Fortunately, we have an excellent remedy for fall spleen and its accompanying physiological problems like a permanent cold - hot tea. Since we drink it until next summer, it makes sense to diversify the taste with aromatic (and healthy) additives.

Thyme

Everyone knows a genius Caucasian invention. Thyme tea is good not only for its taste, but also for its ability to pacify various unpleasant processes, such as coughing and nasopharyngeal congestion. Like any wonderful invention, they love to counterfeit tea with thyme or simply spoil it out of ignorance. Here are the rules that must be followed.

Take a suitable tea for this mixture - black Indian or Ceylon, of good quality, of course. The sour taste of Chinese black tea or the floral, light spirit of high-altitude Indian varieties like Darjeeling are not very suitable for thyme.

Thyme, of course, must be special - tea. Culinary spice or, God forbid, pharmacy bags are only suitable for bad cafes. Look for tea thyme in the markets. The more carefully it is selected - all branches, sticks and dry inflorescences are removed, the cleaner and brighter the aroma (which should not have any earthy aftertaste), the tastier the infusion and, of course, the higher the price. Thyme for tea is sold in stores of Armenian goods, which are in bulk in Moscow, for example, in the same "Armenia" store on Pushkin Square.

Sagan-daila

The Siberian name of the plant, botanically referred to as Adams' rhododendron. Little is known outside Altai and Western Siberia, which, of course, is a terrible omission. Because tea with it (in addition to being very good at warming, relieving pain and generally invigorating) - has some fantastically ideal taste. You can try properly brewed tea with sagan-daila only in some very special teahouses with a particularly advanced assortment or with friends from Siberia. Or - which is easiest - by cooking it yourself.

You can buy sagan-dailu in stores and on sites selling pharmaceutical herbs.

It should be brewed together with a powerful, strong Ceylon tea, not too bright, so as not to interrupt the aroma, green, for example, "gunpowder", or with Chinese red tea, an analogue of our black.

The aroma of sagan-dili is very strong, so you should be stingy and do not put more than 4-5 leaves on the teapot, they will be enough to radically change the taste and aroma of tea.

Uzbek mountain tea

A mixture of thyme, saffron and cardamom is one of the varieties of tea drink that is drunk throughout the Central Asian highlands, from northern India to Turkmenistan. The original drink is called "kava" and it comes from Kashmir. Kavu do this.

Pour two or three cardamom pods, a pinch of saffron, a cinnamon stick, a piece of a vanilla pod, a few cloves, a couple of black peppercorns with cold water - the set and amount of spices, of course, are different in each house. Sugar is added there and heated to a boil. Green tea is poured with this sweet spicy boiling water and boiled for 5-10 minutes over low heat. You can add more sugar or honey, crushed walnuts to the finished tea. This recipe with variations was sold to the surrounding regions, and in Uzbekistan it was reduced to three ingredients. You can look for this mixture in the markets, in the rows where they sell spices, Uzbek red rice, yellow carrots, dishes, cauldrons and other Central Asian goods. Or you can do it yourself by mixing about five parts thyme with two parts cardamom and one part saffron. This mixture warms and clears the nasopharynx perfectly, especially if you add some good tea to it. Ideal - Uzbek green tea or its analogs, that is, simple varieties of twisted Chinese green tea, or high-altitude Indian varieties such as Darjeeling.

Bay leaf

An excellent addition to green tea, very common, for example, in Kalmykia. Tea with bay leaves turns out to be thicker, more solid, spicy, which, of course, is important in autumn. Option - either just put 1-2 leaves together with the tea leaves in the teapot, or brew full-fledged Kalmyk tea:

Boil a mixture of equal parts water and milk, adding a little salt to it. Pour this mixture over tiled green tea with bay leaves and cook for five minutes over medium heat. For maximum authenticity, add a little butter to the tea.

Juniper

A great addition to aged Chinese black tea, such as pu-erh tea. Pu-erh itself is an ideal drink for cold and chilly weather, very invigorating and warming. Juniper berries further enhance the smoky, smoky note of tea, reminding of the unrealizable, alas, pleasure for most townspeople - to listen to the elements raging outside the window, sitting by the fireplace. The technology is simple - add 5-6 dried juniper berries to the teapot. These berries can be bought at a pharmacy or on a website that sells pharmaceutical herbs.

Danila Suslov

"Tea is a long conversation of kind people."

