reflection

TURKISH TEA





We start our day not with coffee, absolutely with a glass of newly brewed tea which has a tempting and stimulating fragrance. Breakfast means tea for us. If there is no tea, it’s not a real breakfast for us as it lacks the main thing. If you don’t have time for breakfast at home, you can buy simit and have it with a glass of tea at work. Tea and simit are always perfect couple! We also have tea at various times in a day. A glass of newly brewed tea is the best solution if you are tired. People say that it removes your tiredness. It’s a way of renewing yourself and it gives the energy you need to continue your work. If a student feels sleepy, his or her mother brings a glass of tea with some cookies, which helps him/her continue studying. When you have unexpected guests, you are absolutely supposed to serve them tea as there is always tea in the pantry. So, we can say that tea as a drink is much more common in Turkey than coke. When waiting for your package at a fish market, don’t be surprised if the salesperson offers you tea. It is a way of welcoming your customer, which is a part of our culture. Tea is also served at meetings with colleagues or friends. There is also a seperate small kitchen like room at almost all workplaces and a person is charged there to brew tea and seerve it to the employees. As for its service , culturally we prefer drinking tea in a glass specially designed for Turkish tea. Serving them in cups doesn’t have a very long history in our culture. It has become popular for some years, but tea glass is still the most-preferred. A few sugar cubes are put near the glass at coffee houses, while sugar is served in a separate cup at home. There are certainly people who love their tea without sugar. Some prefer strong tea some love weak tea. Turkish tea is grown in Rize, in Black Sea region, and it is said that this tea has the highest quality all around the world. There are endless tea fields in this city and tea makes the main source of economy there. And everyone in Turkey owes a lot to the women of this region as they do the most of the work here. Women are the ones who work in these fields picking tea leaves.