Tea History in the Middle EastThe earliest record of tea in the middle east is in a written statement by an Arabian traveler. It’s unclear if the traveler only experienced tea on his journey or if he brought it back to his country. All accounts seem to indicate the Middle Eastern regions first received tea from China over the Silk Road trade routes possibly even earlier than the 16th century. The tea was transported by camel caravans to many parts of the continent. Every region adopted their own culture and social practice of drinking and producing tea.
Many countries established chahanas, or tea houses, that were gathering places for men to discuss the current events of their country. This was not so unlike the tea houses of England in the early years. The practice of drinking tea spread throughout the middle east and became a major part of their social culture. Most areas have a very different way of drinking tea, which can be visited in the tea cultures section of this website.
Of all the middle eastern countries, the Turkish people are the fourth largest consumers of tea per capita in the world, after Ireland, the UK, and Kuwait. Though the Chinese and Indians claim to have discovered tea thousands of years ago, Turkey is another country that produces tea. It’s grown near the Georgian border in the mountain regions.
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