Nowadays, millions of people on earth drink tea, starting from Tibetan nomads, who brew slab tea right in the cauldron and add milk, butter, salt, fried flour, fat tail fat, jerky and God knows what to a ceremonial Japanese tea party, when a special type of tea, ground into a fine powder, is brewed in a small volume of water at the bottom of a cup and whipped with a bamboo brush to foam.
But all this is more exotic. And in any respectable Asian teahouse, you will be served hot tea in a porcelain teapot with a lid, black or green at will.

"A guest in the house - joy in the house"

The hospitable hosts will cover a real dastarkhan for the guests. In Europe, it is customary to call the entire process of the Central Asian feast dastarkhan. In fact, dastarkhan is just a tablecloth. It can be laid on a hantakhtu - a low dining table, only 30-35 cm high, or on the floor. Guests are seated on soft mattresses spread over a carpet with plenty of pillows. The setting is more than relaxing. And it will be even better.


As you know, devices for the Uzbek feast are not needed at all. If we ignore the prejudices of European civilization, we must admit that it is quite convenient to eat with your hands. Soups and semi-liquid dishes are drunk directly from bowls, helping themselves with slices of flatbread. In Europe there is a whole etiquette of using cutlery, and in Central Asia - its own ‘cake’ etiquette. Therefore, remember - cakes are not cut with a knife. At the beginning of the meal, they are broken into pieces by hand and laid out near each guest. Uzbek flatbreads are rarely used as plates. They are thin in the middle and thick at the edges, so it is convenient to put meat or pilaf in them.

According to Uzbek custom, the feast begins and ends with a tea party.

This is a whole ritual act. The vessel into which water is collected must be ceramic. Water is taken not settled, but fresh. For real tea, water must be boiled in a samovar over coals or wood. Then the tea will smell like a haze. The water should boil well. Then the teapot is rinsed. A generous pinch of black or green tea is placed and brewed with boiling water. It is necessary to raise and lower the kettle several times to different altitude levels so that the tea leaves can freely move and open their tea leaves.

When serving tea on the table, the youngest is taken for the spill. He pours the tea drink from the teapot into the bowl and back three times to reveal the taste and color: "the first bowl is a muddy sai (small river), the second bowl is the aroma, the third bowl is real tea - treat your friends."

It is necessary to let the tea stand, and only then pour it. Tea is poured into a bowl with "respect", that is, 1/3, in no case whole. So the tea cools down and the guest is not burnt. Tea is poured into a bowl and held out to the guest with the left hand, the right hand is placed on the left side of the chest, i.e. from the heart and tilt their head forward - "olin" (help yourself).

Tea is served with dishes with fresh, dried or dried fruits: raisins and apricots, melons and watermelons, as well as fried salted nuts and oriental sweets: candy navat sugar, sweets made from flour and parvard sugar, sweet miniature pies, halva - halvoitar. Along with flat cakes, guests will be offered samsa with meat, pumpkin or herbs.

After tea and sweets, vegetables are served, then soups - shurpa, mastava, and finally - pilaf, manti, lagman, shish kebab or shgov, and sometimes all together.








The Uzbek dishes are special.

Food is served to the table in porcelain and earthenware flat and deep dishes, plates, braids;
tea - in bowls and teapots of various sizes.

Pour the teahouse tea.

From ancient times, teahouses were present in every mahalla, at bazaars, at baths and caravanserais. This is the most popular place among the locals.






The teahouse gathered folk musicians and poets over a cup of tea. Songs, poems sounded here, witches competed among themselves. And, nevertheless, tea in the East is just an excuse to get together with friends for the appointed tea and, leisurely, tastefully talk about life.

“Have you ever been to a teahouse?
Under the canopy of the warbler, on the carpet,
Green tea was drunk by the moon
Or at noon, forgetting about the heat? "

The chaikhana keeper in his quarter is a noticeable figure.

Here is his collective portrait. Middle-aged, tall, plump, but not fat. The face is round, good-natured, not always cheerful, but invariably friendly. He knows everyone, knows everyone. He does not speak superfluous and does not climb with unsolicited remarks. But if asked, he is always ready to give good advice.
Good advice is half the happiness.
And the teahouse himself well remembers his grandfather's order: do not save on tea leaves!

The center of the teahouse is a samovar, which everyone calls Russian.

He is Russian, somewhere a century ago, most often from Tula, with medals on the sides for God knows what exhibitions. And if you can hardly imagine a teahouse without a teahouse, so to speak, self-service, then without a samovar it is impossible. He has long ago pushed all other types of "heating devices" and it is not visible that anyone encroached on the place of this polished copper steep-sided handsome man.


