves and straining them out.

That compact form is part of its appeal, but it does not tell you everything about the drink. The type of tea, ingredients and portion size still matter. Start with those details, and the small piece becomes easier to understand.

How to enjoy an Eastern Petal botanical melt

Start with hot water, then choose a warm cup or an iced drink.

Enjoy warm

Place your melt in a cup, add hot water and stir until fully dissolved. Let it cool to a comfortable sipping temperature. Add more water if you prefer a lighter drink.

Serve over ice

Dissolve your melt in hot water first. Once fully dissolved, add cold water and ice. Stir gently and enjoy chilled.

Starting with cold water?

You can also shake your melt with cold water in a sealed bottle, or allow it to dissolve gradually. Cold water needs more time, so allow the melt to dissolve before enjoying your drink.

A small piece of tea history

In the Palace Museum’s collection, tea takes an unexpected shape. A late-Qing Pu-erh tea paste has a dark surface decorated with a longevity character and bat motifs. The catalog describes Yunnan large-leaf Pu-erh tea made into paste through cooking and molding. It is a particular object with its own material, shape and decoration.

There is a written trace as well. The museum’s published palace inventory table lists a wooden box of Pu-erh tea paste in Ruyi Hall. Together, the surviving object and the inventory give this concentrated form a tangible place in the tea story.

Where botanical melts fit

Cha gao is the inspiration behind Eastern Petal’s botanical melt format: a concentrated plant infusion in solid form. Our heart-shaped pieces belong to a contemporary collection, with ingredients that extend beyond traditional tea paste.

Two Brews combines coffee, Liubao dark tea and monk fruit extract. It is a coffee-and-tea blend, rather than pure Pu-erh tea resin. Our other three blends use fruit, flowers or ginger and contain no tea leaves. If you are comparing a tea resin with one of our melts, the complete ingredient guide is a useful place to see the difference.

A closer look at our melts

Our process begins with low-temperature cell-wall disruption, followed by cold extraction with water. The extract is concentrated under vacuum at a low temperature, the paste is shaped in molds, and the formed pieces are freeze-dried.

Our serving recipes offer warm, sparkling and iced ideas for the blend you choose.