If there's one drink that truly fuels daily life across Turkey, it's çay (pronounced CHAI) – strong, black tea, served piping hot in small, elegant tulip-shaped glasses. And the undisputed heartland of this national beverage is the province of Rize, nestled on the incredibly steep, rain-soaked eastern Black Sea coast.

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Here, vibrant green tea bushes carpet the mountainsides in seemingly endless waves, creating a breathtaking and unique agricultural landscape. Though tea cultivation is relatively recent in Turkey's long history, it has profoundly transformed this region's economy and environment, and supplies the leaves for the millions of glasses of çay savoured daily from Istanbul to Van.

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For us, Ola and Riza, witnessing the vast tea plantations of Rize was to see the direct source of a deeply ingrained cultural ritual we'd encountered all over Turkey. This exploration traces the journey of Turkish tea, from its cultivation on these challenging Black Sea hills to its central place in Turkish social life, revealing the human story and immense effort behind every comforting glass.

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A New Crop for an Ancient Land: How Tea Came to Rize

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While tea drinking has a long history in some parts of the world, its large-scale cultivation in Turkey, and specifically in Rize, is a relatively modern story. For centuries, the steep, acidic soils and extremely wet climate of the eastern Black Sea coast made traditional Anatolian crops like wheat or barley difficult to grow successfully. The region was known for other products, but it wasn't until the early 20th century that serious efforts were made to introduce tea as a viable cash crop.

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Experiments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries showed that the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) could thrive in Rize's unique conditions. Following the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the government actively promoted tea cultivation as a way to develop the region's economy and provide a domestic source for what was becoming an increasingly popular drink (previously, most tea was imported). Seeds were brought from Georgia and other tea-growing regions, and by the mid-20th century, tea had become the dominant agricultural product, dramatically reshaping the landscape and the livelihoods of the people of Rize and surrounding provinces like Trabzon and Artvin.

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From Steep Slope to Steaming Glass: The Journey of Turkish Tea

Growing and processing tea in the Karadeniz region is an intensive and skilled undertaking, largely shaped by the challenging, steep terrain. The tea bushes, vibrant green, are planted in neat rows that contour the incredibly steep hillsides, often requiring terraces to be painstakingly cut into the mountains. This dramatic landscape means that using machinery for harvesting is almost impossible. Consequently, tea picking in Rize is almost entirely done by hand, a physically demanding job often undertaken by women. This includes many seasonal migrant workers who travel to the region during the several harvest seasons, or "flushes," which typically run from May to October. With great skill, these workers pluck only the top two tender leaves and a bud from each tea shoot, the part of the plant that yields the best flavour.

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Once picked, the fresh leaves begin their transformation journey at local tea processing factories, known as çay fabrikası. The Turkish method for producing its characteristic black tea typically involves several key stages. First is withering, where the leaves are spread out, often on large racks, to lose some of their moisture content. This makes them more pliable and ready for the next step. Then, the withered leaves are rolled or cut. This crucial process breaks the cell walls within the leaves and releases enzymes, which initiates oxidation. Oxidation, sometimes referred to as fermentation in tea processing, is where the leaves are exposed to air for a controlled period. During this stage, they darken and develop their distinctive strong flavour, aroma, and reddish colour. Turkish tea is typically fully oxidized. Finally, the oxidized leaves are dried (or "fired") with hot air. This stops the oxidation process, reduces the moisture content further to make the tea stable for storage, and locks in the flavour. After drying, the tea is sorted into different grades based on leaf size and quality, resulting in the small, dark, wiry tea leaves that are the hallmark of Turkish çay.

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The Ritual of Çay and its Significance

Once processed, this "green gold" from Rize's hills makes its way into a çaydanlık (a traditional Turkish double teapot) in countless homes, offices, shops, and çay bahçesi (tea gardens) across the entire country. The preparation itself is a cherished ritual: strong tea is brewed in the smaller top pot, while hot water is kept ready in the larger bottom pot. The tea is then served by pouring some of the potent tea concentrate into a distinctive tulip-shaped glass, and then diluting it with hot water from the bottom pot to suit the drinker's preferred strength – either açık (weak/light) or koyu (strong/dark).

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Turkish tea is almost invariably served with sugar cubes on the side, for individuals to add to their own taste. It is drunk throughout the day, from breakfast through to late evening, marking moments of pause, hospitality, and social connection. It accompanies every important social gathering, every business meeting, and every quiet moment of personal reflection.

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This constant, comforting presence makes çay far more than just a simple drink; it is an absolutely integral part of Turkish culture and daily social interaction. The journey of tea from Rize's steep slopes to becomes Turkey's national drink underscores the deep connection between specific agricultural regions, human labour, and broader national cultural habits. The success of tea in this region showcases remarkable human ingenuity in adapting a crop to thrive in a unique and demanding climate, transforming not only the landscape and economy but also the daily rituals of an entire nation.

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The vibrant green tea plantations of Rize are more than just a beautiful sight; they are the source of a national passion and a testament to agricultural transformation. Every small, tulip-shaped glass of strong Turkish çay savoured across the country carries within it the story of these rain-swept Black Sea hills, the hard work of its tea pickers, and the relatively recent but deeply ingrained tradition that has made Rize the undisputed tea capital of Turkey. It’s a reminder that even our most common daily rituals can connect us to specific landscapes, remarkable human endeavours, and the "green gold" that sustains them.

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