It is hard to tell when tea bistros exactly appeared. The history of western tea bistros can be traced back to Late Qing Dynasty. The Chinese people, living in Hong Kong (then a British colony), were influenced by the western living style, beginning to like drinking "western tea" (coffee and milk tea). However, they could not afford going to the real expensive tea bistros specially serving foreigners. As such, localized western restaurants appeared, which were widely called cafes.