#EVLIYA CELEBI THE BOOK OF TRAVELS YAHOO PATCH#

Now the way for tea agriculture was officially open. Dated 1924 and numbered 407, the new law was about the cultivation of filberts (hazelnuts), oranges, lemons, tangerines and tea in the province of Rize and Borçka district. Coffee could not be grown within the new shrunk borders of the Turkish Republic, so the country needed a new habitual beverage. The motive was to become a totally self-sustained country, being able to produce every food and drink item locally in order to be economically independent. One of the first laws that passed from the parliament was on the introduction of tea cultivation. The fate of tea cultivation changed with the establishment of the Turkish Republic. While commenting about the tea offered to them during her visits to Istanbul and Bursa in 1836, Pardoe said that it was too watery and the way it was served was a bit clumsy as if people had no clue on how it should be served. For instance, English travel writer Julia Pardoe, who wrote about her voyage in the Ottoman lands, observed that Turks did not know much about tea. Tea drinking was initiating with baby steps, but obviously, there was a long way to go. Tea in Istanbul was only seen since the 19th century when it became an imported item, especially due to the 1838 Balta Port Agreement signed with England that lowered the customs duties and opened Ottoman lands to British trade. The Ottoman historian Soraya Faroqhi says that tea was only found in the eastern regions that shared connections with Azeri, Iranian and Russian cultures and which had trade links with these regions. He drew attention to the fact that there was a tea trade in Istanbul in 1631 and mentioned a tea offering in Bitlis only once during his travels at a banquet given by the Kurdish Bey of Bitlis in honor of Melek Ahmet Pasha, noting that tea was among countless drinks served to guests and that he has tasted it for the first time. Evliya mentions tea only twice in his narratives. When we come to the Ottoman times, the first mention of tea appears in the travel book of the famous traveler Evliya Çelebi. For the first time in the 12th century, the famous Sufi poet Ahmed Yesevi recorded tea as a drink that is good for health. Tea in the Ottoman period was almost non-existent there is not much record of tea in our history. During the Ottoman era, coffee used to be the hot beverage of choice. The first attempt at tea growing in Turkey goes back to late Ottoman times. It’s where the tea plant found its ideal habitat, and the first tea factory was established in 1946. Rize province is surely the epicenter of tea cultivation in Turkey. Within this picture, it is very hard to imagine Turkish people without tulip tea glasses and the hills of Rize without the tea plant. Turkish people never fail to seize the moment to find an opportunity to enjoy a glass of tea. It is classless and enjoyed equally by all - one can see a well-tattered teapot brewing in a corner of the field, it is served readily in tulip-shaped glasses in ferries and every single tourist is offered a glass of tea in carpet shops. Now ubiquitous in every corner of the country, served and savored at every moment, tea is definitely the most favored hot beverage of Turkish people. Interestingly, the history of tea is rather new both in Turkey and in the region. One cannot imagine the land without the tea plantation. Tea seems to be the natural flora of the region.

#EVLIYA CELEBI THE BOOK OF TRAVELS YAHOO PATCH#

The landscape is lush with vegetation where one never sees bare soil - partly due to the wild-growing plants and highly due to the tea plants carpeting every possible patch of land.

When traveling in the eastern Black Sea region, fifty shades of green will be too little to count.

Evliya celebi the book of travels yahoo