Çay keyfi refers to the coziness, homeliness and relaxing comfort of the home as well. In many Turkish homes where the homemaker is a housewife, a teapot is put on the stove in the morning before breakfast and is continuously boiling, with water being added periodically to the bottom kettle and new tea leaves to the top kettle, until the family retires for the night. If the homemaker is a working woman, then the tea is continuously boiling after dinner. The conventional presence of the boiling teapot indicates that tea drinking is an ongoing, almost a background, activity; tea is consumed during breakfast and before or after any meal, while working and resting, talking and meditating, watching TV and playing backgammon, or entertaining guests. To our informants, the sound of the kettle on the stove is the definition of the home and the rhythm of family life. Tea is offered to a guest casually (at times, without asking first) as a sign of hospitality, whereas coffee is considered to be more ceremonious. At home or at the office, it is considered rude to refuse the tea offered and a refusal of the tea is taken as a refusal of the hospitality of the host. Thus, tea is a nearly indispensable part of any gathering or meeting in Turkey.
Tea is a beverage that is consumed either privately or publicly, in tea houses (çayhane) and tea gardens (çaybahçesi) or when receiving guests at home. An introductory guide to Turkish culture says: ‘It is hard to imagine breakfasts, social gatherings, business meetings, negotiations for carpets in the Grand Bazaar, or ferry rides across the Bosphorus without the presence of tea. With tea servers in streets, shopping malls, and parks shouting, ‘çay!’ (chai) the beverage is always within shouting distance. It is fundamental to Turkish social life…’ (http://www. turkishculture.org). Indeed, tea houses and gardens have been the preferred social hub where people meet, exchange news and gossip. Gaining popularity in the 1950s, tea gardens became sites for social outings of extended families. One informant recalled that his
whole family (about fifteen people) would go to a tea garden, order a samovar to the table, regulate its heat to keep tea boiling hot and chat for hours. The kids would play with the pebbles or chase each other, while adults would talk, play backgammon or cards. Occasionally, you could buy simit [thin bagel-shaped pastry] there or sunflower seeds, but generally it was just tea, lots of tea for three–four hours.
Unlike the serene Japanese tea garden, Turkish tea gardens are bustling with social activity, with kids running around, music playing and lively chit-chatting, people coming and going, and, of course, the ongoing clinking of tiny teaspoons in the tea glasses. At the tea garden or at home, tea is a democratic social lubricant. Anyone can afford it and serve it to guests. While telling us their experiences with tea, most informants recall sitting together and having a cozy time with friends or having a pleasant evening with family over rounds of tea. Many practices of sociality such as playing backgammon or cards or simple sohbet (relaxed, friendly, enjoyable conversation or chatting) are also accompanied by tea.
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