In Uzbekistan, tea is considered a national drink. Historians claim that Uzbeks drank as early as the 19th century. Tea has always been consumed in large quantities... They drank it in small villages, in big cities. The drink was prepared in a small copper jug ​​(kumgan). In wealthy families, they drank tea from.

Uzbek tea then it was expensive, quality varieties were available only to rich people. Poor people drank mixtures of various herbs and inferior quality tea leaves. Tea with milk, butter, pepper and salt was often used.

Famous brand of Uzbek tea

Uzbek tea produced under the brand name "Uzbek No. 95" is the most famous tea in Central Asia. It belongs to large-leaf elite teas. It has a characteristic tart taste. This drink cools the body well, quenches thirst, which is very important for the hot climate of the country. The large leaves of this tea are spirally twisted. When brewed, they unfold beautifully.

Once the great Avicenna said that tea should strengthen the spirit, refresh the body, awaken thoughts, soften the heart and drive away laziness. This statement fits perfectly with green tea 95. Tea number 95 is grown on Chinese plantations. But it is packaged in Uzbekistan itself. Here he is called Kok-choy. Tea production is traditional, it goes through all stages of green tea processing - withering, drying, rolling, final drying.

Useful properties of Uzbek tea

• Thanks to the fluoride content, it strengthens teeth, nails, bones.
• Improves digestion.
• It has a beneficial effect on the work of the heart and the state of blood vessels.
• Reduces cholesterol levels.
• It has a calming effect on the nervous system.
• Normalizes metabolism.

Method of making Uzbek tea

For the preparation of Uzbek green tea 95 take a porcelain teapot. It is thoroughly warmed up, dry brewed green tea is poured. Fill hot water a quarter of the volume of a teapot. The kettle must be placed in an open oven on for a few minutes. Then take out, top up the kettle with water to half, cover it with a napkin, leave for three minutes.

Then add boiling water to the kettle up to 3/4 of the kettle's volume, again leave for three minutes under the lid. Only the fourth time the kettle is poured to the edge, after three minutes, it can be poured into cups. The owner, pouring a drink, pours a little tea than less tea he poured into a cup for the guest, the more desirable this guest is. Every time he pours tea into a cup, he expresses his respect for the guest.

How tea is drunk in Uzbekistan

An integral part of any feast in Uzbekistan is Uzbek green tea... It is brewed and served in accordance with Uzbek traditions. They prefer to drink tea in large companies, for this they gather not only with their families, but also with friends in a teahouse. People come to specially equipped teahouses to relax and socialize. To protect visitors from the heat, trees are planted around the teahouse. The structure is painted with patterns, decorated with sayings of the sages of the East, paintings.

18 chose

Acquaintance with tea among the Central Asian peoples took place earlier than England and Europe - there were caravans of the Silk Road, which carried it along with other rarities. Tea in the culture of the peoples of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan takes much more place than in European countries and even England.

Central Asia seems to be one territory, but the traditions are completely different, even tea ones!

Green tea from a bowl, tea with butter and salt, with camel milk and even sour cream - all this is Central Asian tea drinking, with its own culture, customs and recipes. But there is one thing in common - a special respect shown to guests who have gathered at a tea table in a teahouse, around a fire in the steppe or on a felt mat in a yurt.

Uzbek teahouse ( teahouse): bowls with green tea and the famous flatbread, the most cultural rest, because the teahouse is first of all communication, unhurried conversation and even business negotiations. Any meal begins with green tea, and ends with it: first, they serve sweets, pastries, dried fruits and tea, then pilaf and other dishes, and at the end, tea again.

Uzbek kok-tea: 1 tsp green tea is poured into a heated porcelain teapot. on each bowl plus one more, pour water a quarter and hold over the hearth or in the oven, after a couple of minutes to half, after another 2 minutes pour boiling water over the kettle from above and add water to ¾, after another 3 minutes - to the top. Before drinking tea at least three times get married - poured into a bowl and poured back into the kettle.

