National Drink in Turkey
Anyone not familiar with the country of Turkey may assume Turkish coffee is the national drink but Turks love drinking tea from sunrise to sunset and there is never a bad time to drink it in Turkey. Turkish friends will serve cay when you visit them at home.
The culture of drinking cay in Turkey is in most cases the beginning of a good friendship with a stranger.
Cay originally arrived in Turkey by way of China. The name 'cay' comes from the Chinese word for tea, chá, And is pronounced as 'chai'.
Turkey is one of the countries where tea is produced and consumed the most. Turkey produces between 6% and 10% of the globe’s tea.
In fact, Turkey is one of the top five tea-growing nations in the entire world. But, amazingly, more than half of that tea will be drunk within the borders of Turkey itself. As a result, Turkey ranks as one of the highest per capita tea consumers in the world.
Cay in Turkish Culture
Turkish cay is generally served with sweetmeats, although the tea itself is also sweetened with sugar. In the Eastern part of Turkey, it is common to place a sugar cube under the tongue before sipping the tea from the glass, rather than adding the sugar to the liquid. This is called 'kitlama cay'.
In Turkish culture, you just don't say, “Sorry, we don’t have any tea left!” This is simply not done, at all.
In case you are a guest in a Turkish friend's home, keep the famous Turkish hospitality in mind: just like any other treat, the host will insist you have one more. To prevent this, you might apply an equally traditional way and put your teaspoon on top of your tea glass the minute you finish your cay.
This means, 'That’s enough. Thank you!”
There is a folk saying in Turkey that "Conversations without cay are like a night sky without the moon," revealing the extent to which Turkish cay has become an integral part of Turkish culture.
Cay Time in Turkey
Turkish cay is drunk especially at breakfast and after dinner in Turkish culture. However, it can be drunk at any time of the day and anywhere. When you go to someone's home, Turkish cay is almost always offered, without question. In Turkey, this is true not just for homes but for stores, shopping malls, restaurants, and other public spaces.
And, in workplaces throughout Turkey, tea breaks are legally mandated rights by law of the land with two required during the course of each working day. Many stores will hire a private person whose sole job is to make Turkish cays for customers. Some cookbooks even mention teacups as a measuring instrument in their recipes.
Turks believe that the Turkish cay, takes the heat. Therefore cay is preferred even on hot summer days in Turkish
How to Make a Turkish Cay
Although the procedure is slightly different, making the Turkish cay is quite easy. Another advantage of this Turkish cay is that you can customize one pot of brewed tea for multiple people such "acik" or "demli".
Ingredients:
7-8 cups water
4 tbsp Turkish cay
Teapot (caydanlik)
Instructions;
- Boil 7-8 cups of water in a bottom teapot first. Then put the Turkish tea leaves to the top pot and transfer 2 cups of boiled water from the lower pot to the top pot.
- Let them boil at medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Bring the heat to the lowest level and boil 10 minutes more and after it it will be ready.
- When serving Turkish cay, pour 1/3 of a glass with tea and fill the rest with boiled water.
- Its optional to serve with sugar.
Tips to Make the Perfect Turkish Cay
If you want the taste and color of your Turkish tea to be perfect, you should pay attention to some tips. These tips are:
Quality Cay: To make sure that you picked a good quality cay, put some cay in cold water. If the color of the water changes slowly then it is good tea. If it changes rapidly then there is something wrong. Once you have good cay, you should store cay air tight, dry and away from other odors.
Avoid Bitterness: Refrain from boiling the water too long, or on too high fire. The dry cay in the top pot will get bitter, and its caffeine level will increase.
Count to Ten: Before adding the water on to the cay, wait a few seconds for the actual boiling to stop. This will preserve the healthy characteristics and taste of the Turkish cay.
Don't Stir: When you add water to the top pot, never stir. Just pour it in, let it rest and turn down the fire to minimum level. This way you again prevent your Turkish cay from becoming bitter because of the excessive heat. Never boil the cay itself.
30 Minutes: Consume steeped Turkish cay within half an hour.
Serving Turkish Cay
Rather than use cups, Turks drink hot tea out of small tulip-shaped glasses sitting on round saucers.
