🍵 Turkish tea (çay)
Çay is the strong black tea drunk throughout Turkey all day long. It is brewed in a double teapot called a çaydanlık: water boils in the lower pot while a concentrated brew steeps in the upper one, and each glass is diluted to taste. Served in small tulip-shaped glasses, it is deep amber, bracing and slightly bitter, usually with sugar cubes on the side.
Diets
Allergens
None of the 14 major allergens in a typical recipe.
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp loose black tea
- 1.5 litres water
- Sugar cubes, optional, to serve
Method
- Fill the lower pot of a double teapot with water and put the dry tea in the upper pot; bring the water to the boil.
- Pour about 300 ml of the boiling water over the tea in the upper pot, refill the lower pot and set the top back on.
- Steep over very low heat for 10–15 minutes.
- Fill each glass about one-third to half with the brew and top up with hot water to the strength you like.
How to make it lighter
- Plain tea has almost no calories; each sugar cube adds about 15–20 kcal.
- Try one cube instead of two, or none — the tea is meant to be strong and aromatic.
- Pair it with fruit rather than biscuits when drinking several glasses a day.
History
Tea became Turkey's everyday drink in the 20th century, when large-scale plantations were established around Rize on the eastern Black Sea coast. Today Turkey is among the world's highest tea consumers per person, and çay is offered in homes, shops and offices as a basic gesture of hospitality.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →