Whenever I tell someone that I am learning Turkish they ask me if I have ever visited Turkey and if I have ever tried famous Turkish tea. And my answers to those questions are always YES and YES. First time I tried Turkish tea I burned my fingers, because tea (also known as cay in Turkish) is served in a glass and not in a cup, and I thought that the glass was made of some special kind that does not transfer the heat but I was wrong. Turkish people like to drink hot tea but the proper way of holding the glass is to hold the upper edge of the glass where tea does not reach and thus the glass is not hot in that part. I bought some Turkish tea in Turkey and tried to prepare it home but when I prepared it, it tasted really awful, because I prepared it just like regular tea, I did not know that Turkish tea is supposed to be prepared in a special way. Turkish tea is usually black and is mostly cultivated on the Black Sea coast. I was however surprised to find out that Turkish tea tasted different at different places, I tried it at one place in Istanbul and at several places in Bursa, and every time I tried it, it tasted different. Every restaurant/place has its own flavors and tricks that make tea taste different. To prepare Turkish tea, Turks use caydanlik which is a two stacked kettle, the bottom part is filled with hot, boiling water whereas the upper part is for the tea brew. It usually takes about 30 minutes to prepare this tea, which is really surprising considering that in the US culture or in Bosnian culture we just put a tea bag in boiling water and drink it. To get the full taste of Turkish tea, you have to use leaves and not tea bags. You first wash tea leaves with cold water to remove any dust and place them in the upper kettle. Then you put water in the bottom kettle to boil, and once it boils you put some of that boiling water in the upper kettle to brew the leaves. Leave this for about 20 minutes to brew. Once the time is up, the tea is ready to be served. It is usually served with 2 sugar cubes.
It is also important to know how to serve Turkish tea, for example if you put too little tea leaves it is called acik which is “weak tea”, and if you put too many leaves it becomes koyu which means “dark, strong tea”. Both are extremes and are considered bad. That is why it is important to emphasize your preference when ordering Turkish tea. Drinking tea in Turkey is as important (if not even more) as it is in England. You drink tea in the morning, afternoon, but mostly you drink it in the evenings when you meet with your friends and have long conversations. Personally, I am not a big fan of Turkish tea, I do not like the taste of it very much. I think that you just have to get used to it. But it is interesting how Turkish people drink glasses and glasses of tea every day, whereas in Bosnia we rarely ever drink tea. In Bosnia when we gather with friends we drink coffee, whereas in Turkey they either drink coffee or tea. I am glad that I have tried Turkish tea in Turkey and got this experience. Even though I am not a big fan of Turkish tea, I am planning to drink it again the next time I go to Turkey.
http://www.deliciousistanbul.com/blog/2011/02/04/turkish-tea/
Comments