Tea drinking became an integral part of Turkish life and culture relatively recently. While some had for centuries enjoyed teas imported from China and India, the masses took to tea in the 1930s, when tea was cheaper than imported coffee and provided a drink that was safer than water in many areas. Tea production began in 1924 and grew soon after 1937 when the first tea factory was established by the young Republic, in its pursuit of economic self-sufficiency. Today, Turkey is the world’s fifth largest producer of tea, behind India, China, Kenya and Sri Lanka. Over 200,000 families and 300 factories are involved in the cultivation of tea.
Since tea’s mass adoption, tea drinking became a significant part of daily life, with particular ways of making and drinking black tea and certain cultural ways of thinking about and relating to it. Traditionally, in Turkey, tea is prepared in a samovar-style double teapot (çaydanlık), where loose tea leaves are put into a small kettle placed on the top of a larger kettle with boiling water. In North-eastern Turkey, and in the best tea houses (çayhane) across the country, tea is prepared in a samovar. It is common to mix different teas (including different brands of teas) in order to create a unique blend. The ability to make a wonderfully flavourful tea is a matter of pride. The type of top kettle to be used (porcelain is believed to be the best. and metal, especially aluminum, the worst), the type of water to be used, the time to preheat the kettle and the time of brewing and standing are among the numerous criteria related to the making of ‘proper’ tea. After brewing, steeped tea from the small top kettle is poured into the glass and then diluted with water from the bottom kettle to the desired strength. This method allows each person to drink the tea as they desire it: strong and steeped, or light with lots of water added. Serious tea drinkers take their tea koyu (dark and strong). There is a belief that the further east one goes in Turkey, the darker the colour – tavşankanı (rabbit’s blood) – preferred. The dark tea colour is also associated with toughness, whereas the light-coloured tea is referred to as paşa çayl, suggesting that such tea is only for a pampered or a frail person (a sissy) or a child. The serious drinker takes her/his tea black: Turks rarely add milk to their tea, but sometimes a slice of lemon may be preferred. Generally, two small sugar cubes will accompany tea served in public. It is customary to have a few rounds of tea at a time.
Special and Ordinary Times
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