Rize tea or ''Rize çayı'' is the
black tea
Black tea, also translated to red tea in various East Asian languages, is a type of tea that is more oxidized than oolong, yellow, white and green teas. Black tea is generally stronger in flavour than other teas. All five types are made from ...
used for
Turkish tea
Tea ( ) is a popular drink throughout Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. Turkey has the highest per capita tea consumption in the world with an annual total consumption of close to 7 pounds per person. Turkey is a large exporter of tea, ranking fif ...
. Produced in
Rize Province
Rize Province ( tr, Rize ili) is a Provinces of Turkey, province of northeast Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon Province, Trabzon and Artvin Province, Artvin. The province of Erzurum Province, Erzurum is to the south. It was ...
of
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
which has a mild climate with high precipitation and fertile
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...
, when brewed it is mahogany in color.
In addition to being consumed at home, it is served in Turkish cafés by a ''çaycı'', in small, narrow-waisted glasses. It can be taken strong (Turkish: ''demli'' or dark) or weak (Turkish: ''açık'' or light), and is traditionally served with
beet
The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...
sugar crystals (Turkish: ''toz şeker'') or a couple of
sugar lumps
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double s ...
(Turkish: ''kesme şeker'').
History
Rize Province is located between the
Pontic Mountains
The Pontic Mountains or Pontic Alps (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Kuzey Anadolu Dağları'', meaning North Anatolian Mountains) form a mountain range in northern Anatolia, Turkey. They are also known as the ''Parhar Mountains'' in the local Turki ...
and the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
, and is considered to be the "wettest" corner of Turkey; this environment provides a specific ecosystem for tea growing.
The land contains many mountain valleys and has been prized for its biodiversity.
Tea was experimentally farmed in the Rize Province, starting in 1912 as an initiative by the Head of the Chamber of Agriculture, Hulusi Bey. But it was not until around 1945, that Turkish tea plantations in Rize Province were producing sizable crops.
There are other regions of tea growing within Turkey, with Rize Province being one of the largest and more successful.
By 1947, the first local tea factory was created and by 1958, the first regional tea research institute was created in Rize Province.
Labor
The success of tea crops in Rize brought work and wealth to a once impoverished area, as well as a large population change.
Modern day harvesting of Rize tea crops has been done by migrant laborers, especially people from the Caucasian countries of Georgia and Azerbaijan.
In 2021, the tea plantations were expecting 40,000 foreign workers during the harvest season however due to the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions, African laborers came to the region to work instead (specifically from Gambia, Senegal, Sudan and Zambia).
References
{{Cuisine of Turkey, beverage
Black tea
Turkish drinks