ÇAYKUR Rize Turist Black Tea, Authentic Turkish Loose Leaf Tea, Rich Aroma & Smooth Taste, Daily Rituals & Breakfast tea 500g / 17.6 Oz

I ordered this tea for my daughter and I, after watching one too many Turkish dramas on Netflix. It has a fresh earthy aroma and strong delicious flavor. We use a caydanlik (Turkish double teapot) for brewing the tea, which makes a huge difference. (You could also use a double boiler type method.) We add 5 heaping tablespoons of tea in the top pot for 7 cups of water. Half the water goes into the bottom teapot (none in the top), bring to a boil, then pour water from the bottom pot into the top pot (with tea leaves) to about the spout level. Then you refill the bottom pot with the remaining water and put the small pot on top of the larger pot and brew on low heat. It steeps a very long time (15-20 mins) until all the tea leaves in the top pot have sunk to the bottom. Our teapot has a small built-in mesh strainer, but we also use a small hand held strainer over our cups as Turkish teas (and coffees) are finely ground. Each teacup is filled about 1/3 of the way with strongly brewed tea, and the rest is topped off with water brewed from the bottom pot. (We like to think of it more as a tea "concentrate.") The secret to brewing is to not allow the tea in the top pot to boil or become too hot or the tea will become bitter and astringent. Brewing requires a bit of a learning curve (we had a few bitter batches before we got all the proportions and heat right), but I don't think my daughter and I will ever go back to drinking regular black tea from tea bags again. ;)

Although the tea is a little bit lighter in color than I had anticipated—since Turkish Rize tea is supposed to be a dark crimson color—the overall taste, especially with a little bit of sweetener added, isn’t that bad at all! It’s certainly worth the money, and I will definitely be buying more when I run out.

I lived in Istanbul for 9 years. If you are looking for authentic Turkish black tea, this is it. This exact product from Caykur is the most popular tea among Turks. I’m a coffee person but Caykur made made a tea-lover out of me. The flavor is delicious and robust. Of course how you “cook” it makes a difference. I recommend you get a double tea pot where the tea leaves are brewed on top in a heavy concentrate, and pure boiled water is in the lower pot. In your cup, poor the tea first, about a quarter to a half cup depending on your liking then add the plain boiled water to dilute the tea. Many Turks use one or two sugar cubes.

Fresh and delicious Turkish tea. After watching countless Turkish series, I always wondered how this tea tasted. So I decided to see what all the fuss is about. I really recommend this brand and would suggest you also get yourself a double teapot to brew the tea traditionally. Will definitely purchase other Caykur branded Turkish teas!Afiyet olsun!

Aroma and color are good. A little dry pieces floating on top of cup

Did not realize that Turkish tea is not just regular black tea that happens to come from Turkey, but actually its own category of black tea that requires 15+ minutes of brewing time. You brew a relatively small amount and mix it with hot water (sort of like is done with coffee to make an Americano). However, no complaints about the quality or value. It has an intriguing and pleasant earthy flavor, and you get a lot of it for the money.

Always good

It tastes good, but it's too dusty, tea leaves fractions are too small, I'd say microscopic small. I have a regular strainer and still end up with lots of tea leaves residues in the mag.