Tea in Turkey

Former Turkish MP Emine Ülker Tarhan drinking Turkish tea

Tea was first carried by Silk Road traders to present-day Turkey during the 5th century, who used it in barter trade for Chinese produce.[6] By the end of 6th century, drinking tea had become popular, and was no longer considered just a medicinal drink.[6]

In the later part of the 19th century, the nearby city of Batum, in what was then known as the Caucasus Viceroyalty (now known as Batumi in Georgia), was cultivating tea with great success.[6] This commercial growing region in Georgia had been started by the Russians importing tea seedlings from China.[6] With this fruition, the Russians looked towards Turkey to expand the crop.[6]

Under the direction of the state and leaders, the Department of Agriculture selected the city of Bursa in order to evaluate the feasibility of tea cultivation by importing seedlings from Japan and China in 1888.[7] There were issues with the growing of tea crops in Bursa as the land was found to be unsuitable for this crop.[6]

Tea drinking was initially encouraged as an alternative to coffee after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Coffee had become expensive and, at times, unavailable in the aftermath of World War I. Upon the loss of Yemen Vilayet, where coffee was traditionally cultivated, coffee became an expensive import.[8] Early tea cultivation experiments started in Rize Province in 1912, as an initiative by the Head of the Chamber of Agriculture, Hulusi Bey.[9]

In 1918, botanist Ali Riza Erten was given government instruction to try tea cultivation in other regions of Turkey (including Rize Province, Artvin Province, Ardahan Province, and in Batumi in Georgia).[6] He took detailed notes on the ecological factors that made for successful tea crops in Batumi and tried to find similar features in Turkey in his paper titled, Şimali Şarki Anadolu ve Kafkasyada Tetkikatı Ziraiye (Agricultural Investigations in North Eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus).[10] Erten eventually narrowed production down to the provinces of Rize, Artvin and Ardahan.[10] However, during this time Turkey and its neighboring countries were in turmoil and tea cultivation was not a priority. Much of this research by Erten on tea cultivation was not used for another 10 years.[6]

By 1924, the government established the Central Tea Nursery (Turkish: Merkez Çay Fidanlığı) to distribute approximately 50,000 seedlings in the province of Rize.[10] Research was conducted after Turkish tea plantations were formed to understand topics such as specific pruning techniques, plant fertilization needs, the shorter required timing for processing tea leaves.[6] Many of the early tea farmers of this region stopped producing the crop as a result of lack of knowledge and initial profit.[6] There had been many failed attempts to scale the efforts.[6]

From 1939 to 1945, the earliest large scale crops were created and stabilized.[6] Rize Province soon emerged as Turkey's main tea producing region, with tea becoming one of the most important agricultural products in the country.[6] Attesting to its importance, some towns in the Black Sea region changed their names so as to include the word çay (tea), such as the towns of Kadahor and Mapavri, which became, respectively, Çaykara and Çayeli.[11]

By the mid-20th century, tea became the beverage of choice in Turkey.[12]

During the 1950s, the central authorities in government recognized the tea sector's transformative potential for the Black Sea province.[13] In order to boost this new sector and improve the living conditions of this province with traditionally below par circumstances, the government strongly supported this industry.[13] Ironically, Adnan Menderes and his Motherland Party - which stressed the importance of a free-market economy - used protectionism to help shore up the tea sector.[13] The Motherland Party's central agenda was the modernization of Turkey.[13] As the tea sector became more prosperous, so did the North Anatolian province with the construction of highways, schools, hospitals and important infrastructure.[13]

The party-competition in the 1970s curbed tea production as well as the modernization process.[13] This struggle between politicians increased the inflation rates which caused a devaluation of commodity prices such as tea.[13] The decline in prices and a growing resentment towards the government led to many growers forgoing the quality controls placed by the Tea Corporation.[13] The Tea Corporation was the state-owned monopoly that was the primary buyer of tea leaves.[13] To ensure a satisfactory quality for exporting tea, the Corporation laid out standards for tea harvesting.[13] The inspectors of the Corporation, many of whom were also producers themselves, often overlooked these regulations as they were aware of the significance of the declining incomes.[13] The drop in the quality of tea was noticeable by the Turkish people at-large.[13]

The 1980 coup which brought a strong-central government also shifted tea production and its regulations heavily.[13] Producers were instructed to follow the quality standards set by the Tea Corporation.[13] Instructions such as plucking only by hand and limiting daily quotas resulted in a drop in production.[13] The 1983 elections brought back the Motherland Party.[13] Soon after, the Tea Corporation's monopoly over the tea sector was lifted.[13] Private companies were now able to enter the tea sector.[13] The entrance of the private sector into the tea industry was welcomed by the producers, as many small-scale private companies disregarded the quality controls in comparison to the Corporation.[13] Even with the entrance of new companies into the sector, the Tea Corporation remained dominant.[13] The enthusiasm regarding the entrance of the private sector into the industry was not long-lived.[13] Many companies either went bankrupt or were slow to pay their harvesters.[13] Workers went back to selling to the Corporation as they found it to be more trustworthy- especially regarding payments.[13]

After the 1991 elections where the Motherland Party was voted out of office, the new government sought to use the Tea Corporation to its benefit.[13] The new coalition government added more jobs into the tea sector to increase its support.[13]

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Sea province witnessed a change in the demographics of the workers during the tea-harvesting season.[16] Traditionally from the Caucasus, such as Georgia and Azerbaijan, the 40,000 workers who were anticipating harvesting tea were not let in the country due to the pandemic.[16] This void was filled by African immigrants, primarily from Gambia and Senegal, who had been residing in Turkey with a visa.[16]

The government “eased domestic travel restrictions” for harvesters of tea to travel to the Rize province.[17] The harvesters were mandated to quarantine for fourteen days before getting to work.[17]

Aside from the traditional kiraathane, tea houses primarily for men — tea gardens are also settings in which social gatherings with tea take place.[20] Backgammon is a common game that is often played in these tea gardens.[19] They have proven to be an attraction for tourists in destinations such as Sultan Ahmet and Taksim in Istanbul.[20] With the growing young population, Turkey is seeing a shift towards café culture in places like Karaköy where coffee is predominantly being drunk.[20] However, this increase in the consumption of coffee does not negate the fact that black Turkish tea is still the drink of choice for Turks.[20]

Apple tea (Elma Çayı) has been used in Turkey for treatment of digestive problems, balancing blood sugar, boosting the immune system, has expectorant properties for improving a cough, and for improving eye health.[22]

Yarrow tea has been medicinally used in Turkey as an anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial treatment.[23] Modern medical research studies have been conducted on Yarrow tea to determine the medical benefits.[21] In a 2014 study (Demirel, et al.) concluded yarrow (specifically species Achillea biebersteinii Afan.) to be a, "promising alternative for the treatment of endometriosis".[21]

Sage tea (Turkish: Ada Çayı; literally 'island tea') is popular in the Mediterranean coastal region.[23] Whereas in English sage usually refers to the species Salvia officinalis, throughout Turkey various species of the plant genera Salvia, Sideritis, and very rarely Stachys are usually known and consumed as "sage tea".[24] Sideritis (also known as Ironwort, or Mountain tea; Turkish: Dağ Çayı) is used medicinally and grows at high elevations.[23] Sideritis is often served with honey, lemon, or cinnamon.[23]