User:Yc7718/Tea in Turkey

Lead
Tea (Turkish: çay pronounced [tʃaj]) 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. Turkish tea culture also extends to Northern Cyprus and some countries in the Balkan Peninsula. Turkey also happens to be a large exporter of tea, ranking fifth among the top exporting countries. Tea plays a significant role in Turkey’s history: pre-and post-republic. Since its introduction to Turkey, tea has become a large part of Turkish culture.

Trade Sector
In 2018, Germany was the top importer of Turkish tea. Within the months of January and August, Turkey made a profit of approximately $770,000 U.S. dollars from exporting tea to Germany (AA). Turkey exported nearly 1,500 tons of its domestic tea in 2018. The amount of tea exported for the year 2018 was valued at 5.7 million U.S. dollars. As of 2017, Turkey ranks as the fifth largest exporter of tea in the world.

Impacts of COVID-19
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Sea province witnessed a change in the demographics of the workers during the tea-harvesting season. Traditionally from the Caucasus, such as Georgia and Azerbaijan, the 40,000 workers who were anticipating harvesting tea were not let inside the country due to the pandemic. This void was filled by African immigrants, primarily from Gambia and Senegal, who had been residing in Turkey with a visa.

The government “eased domestic travel restrictions” for harvesters of tea to travel to the Rize province. The harvesters were mandated to quarantine for fourteen days before getting to work.

2020s
During the summer of 2021, widespread wildfires occurred in Turkey that left many displaced, homeless, and injured. As part of the response to the fires, the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his party started throwing teabags from a moving vehicle in one of the affected provinces. The government faced criticism due to the way it handled this crisis.

Pre-history of Tea in Turkey, the 400s and the 1800s
With this fruition, the Russians looked towards Turkey to expand the crop.

1900s
Tea drinking was initially encouraged as an alternative coffee after the ensuing dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Coffee had become expensive and, at times, unavailable in the aftermath of World War I.

Many constraints arose after the Turkish plantations were formed. New research on specific pruning techniques, plant fertilization needs, cutting the necessary time to process tea helped address some obstacles. [7]

By the 1950s, the central authorities in government recognized the tea sector’s transformative potential for the Black Sea province. In order to boost this new sector and improve the living conditions of this province with traditionally below par circumstances, the government gave strong support to this industry. Ironically, Adnan Menderes and his Motherland Party - whom stressed the importance of a free-market economy - used protectionism to help bolster up the tea sector. The Motherland Party’s central agenda was the modernization of Turkey. As the tea sector became more prosperous, so did the North Anatolian province with the construction of highways, schools, hospitals and important infrastructure.

The party-competition in the 1970s curbed tea production as well as the modernization process. This struggle between politicians increased the inflation rates which caused a devaluation of commodity prices such as tea. This decline in prices and a growing resentment towards the government led to many growers forgoing the quality controls placed by the Tea Corporation. The Tea Corporation was the state-owned monopoly that was the primary buyer of tea leaves. To ensure a satisfactory quality for exporting tea, the Corporation laid out standards for tea harvesting. The inspectors of the Corporation, many of which were also producers themselves, often overlooked these regulations as they were aware of the significance of the declining incomes. The drop in the quality of tea was noticeable by the Turkish people at-large.

The 1980 coup which brought a strong-central government also shifted tea production and its regulations heavily. Producers were instructed to follow the quality standards set by the Tea Corporation. Plucking only by hand and limiting daily quotas resulted in a drop in production. The 1983 elections brought back the Motherland Party. Soon after, the Tea Corporation’s monopoly over the tea sector was lifted(SSS). Private companies now were able to enter the tea sector. The entrance of the private sector into the tea industry was welcomed by the producers as many small-scale private companies disregarded the quality controls compared to the Corporation. Even with the entrance of new companies into the sector, the Corporation remained dominant.

Yet, the enthusiasm regarding the entrance of the private sector into the industry was not for long. Many companies either went bankrupt or were slow to pay the harvesters (SSS). Workers went back to selling to the Corporation as they found it to be more trustworthy- especially regarding payments.

After the 1991 elections where the Motherland Party was voted out of office, the new government sought out to use the Tea Corporation to its benefit. The new coalition government added more jobs into the sector to increase its support.

2000s
During the summer of 2021, widespread wildfires occurred in Turkey that left many displaced, homeless, and injured. As part of the response to the fires, the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his party started throwing teabags from a moving vehicle in one of the affected provinces. The government faced criticism due to the way it handled this crisis.

Tea Drinking Ritual
Istanbul is home to a prosperous glass-blowing industry in which these traditional tea glasses are produced. Around 400 million of these traditional tea glasses are sold each year in Turkey.

Tea Houses/Gardens
Aside from the traditional kiraathane — a tea house primarily for men — tea gardens are also settings in which social gatherings with tea take place. Backgammon is a common game that is often played in these tea houses. They have proven to be an attraction for tourists in destinations such as Sultan Ahmet and Taksim in Istanbul. With the growing young population, Turkey is seeing a shift towards café culture in places like Karaköy where coffee is predominantly being drunk. However, this increase in the consumption of coffee does not negate the fact that black Turkish tea is still the drink of choice for Turks.