The teahouse is usually located in a picturesque place, under the spreading crowns of trees, above a full-flowing irrigation ditch or on the bank of a cozy house. An indispensable attribute of the teahouse is a cage in which Bedana, with its gentle singing, creates a pacifying atmosphere conducive to relaxation and leisurely conversation.

Bedana - this is how the quail is called in Uzbekistan. Bedan cages or impromptu nests made of dried pumpkin are hung in a teahouse overhead, in a vine. Their singing is extraordinary)) It is such a pleasure to sit in a teahouse, eat, drink tea under the wonderful trills of bedans))

Three clicks here in series
Heard at the time of the Uzbek chill
In cages, covered with cloth, from trees:

It's time to "sleep" at her place - at any time:
At dawn, at three in the morning, at one in the afternoon ...
So sings a lullaby to the mahalla
Bedana quail.

These three clicks from afar -
Like a gurgling stream
Like a beacon to show you the way
To the teahouse, where guests are always expected.

Not a trill and not a cry, but singing,
A little perky, a little dreary,
Non-vain and without laziness -
Metronomic, meditative.

Three clicks of it are a blessing,
Metronome of the world, kindness
In cages, closed with cloth, from trees -
"Time to sleep! Pit Saw! Time to sleep!"

Obi-non

Uzbeks are very respectful of bread. The main Uzbek bread is unleavened cakes obi-non. Their round shape symbolizes the sun. Patterns of holes and lines must be applied to the cakes. Uzbek flat cakes are at the same time bread, plates for pilaf, meat and other fatty dishes, and works of art. Dry cakes are stored for a long time, so especially beautiful ones are even hung on the walls for decoration. The tradition of making obi-non flatbreads goes back about 5,000 years.

Tandoor

The flat cakes prepared according to different recipes are called by different names: lochire, screen, chevat and katlama, but they are all cooked in tandoor.

In remote villages, where this oven is in every courtyard, the tandoor is a clay hemisphere set at the height of human growth, with a tightly sealed "rear" (and a small hole for ventilation) and an open "throat". Its main purpose is to bake flat cakes.


In teahouses, the so-called vertical tandoors prevail, similar to huge jugs with an open neck, "standing" on the bottom. This design is more versatile, allowing you to bake both samsa and flatbread, as well as to cook many other "tandoor" dishes from meat, poultry or fish.


To prepare traditional Uzbek obi-non, coal and wood are placed in the tandoor and heated for several hours. The walls of the tandoor are sprayed with salt water so that the finished cakes are easily separated, and dough is applied to them with the help of a rapid (round cotton pillow). Hot walls are sprinkled with plenty of water to steam the dough. Tandoor cakes have a unique aroma and taste due to the fact that they are prepared very quickly at high humidity and temperatures of 400-480 degrees.


Avicenna wrote about Samarkand tandoor cakes:

"Anyone who eats obi-non with raisins, dried pears or peanuts in the morning will be full all day."

Samsa

Flames soaring high
And illuminates the teahouse.
But do not be alarmed, do not fire,
The tandoor needs a strong fever.

And a scarlet tail, like from a volcano,
Like the dance of the eternal cancan -
The fire sings its song to us,
Burning all the guzapay

The element is gone at last
And the creator got down to business.
Like a swallow's nests hang,
Sams in a tandoor, right in a row.

A little time will pass
The teasing spirit will go from them.
Samsa infused with heat
Glows with a bronze tan.

And our great Jami
Dedicated Rubai to her:

“He sent me a khoja sambus as a gift,
You appeared with your lips like a fiery lal,
She sat side by side in the shade. She brought me a piece.
As soon as I tasted it, I became a young man again. "

What is it, Uzbek tea?

Green tea (kok choy).
In all regions of Uzbekistan, except for Tashkent, they usually drink green tea. Brew, strictly adhering to the specified rules, a teaspoon per half liter of water, put on heat for 5 minutes, then serve.

Special order tea (rais choy).
Green tea is poured into a kettle warmed with boiling water at the rate of three teaspoons per liter of water. The kettle is poured over with boiling water, set for 5 minutes in the heat, covered with a napkin and served on the table after very fatty food on hot days and for patients with hypertension and diabetes.

