Çay Risalesi (TeaBook)

What is the one drink that we would be the most reluctant to give up? This drink is also one of the common passions for the people across on our land.

Yes, it is tea!

We, as a society, cannot do without tea, we love tea greatly, we brew it very well and we have it in the mornings, afternoons and evenings. We have embraced tea so much that we even have Turkish treatises on tea written in Ottoman Turkish alphabet. We take great pride in Effendi Seyyid Mehmed İzzet’s 81-page Treatise on Tea, published in 1878.

It is also one of the most precious works in our collection of cookbooks.

Treatise on Tea written by Effendi Seyyid Mehmed İzzet can be considered as an introduction to tea. It is an 81-page encyclopedia on tea. In the book, Effendi Seyyid Mehmed İzzet states that tea has been an integral part of his life for many years; he says he has even grown tea himself. He discusses a wide range of topics related to tea ranging from the origins of its name, to the other publications on tea published in various countries and languages, benefits of tea, tea brewing methods and the varieties of tea. He summarizes the effects tea has on people as follows: “Tea gives your heart palpitations, makes your limbs tremor and leads to a feeling of weakness on the body.”

It seems that Effendi Seyyid Mehmed İzzet’s book received such a great appreciation from tea addicts that it was published a second time within the same year.