When serving, fill the glass a quarter or third of the way up with Turkis cay mixture from the caydanlik top half. Top up with clear water from the bottom pot. Alter this mixture according to whether you like strong (demli) or weak (acik).
The teapot, with its unique shape, is traditionally made of porcelain or copper. Today you are more likely to see teapots made of glass or steel.
Turkis cay is served in glasses with a small plate at the bottom. The traditional Turkish cay set will contain a double teapot, tea glasses with small plates, small teaspoons, and a tray.
Turkish Cay Garden
While tea gardens might sound like something you’re more likely to come across in eastern countries like Japan, they also constitute a pivotal part of Turkish culture. However, unlike the calm, tranquil images conjured up by the thought of a Japanese tea garden, a Turkish cay house is usually a hub of social activity.
These gardens are busy, vibrant places where people gather to socialize and spend time together, chatting, playing backgammon, listening to music, catching up on the latest news, and watching their children have fun together.
Benefits of Turkish Tea
Turkish tea is a beverage that can be drunk at any time of the day. If Turkish cay is drunk without sugar, it has 0 calories. Because of this feature, it is often used in diets.
In addition, Turkish cay has many other benefits.
Antioxidant properties: Turkish cay contains a group of polyphenols that have antioxidant properties. Consuming antioxidants may help decrease the risk of chronic disease and improve your overall health.
Heart health: Turkish cay contains flavonoids, which are beneficial for heart health. Studies have found that regularly drinking Turkish tea may help reduce the risk of heart disease.
LDL (bad) cholesterol: LDL and HDL are two types of lipoproteins that carry cholesterol throughout the human body. Too much LDL in the body can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. Studies have found that Turkish cay may help reduce LDL levels.
Blood pressure: High blood pressure can cause many health complications. Drinking Turkish cay on a regular basis may help decrease systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Blood sugar levels: Insulin is a hormone that is secreted when you consume sugar. Turkish cay is a beverage that may help improve the use of insulin and reduce blood sugar when drunk without sugar.
The risk of cancer: Turkish cay contains polyphenols, which may help fight cancer cells in the body. Although consuming Turkish tea will not cure cancer, it may help decrease cancer cell development and reduce cancer risk.
Other Types Turkish Cay
Many Turkish people prefer the black, sweet variety of Turkish cay. However, there are a few other types of cay preferred in Turkey.
Firstly, Oralet, a fruit cay with flavours like kiwi, orange, apple, lemon, and cherry. It looks more like sprinkles for decorating cakes rather than tea leaves. The bright colour, fruity taste, and sweetness mean this cay drink does not need extra sugar.
Also Turkish Herbal tea is very common and consumed to cure ailments and illnesses. In the winter in particular, Turkish herbal teas are very useful. It's almost always brewed with the ingredients themselves rather than out of a tea bag, and the flavors are just as amazing as the health benefits.
What is the difference between Turkish and English tea?
Even though both Turkish cay and English tea is black tea brewed by steeping, they have some differences as well.
First of all, their brewing methods are a little bit different. Turkish cay is brewed in a dual teapot which has boiling water under the teapot.
English tea is mostly brewed in a single teapot.
So, Turkish cay saves its heat during steeping while English tea loses its heat, which affects the final flavor and strength of the tea.
Secondly, Turkish cay is served in tulip-shaped small glasses without handles, mostly with sugar. However, English tea is served in porcelain teacups with handles having milk, sugar and lemon alongside. Milk is never added to Turkish cay.
Since English tea loses heat during brewing, it is cold enough to directly drink when poured into teacups.
Turkish cay, on the other hand, saves its heat during brewing so it is very hot. When served so the drinker needs to wait for some time before drinking it to avoid burning his or her tongue and his lips.
What Makes Turkish Cay Special?
Turkish tea is served in glass cups so you can see the color. This red color called is ‘tavsan kani’.
Turkish cay has a robust and unique flavor and contains plenty of antioxidants, which can provide several health benefits.
Best of all, it's simple to make and can easily be found at many places in Turkey
If you haven't drunk so before Turkish cay, we hope that you will be able to taste cay while you are in Turkey!
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