Turkish Tea

Turkish Çay

Known as the turkish çay, this black tea is definitely a must have drink in countries like Turkey and Arab ones. Now, as some people don't know, the turkish are muslims so in their religion alcohol is not allowed, because of this turkish people consume a lot of tea, and by a lot I mean they drink this tea all day long. If it's summer and it's 35 degrees plus, if it's winter, all day long for all their lives basically the tea is not skipping their daily routine.

If you ask me i usually prefer the fruit tea or mint, Starbucks full mint leaf it's my absolutely favourite one. I do drink turkish tea but only when I really have too.

During my first Erasmus in Diyarbakir, Turkey, i was drinking so much of this tea that truly not I cannot anymore. They say when in Turkey someone offers you a coup of tea is like an offend to refuse them, so like it or not you must drink it haha.

But for those who enjoy a coup of black tea I will write step by step how to prepare it and what you need.

Ingredients :

• Turkish çay ( turkish black tea)
• Special pot for making this type of tea
• Sugar ( cubes)
• Water ( of course)

Personally, I use this small package of turkish tea from Çaykur, it's special for tourists if they want to take it home as a gift or souvenir.

The taste is amazing and I do not drink so much at home, so I just keep it for guests or friends.

This package I bought it with 2, 50 TL from Turkish supermarket, you can find all types of brands and big packages as well.

This black tea is from the city of Rize, which is very close to were I live, in Trabzon. What is nice about it is turkish people cultivate themselves this local tea, and also they produce it in Turkey. So it's 100% the original one, not imported and definitely not fake one.

Turkish people use this special pot for making the tea, my culture doesn't normally use this type of pot, and I confess I dont think I saw it in Romania very often in supermarkets.

It has the lower part in which you boil the water and top part in which you add the tea.

Price for this pot it cannot be more than 30 tl, let's say around 10 euros, if you buy it from bazar or small shops. Of course this one is small, up to 4 glasses of tea, now if you want a big one the price can go up for sure.

Step 1

Put water to boil in the lower part of the pot. Fill it almost full and place it on the fire until it boils.

Mine, yes, it's not almost full haha.

Add also the top part with nothing inside. Wait until the water boils.

Step 2

When water is boiling take out the top part and put inside turkish tea from package, it can be very little like 2 big spoon up to 4 spoons depends how concentrate you want it. But trust me 2 big spoon are enough.

And then from the lower part pour some water into the top part, over the tea.

And place the water back with some fresh one, to fill back what you used for the tea on top. I hope this makes sense haha.

And then place it back on the fire for like 10 minutes or less. Make sure the fire is at the minimum.

Step 3

When it's ready, close the fire and leave it like this for another 5 minutes, you can be sure it's ready when from the top you will see that the tea leaves went down under water. Then is ready. If you don't want to wait extra 5 minutes you can always mix it with a spoon.

Now the tea is ready. Take a cup and pour first from the top, a small amount like a quater of the coup, then fill the rest with water from the bottom of the pot. Add 1 or 2 sugar cubes, always white, mix it and enjoy the turkish tea.

Either you are at home or going out for dinner, turkish tea is a must, even if I don't understand how can people drink it during summer, I do respect the culture and embrace it.

Enjoy the turkish tea !

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