Yum cha, a term in the Cantonese spoken dialect, literally meaning "drinking tea", refers to the custom of eating small servings of different foods while sipping Chinese tea in Cantonese speaking areas of Guangdong Province and Hong Kong. It is an integral part of Cantonese culture. In any city with a sizeable population of Cantonese people, Yum cha is a tradition on weekend mornings, and whole families gather to chat and eat dim sum and drink Chinese tea. Yum cha is also a morning ritual for the elderly to spend a good part of the morning after early morning exercise of tai chi or walk. The tea is important, for it is said to help digest the rich foods which are generally on offer. In the past, people went to a teahouse for yum cha, but dim sum restaurants have been gaining overwhelming popularity of late.

Dim Sum, an integral part of Yum Cha, literally means "to touch your heart,". Dim sum consists of a wide spectrum of choices, from sweet to salty. It has combinations of meat, vegetables, seafood, and fruit. The various items are usually served in a small steamer basket or on a small plate, depending on the type of dim sum.

Typical dim sum breakfast in Guangzhou. From left to right and top to bottom: shrimp dumplings (ha gau), jasmine tea, chicken and vegetable congee (two bowls with spoons), hot sauce dip (red), steamed dumplings, rice noodle rolls with soy sauce (cheong fun, on plate), steamed buns with pork filling (char siu bau).

Ha Gaw (Shrimp Dumpling) (Xia jiao (mandarin), Ha Gaw (Cantonese).
A delicate steamed dumpling with whole or chopped-up shrimp filling and thin (almost translucent) wheat starch skin.

Lotus leaf rice (糯米雞 no mai gai, 糯米鸡 nuòmǐjī): Glutinous rice is wrapped in a lotus leaf into a triangular or rectangular shape. It contains egg yolk, dried scallop, mushroom, chestnut and meat (usually pork and chicken). These ingredients are steamed with the rice and although the leaf is not eaten, its flavour is infused during the steaming. No mai gai is a kind of rice dumpling. A similar but lighter variant is known as "Pearl Chicken" (珍珠雞 jan jyu gai, 珍珠鸡 zhēnzhūjī).

Sou (酥 sou, 酥 sū): A type of flaky pastry filled with char siu, century egg, lotus seed paste, cream, or seafood. Char siu sou (叉燒酥 cha siu sou, 叉烧酥 chāshāosū) is the most common version at dim sum restaurants.