A distinctive feature of the Uzbek tradition of tea drinking: the more respected the guest, the less tea the host pours him into the bowl. Usually a third of a bowl, but with great respect, they will pour even less. Why is that? The fact is that in Uzbekistan it is considered a manifestation of respect to often turn to the owners for an additive. The host gives the guest such an opportunity by pouring a minimum of tea, at the same time showing that he himself is not a burden to serve the guest once again. Tea is poured in a special way, so that bubbles remain on the surface. A full bowl will be poured only to an uninvited and unwanted guest!

Kazakh tea ceremony - respectfully

If a Russian drinks tea as much as he can, then a Kazakh drinks even more: 5-7 cups for breakfast, lunch and dinner are normal. When do Kazakhs drink tea? Always: before everything and after everything. Tea drinking begins any feast and it ends it, competing with traditional koumiss. Kazakhs prefer black tea, calling it red for the color of the infusion - kyzyl tea... Especially for storing tea, sweets and sugar, Kazakhs have special wooden chests with a lock and on legs - shay sandyk.

The Kazakh tea ceremony will not be inferior to the Chinese one: only women who are the host or the eldest daughter can pour tea, the bowls cannot be confused, the bowl should never be empty and there should not be tea leaves in it. From the heart, they also pour it in their own way - exactly one third, because the tea should always be hot! But the daughter-in-law will not be allowed to pour tea at the big ceremony - it is believed that the daughter-in-law does not know how to pour tea! Only if the eldest man in the family wants to praise his daughter-in-law for homemade tea, he will say: “You are pouring tea well!” In addition to jam-biscuits, they will certainly be served with tea. baursaks! If the guest is drunk, he does not talk about it - he shows: he overturns the cup on the saucer, puts the bowl on its side or a spoon on the rim of the cup. And even after that, the owners will persuade you to drink another bowl! They drink tea for a long time, with light conversation and cheerful conversation, and not a word about business!

Tajik, Turkmen, Kyrgyz tea

Kabud tea - Tajik green tea, and tea with milk - shirchay... They drink it only from bowls served on trays with sweets and flat cakes. As elsewhere in Central Asia, tea is always: at a meal, during a conversation, and just tea. In Turkmenistan they drink black charachay and green kokchay serving each a separate porcelain teapot with a bowl.

Turkmen the method of brewing tea, also adopted in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, is based on the need to save water: a large earthenware teapot is heated by burying it in hot sand. Then black tea is poured, about 25 grams per liter, and one glass of boiling water is poured. When the tea leaves swell enough, pour in hot camel milk and everything is very thoroughly shaken or poured from dish to dish. After 10 minutes, add cream and sugar. Of course, for the lack of camel, you can try this brewing method with regular milk the highest fat content.

Kyrgyz (Uyghur) atkanchay (ethken tea) - perhaps the most famous of unusual ways drinking tea!

Black long tea brew very hard and add milk 1: 1, salt and let it boil. Veste with milk is added butter Sometimes sour cream and re-bring to a boil. Poured into bowls, sometimes sprinkled with sesame seeds. This is a very satisfying drink that is usually drunk for breakfast. Etken tea is considered an invention of nomads as food fast food... Kyrgyz people drink tea with flat cakes, baursaks (sliced ​​dough pieces fried in oil), dried fruits, honey.

A few things in common Central Asian tea drinking: bowls, low table dastarkhan, low seats sufa, unhurried conversation and a robe, quilted of course!

Central Asian ways of drinking tea may taste very strange to you, but their health benefits are undeniable.

Good tea!

Abashin S.N.

Tea - amazing drink... So they say about his taste and healing properties the same can be said about its cultural and social role. Among all modern peoples who include tea in their cuisine, the drink is mystified, endowed with sacred qualities, it is considered a "soul", a symbol of the people. Such an attitude is all the more surprising since tea appeared among the majority of peoples by historical standards rather late.

