Depending on whether the tea soup is seasoned or not, it can be divided into the pure drinking method and the mixed drinking method.

Pure drinking method is the way most Chinese people drink black tea. The Gongfu brewing method falls under pure drinking. That is, no seasoning is added to the tea soup, allowing the tea leaves to release their inherent aroma. When drinking pure tea, holding a good cup of tea in hand, quietly savoring and slowly tasting, one can most easily enter a state of spiritual ecstasy, where feelings of joy, lightness, excitement, and comfort arise spontaneously. As Su Dongpo metaphorically said, "A fine tea is always like a beautiful woman," and Huang Tingjian praised tea as "rich fragrance, intoxicating path, reaching a wonderful realm. Like an old friend under a lamp, returning from thousands of miles to face the shadow. Words cannot express, but the heart knows the joy." And Lu Tong's poem "Seven Bowls of Tea" vividly depicts the joyful and carefree pleasure of drinking tea. Therefore, Chinese people mostly prefer pure drinking, especially for famous and high-quality teas, which must be drunk pure to appreciate their unique flavor and enjoy the delightful experience of tea drinking.

Mixed drinking method refers to adding seasonings to the tea soup to enhance its flavor. In ancient China, compressed tea and cake tea were ground and cooked with seasonings before drinking. With the innovation of tea processing techniques and the creation of loose tea, the method of drinking gradually changed to steeping, and seasonings such as sugar, milk, sesame, and pine nuts were added to the brewed tea. This method gradually spread to various ethnic minority regions and to Europe and America. Today, the common mixed drinking method involves adding sugar, milk, lemon slices, coffee, honey, or even champagne to black tea. The type and quantity of seasonings vary according to the drinker's taste. Some people add both sugar and lemon to the tea, or mix honey and wine, or even make various flavored cold beverages in the refrigerator, all with unique flavors. Another noteworthy method is tea wine, where various fine wines are added to the tea soup to create a tea-wine beverage. This drink has a low alcohol content, does not harm the stomach, combines the taste of tea and wine, and is quite suitable for entertaining guests. It has become a popular new drinking method in modern times.