Turkey: Turkish Tea

Conversations without tea are like a night sky without the moon, according to a popular Turkish proverb. Tea is at the center of most social events in Turkey. Tea houses, however, are mainly for men, who come together to play board games while sipping tea. They mainly drink Turkish tea, a dark red tea served in a tulip-shaped glass. In eastern Turkey, a cube of sugar is placed under the tongue before sipping tea, and some tea drinkers keep a pot in their car so that they can boil tea at any time.