Everything You Wonder About Turkish Tea

Tea is one of the most consumed hot beverages in Turkey. Like the Japanese and the British, a special importance is given to tea by the Turks. So what do you wonder about the tea culture in Turkey? Feel free to share your questions in the comment section...

Turkish Tea

Tea Cup

Turks drink tea mostly in glass cups. Just like the glass you see in the photo... On the other hand, don't be surprised if you see people drinking in glass water glasses or coffee cups (porcelain). In Turkish tea culture, the glasses in the photograph represent the average. However, there are thinner ones as well. The most precious ones are lead (crystal) glasses. These glasses are used when serving tea to valued guests who come to the house.

Turkish Tea & Families

In Turkish families, children start consuming tea when they are just a few years old. Tea prepared for children is called "pasha tea". It is not hot, it is warm and the tea rate is less than normal. The tea in the photo is a few tones lighter than the photo. For a normal glass, two or three sugar cubes are thrown.

Tea is often consumed at breakfast. Also, some families drink tea in the afternoon or after dinner. Usually, either tea or Turkish coffee is offered to the guests.

Turkish Tea & Sugar

Either one or two cubes of sugar are added to the tea, or granulated sugar is added at the same rate and mixed well. On the other hand, I have to say that there is a majority that does not throw sugar at all. (I don't add sugar: You can taste the tea better and it's healthier) Sometimes a thin slice of lemon can also be added to the tea. I recommend you try it.

Cultural Tips

- The teaspoon has a meaning. If you put the spoon on the glass after drinking the tea, it means you don't want to drink any more.

- Maybe it doesn't happen to you, but in bureaucracy (protocol culture), tea has some meanings too. It should be accepted when one goes to the office of the person who is at the top of the hierarchy and offers tea or coffee. Do not start drinking the tea before the acceptor starts. If that person has finished drinking the tea, his/her message will be "conversation ended". You can get permission and leave.

- "Kıtlamak" means "Isırmak" and "Isırmak" means "Bite". Especially in Erzurum city, people bite the sugar cube and then drink the tea. So they don't mix it in a glass.

- After the tea is finished, the remaining pulp in the teapot could be used as fertilizer in the pot or garden.

- Tea was tried to be grown in Anatolia in the last period of the Ottoman. However, due to natural/weather conditions, success could not be achieved. In the 1920s and 1930s, it was tried and successful in the Eastern Black Sea Region.

- If you're asked if you'd like to have tea after eating at a restaurant, it's a gift/free service. If the price is charged for the first tea you drink, it will not be ethical. (Tea shops, sweet shops, etc. excluded. Only restaurants)