The history of tea is the history of cultural and social changes in society. At the beginning of the 1st millennium A.D. it was known only to the southern Chinese. Only in the 8th-10th centuries, having received recognition in Buddhism as a sacred drink, tea penetrates into China, Tibet and Japan and becomes an item of export. In most other Asian countries, tea penetrates as early as the 2nd millennium AD, first to the regions of Buddhism, and then Islam and Christianity. At the same time, there is an interesting pattern: where coffee is drunk, tea is less popular - thus the world is conventionally divided into those who prefer tea and those who give priority to coffee. This remarkable fact has a social and cultural explanation rather than a biological one, since coffee and tea are not at all interchangeable in terms of their properties.

The Portuguese brought tea to Europe in 1517 from China, and for about 100 years only representatives of the Portuguese nobility drank it. In 1610 tea appeared in Holland. In 1664, a Portuguese princess became the wife of the English king, with her the custom of drinking tea came to the royal court, after which the new English fashion began to quickly spread in Europe among the nobility, merchants and townspeople. The drink became extremely popular, and trade in it turned into a profitable economic enterprise. It was because of the trade duties on tea that the "Boston Tea Party" took place in 1773, which began the war between Great Britain and its North American colonies, which ended with the formation of a new state - the United States.

Tea was first brought to Russia in 1638 by Ambassador Vasily Starkov as a gift from a West Mongolian ruler. The tsar and the boyars liked the drink, and already in the 1670s it was imported to Moscow. Until the end of the 18th century. tea was a "city" drink and was widely sold only in Moscow. As noted by the researcher of the cuisine of the peoples of the world V.V. Pokhlebkin, there are many factors that should have hampered the distribution of tea - the presence of competing drinks, other people's raw materials, the need for special knowledge and equipment, high cost, conservatism of customs: "... but a miracle - tea, despite all these material obstacles, everyday, psychological and cultural character on his way to spread among the people, he managed to turn into a truly Russian (...) national drink, moreover, such, the absence of which became simply unthinkable in Russian society, and the sudden disappearance of which from everyday life, say, at the end of the 19th century could lead, without any exaggeration, to a national catastrophe (...) tea, appearing in Russia in the 30s years of the XVII century and began to turn into a folk drink in Moscow already 50 years later, it became by the beginning of the XIX century, i.e. for some one and a half hundred years, absolutely indispensable, obligatory ... ".

In 1714 tea was drunk in Kazan, although it was still an expensive pleasure, and by the 19th century. tea drinking "... has become so much a part of Tatar life that no holiday could be imagined without it ...". Thus, there is a general pattern: in most cases, tea becomes a "folk" drink only in the 19th-20th centuries, having made its way first from the chambers of the nobility to city shops, and then to the countryside. Tea has gone all this way in Central Asia.

The first news about tea is found in the traveler A. Olearius, who wrote that in the capital of Persia Isfahan in the 1630s there were "Tzai Chattai Chane", i.e. "... taverns in which they drink foreign warm water(...) black (darkish) water, a decoction from a plant brought by the Uzbek Tatars to Persia from China (...) This is exactly the plant that the Chinese call tea (...) The Persians brew it in clean water, add anise, dill, and some a little clove ... "This message directly indicates that already at the beginning of the 17th century tea was known not only to Persians, but also to" Uzbek Tatars ", i.e., to the inhabitants of the Middle However, this is almost the only indication in written sources, which confirms such an early acquaintance of the inhabitants of the region of interest to us with the drink. since the beginning of the widespread distribution of tea (...) then, with the exception of Bukhara, for the cities of Central Asia this time falls on the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, for rural areas on the plain - at the very end of the 19th century. and for the mountainous regions of Tajikistan - in the XX century. "In Bukhara, tea was drunk already in the XVIII century, and only to know. In addition to the question" when ", the question of" where "is of interest. It is worth dwelling on this problem in more detail.