Black tea (choy bark).
The favorite drink of Tashkent people after meals is Indian and Ceylon tea. It is brewed in a teaspoon per half liter of water. If the tea is of the second grade, it is placed for 3 minutes near the heat, the first and the highest - served immediately, covering the teapot with a napkin.

Tea with black pepper (murch choy).
Brew a teaspoon of black tea for half a liter of water, black pepper - on the tip of a knife. Tea and pepper are placed in a kettle, steeped in boiling water and served after a heavy meal, usually in winter, for quick assimilation, for colds, when you need to sweat.

Basil tea (raikhonli choy).
A teaspoon of black tea and a pinch of powder from dried basil leaves (rayhon) are placed in a rinsed teapot, poured with boiling water, poured over the teapot and, covered with a napkin, served after a meal, if it tends to fall asleep and with sensations of heaviness in the stomach.

Tea with chernushka seeds (sedanali choy).
A teaspoon of black tea and 20 nigella seeds are placed in half a liter of water. The kettle is kept in the heat for 2-3 minutes, then served on the table. This tea is drunk if you have eaten food late in the evening and you need to speed up its absorption. It is drunk as an anthelmintic, and by adding honey - as a bile and diuretic.

Tea with saffron (zafaronli choy).
For half a liter of water 1 h / l of green tea and saffron on the tip of a knife. It is recommended for nausea, colic in the region of the heart, and belching.

Tea is considered to be the national drink in Uzbekistan. Researchers claim that Uzbeks enjoyed green tea as early as the 19th century. The locals consumed the aromatic drink in large quantities. Tea was popular and in demand everywhere from big cities to small villages. For the preparation of the drink, it was customary to use kumgan (we are talking about a small copper jug). The wealthiest citizens could afford to brew in Russian samovars.

Note that at that time, green tea was a rather expensive pleasure and only wealthy citizens enjoyed the drink. Poor people had to be content with all kinds of broths, mixtures based on herbs with minor additions of tea leaves.

It should be noted that the drink caused genuine amazement among the Russians. The fragrant drink was brewed in milk with the addition of butter, pepper and salt. Due to its high calorie content, it was incredibly popular among nomads. It was known as ak-chai or shir-chai.

Extruded brewing was also very popular. It consisted of several important ingredients at once: almonds, quince, rose leaves and tea itself. The wealthy consumed an average of 20 cups of this high quality green tea daily. As for chocolate and coffee, they were unknown to the Uzbeks of those times.

Today's realities of a fragrant drink

In this article, you will learn:

Today green tea in Uzbekistan is quite an affordable drink. The most popular variety called kok-choy is green tea. However, residents of Tashkent are more predisposed to varieties better known here as bark choi. The most famous Uzbek large-leaved green tea is drink under No. 95. Its peculiarity lies in the unique method of harvesting, which involves several stages at once: withering, thorough drying and careful curling of the leaves (this is carried out exclusively along the longitudinal axial part). At the final stage, the ingredients are slightly dried.

Aroma and taste

A very delicate and pleasant aroma emanates from the tea, in which notes are clearly traced. Note that the tea itself grows exclusively in China.

Beneficial features

• normalizes metabolic processes;
• lowers blood cholesterol levels;
• activates the digestion process;
• strengthens bones, nails and teeth, as it contains a lot of fluoride;
• has a beneficial effect on the nervous system;
• normalizes the cardiovascular system.

Tea traditions in Uzbekistan

It is customary to drink Uzbek tea in large companies, in the context of which the aromatic drink is often drunk in specialized places - teahouses. While enjoying tea, you can communicate on almost any relevant topic. It should be noted that the teahouse is planted with large trees and plants, which reliably protect people from the sun's rays in hot summer. It is customary to decorate the room with all kinds of ornate plants and patterns.

To prepare traditional Uzbek tea, you will need a porcelain teapot. Dry green tea is placed in it, pre-warmed with hot water. After that, the container is filled a quarter with boiled water and insisted in an open oven for the next 2-3 minutes. Then add boiling water to half the volume of the teapot and cover it with a napkin or thin towel. After another 3 minutes, add boiling water, close the lid and leave for 2 minutes. The final stage is to fill the kettle with hot water and let it brew for 3 minutes. The tea is ready to drink!

It is customary to pour a small amount of a fragrant drink into a bowl, but drink it completely, to the last drop. Otherwise, you can offend the owner of the establishment. Know that if the owner has filled the dishes to the brim - he is not too happy about your visit, but if it is half or less - they are glad to see you in this house.

