Tea Drinking in Turkey is as Popular as Drinking Turkish Coffee. But Turkish Tea is a very distinct Brew, Drunk in a very distinct Manner.
Tea is, quite possibly, as ubiquitous to Turkish culture as its more famous caffeine-cousin, Turkish Coffee. No office would dare cutback on its employees’ continual indulgence in glass after glass of the brew – served strong, black and piping hot is thin, small, tulip-shaped glasses called 'ince belli. No respectable hostess would allow any guest to go without multiple glasses of the ruby-colored beverage and no park or other public space is without its tea house – although that custom is changing in favor to more trendy pubs.
Turkey, in fact, is the fifth largest tea drinking country in the world. But the way tea is brewed and drunk in Turkey is far more similar to the Russian brew than the English or Chinese. Both countries’ brewing methods routinely employ a samovar – essentially a charcoal fueled water boiler, made of brass and use rich black tea. Both cultures brew tea for a long time (15 minutes or so) and then mix it with very hot – but not boiling – water and sweeten it (to taste) with sugar. Both also prefer to drink their tea in small, thin glasses, rather than ceramic or porcelain cups and neither would dream of adding either honey or milk to one’s cup.
History of Tea Drinking in Turkey
While the Turks, like the Moroccans, do enjoy sweet minted tea and also serve an apple tisane, it is the brew made with Keemun, Assam or Russian black tea alone that is the most typical.
Tea drinking in Turkey actually dates back to the 1600s. According to one legend, Coffeehouses, recently introduced by the Syrians into mainstream Turkish culture, had quickly become places where men would gather to drink coffee, puff on hookahs, play tabli, and discuss the affairs of the day. But around 1633, after a series of fires caused by hookahs swept through the land, an angry sultan ordered all the coffeehouses to be closed. People switched to tea – and life went on as usual.
Making Turkish Tea
- Prepare a small teapot by adding about one heaping teaspoon of good, black tea (Keemun, Assam, Russian Caravan, English Breakfast all work well) per cup.
- Boil about 1 cup of water per cup of tea (either in a samovar – or on a stove top).
- Pour HALF of the steaming water into the teapot and let it steep for at least 15 minutes, keeping both the teapot and the remaining water piping hot. (Without a samovar, you can accomplish this with a good tea cozy for the pot and a very low flame for the water. (I almost hate to admit it, but a microwave works pretty well, too, for keeping the water very hot…. but I “didn’t say that…”).
- Pour the tea into a small glass cup, about halfway up, and add the water to fill the remainder. Add sugar to taste – BUT NEVER MILK OR HONEY.
Tea Production in Turkey
Turkey also producers as small quantity of tea, mainly for use in-country. Most of the tea plantations are located in the eastern Black Sea region of the country in Rize, Arkali, Karadere, and Fatsa. Rize was the site of the country’s first tea production facility, opening in 1965. Most of the tea is cured and fermented between the months of May and October. Turkish tea is produced with no additives, chemicals in the growing or processing stages and is cured, fermented and made ready for packaging in the standard way.
After being picked, the tea leaves are allowed to wither for a time to reduce their water content and then rolled by machines to facilitate the oxidation process essential to the proper fermentation for a full, black tea. The fermenting process is what gives a black tea its desired color, aroma and acidity level (thanks to the tannin content). It is then passed through wire meshes, sorted and packaged into airtight containers for sale.