The origins of the spread of tea in Central Asia could have been the Chinese. There is quite clear evidence of this. Written sources contain mention of the fact that in the middle of the 18th century. Chinese ambassadors brought "satin fabrics and tea" to the Kokand ruler Irdan. China and Chinese culture have always influenced the regions of Central Asia. At the beginning of the 1st millennium A.D. the Chinese have repeatedly tried to assert their dominance there. Throughout the Middle Ages, Sino-Central Asian relations were periodically renewed and then again interrupted for a long time. These relations were quite intense in the 18th-19th centuries. In the XVIII century. The Manchu Qing dynasty rushed westward. In the middle of the century, China captures the Dzungar Khanate, under the actual rule of which many regions of Central Asia were. The Chinese tried to assert their influence throughout the territory that belonged to the Dzungars. This was done in East Turkestan (present-day Chinese province of Xinjiang). In 1758, the Kyrgyz sent ambassadors to Beijing, effectively recognizing the Chinese protectorate. In the same year, the Kokand ruler Irdan-biy also recognized the patronage of the Chinese, which was then confirmed by the next ruler, Norbuta-biy. This recognition was not entirely voluntary and was accompanied by military campaigns by the Chinese in the Fergana Valley. For example, there is a report about the invasion of the 9,000-strong Chinese army in 1759 (or 1760), which, however, ended in the defeat of the Qing troops. In the very center of the Fergana Valley, on the bank of Yazyavan-say, near the city of Margelan, according to the report local residents, was the site of a bloody battle with the Chinese. In the XIX century. In the Ferghana Valley, there were few Chinese who were captured as a result of a series of wars that took place this century between China and Kokand. These captives converted to Islam and merged with the surrounding peoples. Diplomatic contacts were less intense. According to Ch. Valikhanov, the last Chinese in Kokand was during the accession to the throne of Sherali Khan in 1842, then he came to the funeral ceremony - to the funeral fire for the murdered Modali Khan, after which "indigenous persons" became envoys of China in Kokand.

Despite all that has been said, it is unlikely that the Chinese could be the main distributors of tea fashion in Central Asia. Direct contacts between the population of the two regions were not very long and were carried out mainly in the form of political, ideological and military confrontation. The influence of China on the penetration of tea into Central Asia was most likely indirect. First of all, we are talking about trade. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. Chinese tea in the form of pressed tiles was very popular in Central Asian cities. According to Ch. Valikhanov, at the beginning of the XIX century. "the whole of Central Asia and Afghanistan used tea brought through Kokand from Kashgar, and the use of tea" became ubiquitous, and when the Chinese closed the border, in 1829 "the Kokand people decided to open a trade for themselves with arms in hand." This influence is reflected in one of the names of tea whitened with milk - "sinchoi" (Chinese tea), as well as in the popularity of Chinese tea ware.

Rejecting the point of view of direct borrowing of tea from the Chinese, E.M. Peshreva suggests that tea in Central Asia was distributed by the Mongols, who were in much closer relations with the Central Asian population than the Chinese. In modern legends of the Ferghana inhabitants, Kalmyks are often regarded as the indigenous, most ancient population of Fergana. True, in this case Kalmyks are confused with "mugs" (kal-mug), the ancient non-Muslim population of Central Asia. Nevertheless, despite this confusion, the legends reflect the really huge role that the Kalmyks played in the history of the Fergana Valley and all of Central Asia in the late Middle Ages.

