You're brewing it wrong. The Turk told how to brew tea correctly

My brother has a Turkish friend with a beautiful name Berk, which means solid, strong. He came to our city to work under a contract in a branch of a Turkish company. The guy is very sociable, sociable, and quickly mastered the Russian language. At first I was surprised at a lot of things here and said that with the Russians everything is not the same as in Turkey.

He is especially outraged by our habit of drinking tea from bags. We invited him to visit and brewed some good English tea in a teapot, thinking that he would appreciate it. This was not the case, Burke said that in Russia they don’t know how to brew tea and promised to teach them how to do it correctly.

Visit with your own “samovar”

One Sunday the doorbell rang. We were already expecting the guest; his visit had been agreed upon in advance by telephone. Burke brought a large bag with him and asked him to take it to the kitchen, while he began to undress in the corridor. There was something jingling in the bag, but I didn’t look into it in advance. When the visitor arrived, cake and baklava were purchased at a nearby supermarket. Still, it was necessary to pay tribute to the eastern roots of a foreign friend.

What Burke brought for the tea ceremony

Burke glanced at us and became absorbed in the contents of his package. Two copper teapots were brought to light. One is quite large, and the second is smaller. The Turk said that in his native language this pair is called Çaydanlık. Gesturing, he explained that the metal for making teapots can be any kind; it is not necessary to buy it in copper.He just got this set from his grandmother, and in memory of her, he took the teadanlyk with him everywhere.

The structure of the two-story structure was simple. The lower “floor” in Turkey is called danlık. This is an ordinary kettle in which water is boiled. It doesn't have a lid. Instead, a second “floor”, the so-called demlyk, is installed on the neck of the teapot. It is an exact copy of the lower container, only in a reduced size and with a lid. In fact, this is an ordinary teapot where crushed tea leaves are placed.

This couple looked like Aladdin's magic lamp. Burke said that in his homeland, teadanlyk is always made as a work of art, because in the tea ceremony every detail is important and the appearance of the dishes plays an important role. For some reason, I also immediately wanted to buy a couple of unusual teapots and feel like an ancient Turkish princess, or a modern Turkish woman. In general, I, as they say, caught fire.

Turkish brew

And then the ceremony began. Our Turkish guest began to “conjure” the tea leaves. By the way, for the tea to be tasty, the water must also be of the highest quality, I think everyone knows about this. We take water for tea from a nearby spring.

In fact, it turned out that there is nothing complicated about preparing Turkish tea:

The Turk poured spring water into a large kettle and placed it on the stove.
Then Burke took out a package of Turkish loose leaf tea from his bag (it turns out that the Turks do not recognize ground tea).
A tablespoon of tea leaves was thrown into the top teapot.
When the water in the lower kettle boiled, our guest poured it over the loose leaf tea and closed the teapot with a lid.
The Turk added water to the lower container, placed a small kettle on top and put the structure on the fire, reducing the heat to a minimum.

While we were setting the table for tea, cutting the cake and baklava, it was time to taste Turkish tea. The brewing process lasts about 20 minutes. Burke said once the tea leaves settle to the bottom, the drink is ready. Indeed, the tea turned out to be beyond praise.

Of course, with our pace of life, you won’t have detailed tea ceremonies with leisurely conversations every time. Therefore, tea bags have not disappeared from our everyday life; they help us out in the morning when we need to be dynamic. However, I also bought chaydanlyk.

Now, when my friends come, I make sure to brew tea in the Turkish version and tell them about the traditions of tea drinking in Turkey. There it is part of the national culture (I had to study it). By the way, every time I experiment with different types of tea, I prepare tea mixtures in advance. The strength of the brew can also be changed according to your desire and taste.