Day 10, today I leave Kurdistan.
One last tea at the apartment...with cheese and apples, and a tea cookie.
This tea brand, CiHAN Tea is a tea I saw around town. This was a green tea. It was a good tea.
CiHAN Plaza Group, Kirkuk Road, Erbil, IRAQ
this photo is courtesy of my friend- I only saw the sign once when I was there, but it was at night and I could not get a photo. She sent it to me. How fun is this?!!!
Saying goodbye to the view.
I packed 10 days of souvenirs into 2 bags, but those bags can't hold all the memories I made. Corny, I know, but it was an incredible vacation.
I am taking back with me:
6 teapots
18 teacups
18 saucers
12 spoons
12 packages of tea
spices of- cardamon, saffron, rose buds, and cinnamon
Tea tray
2 containers of boiled sugar
2 pounds of saffron rock sugar
6 small treat plates
2 containers of date syrup
box of dates
date cookies
pistachio dessert
2 packages of coffee
8 tea stickers
Earl Grey toothpaste
tea journal
picnic blanket
and one Kurdish scarf
Trip with so many memories was priceless!
Ready to head out. I was super excited that they let me send both suitcases under the plan for free. I just carried on my purse and picnic blanket.
The airport "art"
Here I go!
I have 3000 Denari left...a Kurdish tea is 3000 Denari.
I was ready to get one last tea before I left the Middle East. Even though I was taking enough tea to start my own Middle East tea shop.
This cafe has some food as well. But I stuck with just the tea.
A few tea options. But only one was what I was looking for...Kurdish Tea. A large was 3,000 Denarii.
1500 IQD or Denarii = $1
3000 Denarii = $2
4500 Denarii = $3
6000 Denarii = $4
The tea was good. I would have liked more cardamom though - I have gotten used to having the cardamom in my tea. I had to chuckle to myself as I added two sugars to the tea. After 10 days I have started to change my tea drinking. I never add sugar to my tea, lol.
Things I learned about Kurdish Tea while I was in Iraq:
Tea here is called Chai. It is a black Ceylon tea with cardamon.
A teahouse is the second most visited place in Iraq, just after the mosques.
Tea is the number one drink in Iraq.
There are tea houses all over Erbil and some are for men only. The men sit around- drink tea, play games, talk business, and politics.
Tea houses in Iraq are called chai khana.
It is becoming more acceptable to women to be allowed in some teahouses.
Iraqis are said to drink 1 pound of tea a month. In 2021, Iraq was the largest importers of Ceylon tea.
Tea is for rich and poor, old and young. It is a part of the culture in Iraq.
In the 19th century the governor of Bhagdad turned all the coffee houses into tea houses.
But tea really gained it's popularity when the British army came to Iraq.
I've heard that people will start their day with Kurdish tea too. That if they don't they believe they will often have headaches and become dizzy.
If you buy tea along the streets here it is less and .50
Iraqi tea is served in a small cup made of glass called “Istikan” and this word means “East Tea
Can”. In other countries, I have heard them called Tulip cups, because of the shape.
Tea is made in a Samovar. The bottom kettle has the hot water, the top, smaller kettle has the stronger tea concentrate. You would fill the cup up with around 3/4 of the black tea and then the rest with hot water. You try to fill the cup up as full as you can.
When tea is served it comes on a saucer, with the cup and a spoon. The spoons can stick together. If a man receives two spoons that means he will have two wives.
To cool the tea, some pour the tea in the saucer to drink it. Some also keep the teacup in the saucer and lift the saucer up to drink from the cup, since the tea can be so hot.
There are a few things that can be added to this tea...a cinnamon stick, a rose bud, saffron, and even a tea perfume.
Tea is served with dates, sunflower seeds, pistachios, cookies, and other sweet treats.
The teaspoon is left in the cup when the tea is poured, if left out they think of you as inferior to them. (I also read that you never serve the spoon in the cup. It all depends on what part of Iraq you are from. When served in Erbil, it always had a spoon in the cup when it was brought to me. Yet, when I went to a Kurdish home, he made the tea without the spoon in it.)
People love the clinking of the teaspoon along the teacup as the sugar is stirred in. The clinking sounds are heard all over shops and bazars.
You will find kiosks of tea sellers on the side of streets, in the bazar, and all along the roads in villages.
Picnics always includes tea. People will grill their food over wood and charcoal and then put the kettle on. Some say tea over wood or charcoal is the best.
If you go to someone's house, it is rude for them not to offer tea. And you usually will have at least 2 cups.
Hello Vienna Austria!
I arrived in Vienna at 7pm. I spent the night and left Vienna at 10am Friday morning for the states.
What a great trip...and so many teas!
1 Peter 4:10-11, ESV
1 Peter 4:10-11, ESV
10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