The Kalmyks belong to the Western Mongol tribes, which, according to written sources, are also known as "Dzungars" or "Oirats". Already in the XVI century. Kalmyks fought with Kazakhs, and in the 17th century. attacked Khorezm and Tashkent, negotiated a military alliance with the Bukhara rulers and raided the outskirts of Bukhara. At the beginning of the 17th century. in the hands of the Kalmyks was Mangyshlak, where the future Khiva ruler Abulgazi was hiding. In the middle of the 17th century. the Kalmyks took over "some of the Turkmen uluses", after which they attacked the Astrabad region (northeastern Iran) and sent ambassadors to the Persian shah. In the middle of the 17th century. the so-called Dzungar Khanate is formed, which begins expansion to the west. In the 1680s, the Dzungarian ruler Galdan captured the entire East Turkestan, made campaigns to Sairam (present-day South Kazakhstan), fought with the Kyrgyz and residents of Fergana. In 1723, the Dzungarian troops captured the cities of Sairam, Tashkent, Turkestan, Suzak, etc. In the same year, the Dzungar ruler sent ambassadors to the Bukhara ruler from the Ashtarkhanid dynasty and threatened to seize Samarkand and even Bukhara itself. According to contradictory information, the Dzungars actually owned at the beginning of the 18th century. Khujand, Jizzakh, Margelan. There is information that under their nominal power were "some lands of Desht-i Kipchak (the territory of modern Kazakhstan and the northern part of Turkmenistan, some southern regions of Russia. - S.A.) and Iran, as well as Badakhshan (modern northeastern regions of Afghanistan. - S.A.), Tashkent, Kuram (Kurama. - S.A.) and Pskent ... ". The Dzungars repeatedly sent troops to conquer Chitral, Badakhshan, Darvaz and Karategin. The influence of the Dzungars was so significant that in the first half of the 18th century. In Bukhara, predictions were popular: power in Maverannahr should pass from the Uzbeks to the Kalmyks, as it once passed to the Uzbeks from the Timurids.

Acquaintance with tea among the Central Asian peoples took place earlier than England and Europe - there were caravans of the Silk Road, which carried it along with other rarities. Tea in the culture of the peoples of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan takes much more place than in European countries and even England.

Central Asia seems to be one territory, but the traditions are completely different, even tea ones! Green tea from a bowl, tea with butter and salt, camel milk and even sour cream - all this is Central Asian tea drinking, with its own culture, customs and recipes. But there is one thing in common - a special respect shown to guests who have gathered at a tea table in a teahouse, around a fire in the steppe or on a felt mat in a yurt.

Uzbek teahouse (teahouse): bowls with green tea and famous flatbread, the most cultural rest, because teahouse is first of all communication, unhurried conversation and even business negotiations. Any meal begins with green tea, and ends with it: first, they serve sweets, pastries, dried fruits and tea, then pilaf and other dishes, and at the end, tea again.

Uzbek kok-tea. 1 tsp green tea is poured into a heated porcelain teapot. on each bowl plus one more, pour water by a quarter and hold it over the hearth or in the oven, after a couple of minutes to half, after another 2 minutes pour boiling water over the kettle from above and add water to ¾, after another 3 minutes - to the top. Before drinking tea, they marry at least three times - they pour it into a bowl and pour it back into the kettle.

A distinctive feature of the Uzbek tradition of tea drinking: the more respected the guest, the less tea the host pours him into the bowl. Usually a third of a bowl, but with great respect, they will pour even less. Why is that? The fact is that in Uzbekistan it is considered a manifestation of respect to often turn to the owners for an additive. The host gives the guest such an opportunity by pouring a minimum of tea, at the same time showing that he himself is not a burden to serve the guest once again. Tea is poured in a special way, so that bubbles remain on the surface. A full bowl will be poured only to an uninvited and unwanted guest!

Kazakh tea ceremony - respectfully

If a Russian drinks tea as much as he can, then a Kazakh drinks even more: 5-7 cups for breakfast, lunch and dinner are normal. When do Kazakhs drink tea? Always: before everything and after everything. Tea drinking begins any feast and it ends it, competing with traditional koumiss. Kazakhs prefer black tea, calling it red by the color of the tea leaves - kizil-tea. Specially for storing tea, sweets and sugar, Kazakhs have special chests made of wood with a lock and on legs - shai sandyk.

The Kazakh tea ceremony will not be inferior to the Chinese one: only women who are the host or the eldest daughter can pour tea, the bowls cannot be confused, the bowl should never be empty and there should not be tea leaves in it. From the heart, they also pour it in their own way - exactly one third, because the tea should always be hot! But the daughter-in-law will not be allowed to pour tea at the big ceremony - it is believed that the daughter-in-law does not know how to pour tea! Only if the eldest man in the family wants to praise his daughter-in-law at home-made tea, he will say: “You are pouring tea well!” In addition to jams and cookies, baursaks will certainly be served with tea! If the guest is drunk, he does not talk about it - he shows: he overturns the cup on the saucer, puts the bowl on its side or a spoon on the rim of the cup. And even after that, the owners will persuade you to drink another bowl! They drink tea for a long time, with light conversation and cheerful conversation, and not a word about business!