On the territory of Uzbekistan, tea is drunk without added sugar. However, it can be supplemented with herbs and various spices.

Contraindications

For all its advantages, Uzbek green tea is also characterized by certain contraindications, which should be taken into account when starting the tea ceremony.

• It is not recommended to drink green tea on an empty stomach.
• Under no circumstances should the drink be used as a supplement to medications.
• It is not recommended to pour strong brewed tea for children.
• Drinking too much can cause insomnia and unnecessary irritability.
• You should not drink green tea and people who have low blood pressure, since the drink tends to lower it.

Share your favorite tea recipe with the readers of our site!

One of the best and highest quality varieties of green tea is considered to be Uzbek classic tea No. 95 - kok-choy. It has an amazing delicate aroma and a wonderful delicate taste. This drink can be safely attributed to the elite varieties of tea, which, in terms of the fullness of its taste, is in no way inferior to the best teas in the world.

In the process of making tea 95, it goes through four stages of processing:

• withering;
• drying;
• twisting;
• additional drying.

Uzbek tea 95 has large leaves that are slightly twisted along the longitudinal axis of the leaf. Dry tea leaves have a pleasant fruity aroma. It should be noted that this tea grows in China, and in Uzbekistan it is only packaged.

How tea is brewed and drunk 95

Coca tea is usually drunk without sugar, but with the addition of various aromatic spices and herbs. It is worth noting that tea, like the tea ceremony itself in general, is one of the delightful customs of the East. In any home, guests will be given a bowl of aromatic Uzbek tea, since here it is considered a drink of hospitality.

Due to the fact that tea 95 is a classic Uzbek drink, it is recommended to brew and drink it according to the canons and peculiarities of this country.

It is necessary to pour the tea leaves exclusively into a well-heated teapot. Next, fill in a small amount of boiling water and steam it a little. Then add water to half, then to ¾ of the volume, and only then completely add boiling water to the kettle for brewing tea. It is very important that a pause of two to three minutes is maintained between each approach of pouring boiling water.

Finally, it is worth adding that there is a tradition in Uzbekistan, the more respected guest, the less tea is poured into his bowl. This is necessary so that he as often as possible turns to the owner for a new portion of aromatic tea.

Green tea is the national drink in Uzbekistan. In addition to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, green tea is drunk in all other regions and cities. And in Tashkent, except for the elderly, everyone drinks black tea.

Uzbeks call green tea “ Kӯk choy"(Pronounced roughly as kok choy). If you are interested in knowing how to brew green tea correctly, read the recipe for making Uzbek green tea.

Uzbek green tea recipe

To brew green tea, take a porcelain teapot, warm it well and pour dry green tea into it. Now pour ¼ of the kettle's volume with boiled water and put the kettle in an open oven for about 2-3 minutes. After that, it will be necessary to add boiling water to half of the kettle and cover with some material, for example, a napkin or towel. After 3 minutes, add boiling water to ¾ the volume of the kettle. We close the lid of the teapot and wait another 2-3 minutes, and after that, it will be possible to top up with boiling water. Our Uzbek green tea is ready and you can drink it and enjoy the real taste of tea.

Other types of Uzbek tea.

We have reviewed classic Uzbek green tea without any additives. But, in the regions of Uzbekistan, tea is prepared according to different recipes. For example, in Karakalpakstan, they adore tea with pepper, tea with milk, tea with honey. But in this case, black tea is used.

Honey tea with black pepper.

The recipe for honey tea with black pepper is the same as in the classic version of brewing tea. Only in this version, 3 black peppercorns and 2 teaspoons of honey are added to one teaspoon of dry black tea. The rest of the process is the same.

In addition to the above-mentioned recipes and varieties of Uzbek tea, there are also the following varieties of Uzbek tea:

• Chairman's tea (in Uzbek, called rais choy);
• Black tea (in Uzbek, called kora choy);
• Tea with chernushka seeds (in Uzbek, it is called sedanali choy);
• A mixture of green and black tea (in Uzbek, called mijoz choy);
• Basil tea (in Uzbek, called raikhonli choy);

Tourists often ask, “ Why do Uzbeks have so little tea in piyala?". If you are a guest of the Uzbeks and you are given an incomplete drink of tea, it means that you are a respected guest in this house.

If you are poured tea to the edge of the drink, it means that they are not happy to see you. This is where the tradition of "Tea with respect" came from. Close friends often ask each other a question during tea drinking: “ Do you want tea with or without respect ?!».