Professional tasters gauge quality of Turkish tea

Professional tea testers are trained to better promote traditional Turkish tea, the country's most popular beverage, as part of a new training project designed by the Rize Commodity Exchange Market. Given by tea experts, the training includes two weeks of theory and practice classes that instructs participants about key information on tea's color, aromatic features, the appearance of processed tea and strong tea. For the first stage, a total of 95 participants participated in the trainings and were awarded certificates at an official ceremony. Mehmet Erdoğan, the chairman of the Rize Commodity Exchange Market, said: "The parameters for traditional Turkish tea need to be developed. With better production and quality, Turkish tea will be further promoted around the world. The trainings are what accelerate this process."

The preliminary trainings for professional tea testing took place in 2010. "That year, 50 participants were trained and 36 of them were employed," Erdoğan added. Gülşah Sandıkçı, one of the trainees, said she is happy to be involved in the project and added: "The courses have helped me learn about all the features of Turkish tea. I want to work as professional tea tester. I think all students are satisfied with the trainings."

Most Turkish teas are cultivated on the Black Sea coast. The most distinctive item used to brew Turkish tea is the double teapot called a "çaydanlık." It is essentially two small kettles stacked on top of each other. The bottom kettle is filled with water and boiled, and some of the boiled water is then mixed with a small amount of tea leaves in the upper kettle. The end product is a very strong brew of tea in the top kettle and hot water in the bottom. Turkish tea is mostly served in a clear tulip-shaped glass alongside a few sugar cubes.