Kabud tea is Tajik green tea, and milk tea is shirchay. They drink it only from bowls served on trays with sweets and flat cakes. As elsewhere in Central Asia, tea is always: at a meal, during a conversation, and just tea. In Turkmenistan, they drink black charachay and green kokchay, each serving a separate porcelain teapot with a bowl.

Adopted also in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan is based on the need to save water: a large earthenware teapot is heated by burying it in hot sand. Then black tea is poured, about 25 grams per liter, and one glass of boiling water is poured. When the tea leaves are swollen enough, hot camel milk is poured in and everything is shaken very carefully or poured from dish to dish. After 10 minutes, add cream and sugar. Of course, for the lack of camel, you can try this brewing method with ordinary milk of the highest fat content.

- perhaps the most famous of the unusual ways of drinking tea!

Black long tea is brewed very strongly and milk is added 1: 1, salted and allowed to boil. Vesta with milk add butter, sometimes sour cream and bring to a boil again. Poured into bowls, sometimes sprinkled with sesame seeds. This is a very satisfying drink that is usually drunk for breakfast. Etken tea is considered an invention of the nomads as an instant food. Kyrgyz people drink tea with flat cakes, baursaks (sliced ​​dough pieces fried in oil), dried fruits, honey.

Several common features of Central Asian tea drinking: bowls, a low dastarkhan table, low sufa seats, unhurried conversation and a quilted robe, of course!

Central Asian ways of drinking tea may taste very strange to you, but their health benefits are undeniable.

Good tea!

As a rule, in Central Asia, green tea is drunk in summer, and black in winter. In summer, tea cools the human body, in winter it warms. In hot weather, when the air temperature in the shade is +30 - + 40 ° and above, green tea invigorates and quenches thirst more than black tea. They call it kok-tea and prepare it like this: a porcelain teapot is poured over with boiling water and dried with a waving motion. Then take 2 teaspoons of green tea on a half-liter kettle and pour boiling water to the top. Using a bowl, mix 4 times, pouring it until it acquires an olive-yellow hue. After infusion, the tea is poured first to the guest, filling the bowl by 1/3, so as not to burn itself and it is convenient to hold, and besides, the tea has time to cool down. When the tea from the bowl is drunk, the tea leaves are poured into empty glass... When brewing black tea, they do the same, but they take less tea: Georgian
- 1.5 teaspoon, and Indian or Ceylon
- 1 incomplete spoon.
There is another, more economical way brewing tea, reducing the infusion by 0.5 teaspoon when preparing green and black tea and placing the kettle after brewing on a metal plate above the gas burner. The tea is brought to a boil, boiled for 30 seconds and quickly removed from the plate (or from the heat charcoal, as is done in Kyrgyzstan), open the lid, and then tightly close and pour.
And now some recipes for making tea.
To prepare tea, take a porcelain teapot, using freshly prepared boiling water for brewing. Before brewing, the kettle is warmed up, rinsed with boiling water, brewed by 1/3 of the kettle's volume and left for 5-8 minutes to infuse, after which boiling water is added. To improve the taste, color, aroma, sometimes in order to better extract (extract) nutrients, coloring and aromatic substances, a piece of sugar or a few grains of salt is added during brewing. To enhance the aroma, the teapot with tea leaves can be wrapped in a towel or placed under a special cap. In this form, the tea leaves do not cool down for a long time. The shelf life of the finished tea brew is 15 minutes, after which the tea loses its aroma, taste and color. Tea is served with sugar, jam, honey, jam, jam, cream, milk, lemon, juice. Tea is served in tea pairs or thin glasses. Excipients
- in a milk jug, a creamer or a socket.
Dry tea (brewing) - 1.5 g, sugar - 50 g, or lemon - 1) 4 pcs., Or jam, jam, jam, honey - 80 g,
milk or cream - 150 g.