A Sip of Tea — How to Brew Turkish Tea

In Türkiye, a sip of tea is the most frequently repeated gesture of the day. Türkiye ranks first in the world for tea consumption per head — around 3–4 kilos of dry tea per person a year.

How to brew tea

Turkish tea is brewed in a çaydanlık, never boiled. In this two-tier teapot, water boils in the bottom pot while the tea leaves in the top pot are warmed by its steam and slowly release their flavour.

1. Fill the bottom pot with water and bring it to the boil.
2. Put the dry tea in the top pot (a dessertspoon per person is a good measure).
3. Pour some of the boiling water into the top pot, without filling it to the brim.
4. Turn the heat under the bottom pot down low and let the tea brew for 10–15 minutes.

Brew it too briefly and the tea will be pale; brew it too long and it turns bitter. The ideal strength, once the leaves have released their flavour, shows as a clear red known as “tavşankanı” — “rabbit’s blood”.

What does tavşankanı mean?

Tavşankanı is the expression for tea at its ideal strength: a clear red, deep but never cloudy. You should be able to see the bottom of the glass, but the colour shouldn’t be pale either. That’s why weak tea gets teased as “not rabbit’s blood but rabbit water”.

When it’s served, everyone has their own preferred strength: açık (light, with less brew), koyu (strong, with more brew) or orta (medium). That’s also why the slim-waisted glass is clear — so the colour can be seen.

Where does the tea grow?

In Türkiye, tea is grown on the eastern Black Sea coast, mainly in and around Rize. The region’s plentiful rain, acidic soil and mild climate suit the tea plant. Production spread from the 1940s onwards, and tea soon took the place of coffee as the everyday drink.

The leaves are picked by hand or with special shears, and the harvest is repeated in rounds known as “sürgün”, or flushes.

Why the slim-waisted glass?

The shape of the slim-waisted glass is no accident: the narrow waist makes hot tea easier to hold, the wider top lets the aroma spread, and the glass lets you see the colour. Its small size also means the tea is finished before it goes cold — one glass is emptied and a fresh one poured.

Tea and conversation

Tea’s place in Türkiye goes beyond that of a drink: it is what welcoming guests, business meetings and neighbourly visits all have in common. “Let’s have a tea” is usually less about the tea than about the conversation.

This site’s name comes from the same idea — a short break that does you good. You can drop into the chat rooms for as long as a glass of tea lasts.