Turkish Apple Tea
Turkish Apple Tea: What's So Great About It?
There are plenty of teas out there, so what's with all of this talk about Turkish apple tea? For those of us who wouldn't really label ourselves as tea enthusiasts, it can be difficult to understand why certain types of tea can become so popular--tea is just tea, right? For dedicated tea drinkers, it makes perfect sense that certain teas would become preferred among the population because there are so many flavors (or aromas) available. There's always something new to try! The Turkish population certainly falls within the tea enthusiast category, but not because it's the latest "fad" drink or because the media is pushing the health benefits of herbal and traditional teas. No, the Turks are mad about tea because it's a cornerstone of their culture.
In Turkey, tea is the most widely consumed beverage among the people. Soft drinks, coffee, cocoa, and all of the other drinks out there are consumed only occasionally by these people. For a country that grows its own variety of teas and offers a plethora of tea shops and tea gardens, it can be assumed that they know exactly what they're doing when it comes to growing and spicing teas. The teas most favored by the Turks happen to be hardy black tea and Turkish apple tea, or Elma Cay as it is also called.
Although apple tea is essentially a black tea to begin with, it's the spices used to give it that sweet, spiced apple flavor that makes it truly appealing. Not only is this drink popular on a cold winter's night, but it's just as tasty poured over ice and consumed in the sunny summer months. Over time, people have visited Turkey and found such a taste for Turkish apple tea that the demand outside of the country grew quite tremendously. Now anyone with a debit or credit card can purchase Elma Cay online to be shipped to their home if their local tea shops don't carry it.
Home brewing Turkish apple tea is extremely easy and really doesn't take any special skill. Nonetheless, we're going to go over the basic brewing instructions so that you can enjoy this tea to the fullest, should you decide to give it a try! When you receive the Elma Cay, it is likely going to be in loose leaf format. Although most western countries have become a bit lazy when it comes to brewing tea (most of us opt for tea bags out of sheer ease of brewing), it's not a difficult task to brew tea straight from tea leaves.
For this particular tea, the brewing style is a little different if you want to stick as close to the traditional method as possible. You'll need a double-boiler pot system (like you would use for heating chocolate). Place the tea leaves in the top pot. Estimate a tablespoon or two per cup of tea. Pour just enough water in the pot to wet the leaves, then fill the bottom pot about half-full with water. Secure the top pot onto the bottom one and crank up the heat so that the bottom pot comes to a boil. Once the bottom pot has reached a full boil, remove both pots from the heat and slowly pour the boiling water into the top pot. Add more water to the bottom pot and secure the two pots again for a second steeping. Once the bottom pot has reached a boil again, the tea is finished (don't add the water from the bottom pot this time). This should make a full pot of strong tea and should be diluted with hot water until it reaches your preferred weakness. When pouring the tea to be drank, use a very fine strainer (a rice strainer works well) to pour the tea over, as this will keep any tea leaves from falling into your drinking cup. Although this tea is already quite sweet, you can add sugar or honey if need be.
For a non-traditional method (and a much weaker one), you can place a tablespoon or two of the loose tea leaves into a piece of cheesecloth and secure the cloth with string. This eliminates the need to strain the tea before drinking. Pop the cheesecloth tea bag into a cup and pour boiling water over it. Allow it to steep for at least seven minutes. Remove the cheesecloth bag and add sugar if desired.
When it comes to tea, the Turkish people have definitely got a knack! I highly recommend giving the Turkish apple tea a try, even if you aren't really a big tea drinker. You never know, you might find it to be your new favorite drink!