The tea glass is so important in daily life it is used as a measurement in recipes. The glass is called ince belli (thin-waisted) after the ideal female body shape (see Figure 12.1). The tiny tulip-shaped glass has to be held by the rim to save one’s fingertips from burning. Fingers wrapped around the ince belli provide warmth in the winter and the hot tea is said to balance the body temperature in the summer. The clear glass allows the drinker to appreciate the ruby colour and the radiance of the tea that some poems refer to. Many poems and folk songs make allusions to the colour, sensuality and sociality of tea:
Your lips are red,
Like the tea from Rize.
(section from an anonymous folk song, http://www.biriz.biz/cay/kultur/turkcaykul.htm)
The nightingale is immersed in the troubles of love,
Pour the tea, in the colour of the rose,
In the gathering of wise men,
Fill the glasses, and fill again.
(section from a Sufi hymn, http://www.biriz.biz/cay/kultur/turkcaykul.htm)
Phrases such as çay keyfi (pleasure of tea) refer to the sensual pleasures of tea drinking. The sensuality emphasized includes the ruby colour of the tea, the shape of the glass, the embracing hold of the hand on the thin waist of the glass, the warmth in your hands, especially on a cold day, the curving steam rising from the ince belli, the melody of sipping and the teaspoons clinking, as well as the taste and the smell.
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Güliz Ger and Olga Kravets