[astra]

I completely forgot to mention another new experience with black tea.
I was in Turkey on my summer holiday (a week ago). I always thought that they drink Turkish coffee all the time. How wrong I was! Apparently, Turkey is Second biggest tea market in the world
Drinking black standard tea is an integral part of Turks’ life and culture. Local trade press reported that 90% of the Turkish population drinks tea at least once a day, with 33% of the population mixing different teas in order to create their own blend. Turkish consumers drink tea at home, at work, when visiting friends and at school. In every work place, there is at least one tea maker employed solely to make tea and coffee. When visiting friends, the first thing that guests will be offered is tea in small traditional tea glasses.

Their traditional tea is fantastic. Never drunk a tea so tasty!
I tried to brew it at home and utterly failed. I think there is a special and very long process to brew it properly.

And another interesting article The demise of the great tea-drinking tradition?, a bit dated though.