Katharine Branning, a Turkish tea enthusiast, was a judge at the first Annual Tea Brewing Contest, which aims to select the finest tea brewer in Turkey.(PHOTO Sunday’s Zaman)
8 July 2012 / KATHARINE BRANNING, RIZE/NEW YORK
The glasses sparkled as brightly as the stars in the night sky last week in Rize, the Black Sea capital city of tea. The occasion was the first Annual Tea Brewing Contest to select the finest tea brewer in the land -- and this is a land that takes its tea-brewing seriously.
A steep-off for a hot giant
The contest was held on the night of June 30 in the seaside park across from the looming corporate headquarters of Çaykur, the Turkish national tea company. This first-ever “steep-off” was part of the fourth annual Summer Sports and Entertainment Festival organized by the mayor of Rize during this important time of the year for tea producers. The second of the three tea harvests that mark the life cycle of this region ended this week, and after much hard work in the fields and factories, it was time to relax with some fun......
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