Turkish Delightful: taking tea in Turkey

In Turkey, it is very common to have tea at breakfast. It is also common to drink it mid-morning, and it is always served at the end of lunch, and then quite commonly in the middle of the afternoon, and then sometimes after dinner. Oh, and generally during the evening.

Tea, in other words, is 'de rigueur'.

But tea (pronounced chai) it is never taken in large mugs like in North America or in pots like in England. The tea in Turkey always comes in a small glass shaped like an hour glass without a top, and on a small dish or tiny tray, with a teeny tiny little spoon and lumps of sugar. But never, ever with milk.

If you are lucky you may get a small dish of local nuts, like shelled walnuts or salted hazelnuts or whole pistachios.

If you don't want traditional tea, there are alternatives. Apple tea is fairly common, which is pale and tastes like hot apple juice. But my favourite it sage tea, which was served with lemon and sugar. I added these in small amounts to determine my favourite combination, but I liked it neat most of all.

Nothing like a nice sage tea to make you feel smarter

Tea, hazelnuts from the local tree, and apple tea

Offering tea to guests is part of Turkish hospitality, at homes but also in shops. A common sight at any part of the day is a small group of men sitting down (in a shop, at a small table outside, sitting on the ground in a field, anywhere!).

I found it interesting to learn that tea has only become part of everyday life in Turkey in the 20th century. After World War I, coffee became very expensiveand rare, mostly due to Turkey's land being carved up and distributed to ther countries (the down side of backing the wrong war horse) including that territory growing coffee. So tea it is, then. And Turkey has become such a tea advocat that it was only a few decades before it was able to become a tea exporter, now producing the 5th largest amount of tea in the world. (A good source of info. on tea in Turkey: (http://www.teainturkey.com/)

Not surprisingly tea is prepared vaguely similar as in Russia, it's northern neighbour. Very strong tea is made in one pot, and ths is placed on another, larger pot full of hot water which is then used to dilute the tea to one's taste. The lower pot (with a spigot) thus acts like a samovar.

Nowadays, Turkish people use a caydanlik, which is basically two kettles stacked on top of each other. The top pot holds the strong brewed tea and the bottom part holds the boiling water.