TURKISH TEA
Drinking Turkish tea is a daily routine. I experienced this ritual several times a day when I visited Turkey. People drink tea everywhere, in the street, in restaurants, at a hairdresser.. You will even have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner... I believe Turkish people drink more tea than Brits. I was even offered a tea as a visitor to a shop.
Tea is usually served in a tulip shaped, ornate glass with two tiny sugar cubes on a saucer. It is important to serve sugar cubes with the tea rather than put sugar into a glass while preparing it. This is different from making Turkish coffee where coffee served is already sweetened. In addition to two sugar cubes, you get a small spoon to stir the tea with.
Turkish tea is usually black and it is consumed without milk. At first I thought the same tea was served everywhere but I was really surprised when I realized the variety of taste of Turkish black tea. Tea does look the same but it tastes differently. For example, tea tastes differently in Istanbul than in Bursa. Turkish tea is produced on the Black Sea coast.
When Turkish people prepare tea, it is really a special event. You will not usually find people using tea bags and pouring water into cups with a tea bag. Preparing Turkish tea is something completely different.
First of all, Turks usually use black tea leaves and not tea bags. They use caydanlik to prepare their tea. Caydanlik is part kettle, part teapot. The bottom part is basically for the boiling water while the upper part is for the tea brew. It usually takes about 20-25 minutes for the tea to be ready to drink. Turkish tea can be served in different ways, anywhere between koyu (strong, dark) and acik (light, weak) depending on how many leaves you use to make a tea. The tea produced is usually very strong, but the remaining water in the kettle is used to dilute the tea on individual basis. If, however, you prepare a very weak tea, it might be considered an insult to a person who you serve. Therefore, it is very important to know the exact amount of leaves you need to put to prepare a tea.
When drinking Turkish tea you have to hold the rim of the cup, rather than the middle portion of the glass body, or otherwise you will burn your fingers. It is the best not to fill the cup entirely, so that you can basically hold the glass without burning your fingers and minimize the heat at the top.
Interesting fact about Turkish people drinking tea is that according to a research in 2004, Turkish people consumed 2.4 kg (approximately 5 pounds) of tea per person, and United Kingdom follows with 2.1 kg (approximately 4 pounds) of tea consumed per person.
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