Turkey Tops Tea-consuming Nations

Fakhir Rizvi Published January 11, 2019 | 08:44 PM

Turkey tops the tea-consuming nations with a Turk taking an average of 1,300 cups of tea every year, according to the head of a coffeehouse association in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Jan, 2019 ) :Turkey tops the tea-consuming nations with a Turk taking an average of 1,300 cups of tea every year, according to the head of a coffeehouse association in Istanbul.

Serdar Ersahin, head of the Istanbul-based association told Anadolu Agency on Friday that Turks consumed around 3-5 cups of tea daily while the number increased to 10 cups during winter.

He said the tea culture was indispensable for Turks who considered it an occasion to sit and talk.

Tea-making in Turkey is different than rest of the world as it has to be brewed for around 20 minutes, while tea houses historically are places of socializing, he added.

Bekir Tezcakar, a teahouse owner for five generations at Istanbul's historic Grand Bazaar said cold weather had doubled the tea sales.

Also a tea producer, Turkey earned revenues of over $4.5 million after exporting the produce to 93 countries in the first half of 2018, according to the Eastern Black Sea Exporters Association (DKIB) data.

The data shows top three nations including Germany, Northern Cyprus and the United States that import Turkish tea.