Tea Customs
How Tea Is Drunk Around the World
Turkey adjusts the strength with a two-tier pot. Russia keeps a concentrate warm on top of the water heater. Hong Kong strains it through cloth, again and again. Tibet churns it with butter and salt. One leaf, and this many different drinks.
About this page
The same leaf, but change country and the tools and manners change completely. We include only customs we can describe concretely, down to the equipment. Drinks made without tea leaf — maté, for instance — are not covered.
Turkey
ÇayA strong brew made in a two-tier pot, diluted to taste with hot water. Drunk straight, with sugar.
Turkish çay simply means tea, and it is a different thing from Indian masala chai. No milk goes in; sugar cubes come alongside.
It is made in a çaydanlık, a two-tier pot. Water boils below, then goes over the leaves in the upper pot (the demlik), which sits on the heat to steep into a concentrate (dem). To serve, you pour that into the glass and dilute it with water from below, to taste.
It is usually served in a small tulip-shaped glass with a flared rim and no handle, so you hold it by the lip. A well-brewed, deep red cup may be praised as tavşan kanı, 'rabbit's blood' — a colloquial compliment rather than a formal name for a strength.
What it takesÇaydanlık (two-tier pot) and tulip glasses
Source:Turkish Language Association dictionary — demleme ↗
RelatedRize →Tea Myths →
Russia
Samovar and zavarkaA pot of concentrate sits atop the water heater; each cup is diluted as it is poured. Often served with jam.
A samovar is a metal urn that heats water over charcoal or electricity. A teapot holding a strong brew sits on top to keep warm. To serve, you pour a little of that brew into the glass and top it up with water from the samovar, so every cup is made to strength. Zavarka is the word for the brew itself, not for the pot.
Sweetening may be sugar or jam. One well-known custom is to take a spoonful of jam in the mouth and then sip the tea, rather than stirring the jam in — though this varies by region and household, and is by no means universal.
Tea once travelled overland from China by caravan, and the blend named Russian Caravan recalls that journey. The story that campfire smoke along the way gave it its character is often told, but it is not established fact.
What it takesA samovar, and a teapot holding the zavarka
India
Masala chai and cutting chaiFine leaf simmered in milk and water; add spices and it is masala chai. On the street it is sold in small servings.
Indian chai is made by simmering fine leaf in milk and water. Add spices such as ginger and cardamom and you have masala chai; plain, unspiced chai is just as common. Because it is boiled, it suits teas that give plenty of body and astringency.
On the street a chaiwala serves it in small glasses. In Mumbai and elsewhere, a 'cutting chai' — a small serving, often described as half a glass — is a common order, so people drink little and often.
Our recipe page has the method.
What it takesSimmered in a pan and strained
RelatedAssam →Dooars →Masala Chai →Best Teas for Milk Tea →How to Enjoy Milk Tea →
United Kingdom
Cream teaScones with jam and clotted cream — and Devon and Cornwall disagree on which goes first.
A cream tea is tea with scones, jam and clotted cream — a light pairing associated with the south-west of England.
The famous disagreement is the order. The Devon way is cream first, then jam; the Cornish way is jam first, then cream. People have argued about it for a long time, though it is a matter of local custom rather than of taste.
The rhythm of tea through the British day, and where afternoon tea came from, are covered in our culture article.
What it takesScones, jam and clotted cream
Source:Visit Devon ↗Visit Cornwall ↗
RelatedEnglish Breakfast →Afternoon Tea →Classic Blends from Famous Brands →Culture →
Hong Kong
Hong Kong-style milk teaStrained repeatedly through a cloth bag and finished with evaporated milk. Strong and smooth.
Hong Kong-style milk tea is brewed strong from a blend of leaves and strained again and again through a cloth bag. The bag stains brown with use and comes to look like a silk stocking, which is where its nickname comes from.
It is finished not with fresh milk but with evaporated milk, which is what gives the drink its weight and smoothness. It is a fixture of the cha chaan teng.
The Hong Kong-style milk tea making technique was included in the first Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage for Hong Kong, published by the government in 2017. That is a Hong Kong government list, not a UNESCO inscription.
What it takesA cloth straining bag and evaporated milk
Source:HK Government, 2017 — first Representative List of ICH ↗
RelatedRoyal Milk Tea →Best Teas for Milk Tea →How to Enjoy Milk Tea →
Taiwan
Bubble teaCooked tapioca pearls at the bottom, drunk through a wide straw. Traced to 1980s Taiwan.
Bubble tea is milk tea with cooked tapioca pearls at the bottom. It is generally traced to 1980s Taiwan and has since spread worldwide, though which shop invented it is disputed — Chun Shui Tang in Taichung and Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan both claim it.
A wide straw lets you draw up the pearls as you drink. Their texture is the point, so the tea is brewed strong enough not to be lost behind them.
Taiwan also grows black tea in its own right — Sun Moon Lake and honey black tea among them.
What it takesA wide straw and cooked tapioca
Source:Taiwan NIA — on the disputed origin ↗
RelatedSun Moon Lake Ruby (No.18) →Honey Black Tea →Tapioca Milk Tea →Japanese and Taiwanese Black Tea →
Tibet and the Himalayas
Butter tea (po cha)Brick tea simmered, then churned with butter and salt. Savoury rather than sweet.
Butter tea is made by simmering compressed brick tea for a long time, then churning the liquor with butter and salt in a tall cylinder until it emulsifies into something thick and glossy.
Traditionally there is no sugar; salt does the seasoning, which puts it closer to a broth than to a sweet drink. It has been drunk daily for a very long time in the cold high country.
It is tea, but it plays a very different role from the sweet cup most of us picture.
What it takesA churn, plus brick tea, butter and salt
RelatedDifferences Between Black Tea, Green Tea, and Oolong Tea →Degree of oxidation →
Morocco
Atay (mint tea)Green tea with spearmint and sugar, poured from a height to raise a head of foam. Not a black tea.
Moroccan mint tea is based on green tea, not black. It belongs here all the same, as one of the world's essential ways of drinking tea. Gunpowder green is combined with spearmint and a generous amount of sugar.
The pour is the distinctive part: the pot is raised high and the tea falls in a thin stream, raising a head of foam. Serving it with that foam on top is considered the mark of a good pour.
It is central to hospitality.
What it takesA long-spouted pot and small glasses, poured from a height
RelatedDifferences Between Black Tea, Green Tea, and Oolong Tea →Degree of oxidation →Camellia sinensis →
The American South
Sweet teaSugar dissolved while the tea is hot, then chilled over ice. Cold and frankly sweet.
Sweet tea is the drink most associated with the American South. Sugar does not dissolve well once the tea is cold, so it goes in while the tea is still hot.
It is served over plenty of ice, often with lemon, and drunk with meals as an everyday household drink.
Our guide covers how to keep iced tea clear — that is, how to avoid cream down.
What it takesSweetened hot, then plenty of ice
RelatedIced Tea (Basic) →Best Teas for Iced Tea →Cream Down →
Japan
Lemon tea in the kissaten, and wakouchaTea with a slice of lemon became a kissaten fixture. Lately, home-grown wakoucha is made all over the country.
In Japan, tea with a slice of lemon became a familiar order in the kissaten.
The trick is to take the lemon out once its scent has carried; leaving the peel in for long tends to bring out bitterness.
Meanwhile, home-grown black tea — wakoucha — is now made across the country. Much of it is gentle in astringency, and it is often said to pair well with Japanese sweets.
What it takesLift the lemon out once its scent has carried
RelatedJapanese Black Tea →Lemon Tea →Japanese and Taiwanese Black Tea →History →
Read next
10 countries and regions.