My friend gifted me this tea. She said it was one of her favorites in Kurdistan.
Here is the fun package I received when I arrived in Kurdistan. Earl Grey toothpaste!! How great is that? She found it in Erbil, it is from Italy.
Being home just two days and I was ready to get back into Kurdish tea drinking.
I am not sure what all is in this tea. I can tell it is a black tea with cardamom, but then I think maybe cinnamon and saffron is added too.
I am using my new teapot. (I love this birthday gift from my friend) It is a double teapot. You put the water in the bottom, bigger teapot. Then in the top teapot you add the tea. I did 4 scoops of tea and filled with boiling water.
I boiled the water on the stove and then to keep it warm I placed it on a tea light in the living room. The candle stays lit for about 2 hours. And that is about how long I drank tea for.
I let the tea steep for at least 5 minutes and then I pour it out. It does continue to steep which is hard for me, lol. I want to put a tea bag of tea in and pull out at 5 minutes, but I also want to make it authentic, so I leave the tea in the teapot. I then just add less and less tea- since it is so strong, and I just add more hot water.
I bought these pistachio treats in the airport.
They are fantastic!!!!!! They have almost like a shortbread covering and they are filled with pistachio goodness!
I put the pistachio treat on my plates I bought at a second hand store. I am going to use these with my tea to put dates, nuts, or other treats on.
I place the tea strainer on the cup, and pour the hot tea into the cup. I start with the first cup being about 3/4 full of tea and 1/4 hot water. And then each time it is less and less tea.
I added one sugar cube. It is a boiled sugar.
I don't know anything about boiled sugar. My friend just told me people use it here, so I bought it, lol! If she said it was tea related and to buy it I didn't question her, I just purchased it.
My cats, Orange Pekoe and Chai Latte love a good tea party. They were sad that they didn't get to drink any though.
Just looking at this makes me happy and I haven't even drank anything yet.
It was such a wonderful trip and drinking the tea takes me back there with every sip.
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.
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.
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