Why The Turkish Double Kettle Is A Game-Changer For Tea Lovers

Stereotypes may have you believing that the United Kingdom is the biggest tea-drinking country per capita, but it's actually Turkey that holds the tea-loving title. Tea is a big part of Turkish culture, enjoyed throughout the day and always offered to guests. Many Turks will sip the hot beverage at home during breakfast with family or in the afternoon at local tea gardens with friends, often accompanied by sweet treats and small appetizers.

You may know that Turks have their own coffee-brewing method, and many consider it some of the best in the world. And since a kettle is always brewing in Turkish homes, it makes sense that the nation would also have its own unique way of making tea. A traditional Turkish teapot is called a çaydanlık, and it's made of two teapots connected vertically. And while you might assume the design is to hold more tea, there's another reason a çaydanlık produces better-tasting tea than your electric kettle at home.

While a çaydanlık can accommodate a lot of tea, its real innovation is that it brews using indirect heat. A traditional teapot sits directly on its heat source and can potentially burn the leaves, producing a bitter-tasting tea. However, with a çaydanlık, the tea leaves are only in the top pot. Therefore, the leaves are heated more slowly, bringing out a better flavor and not risking overheating the tea.

The device works like this: two teapots sit on each other, the top one smaller than the bottom. To start, the bottom pot has only water, and the top only leaves. Once the bottom pot boils, a small amount is added to the leaf pot and left to brew, at which point the heat is turned down. After a quarter hour or so of brewing, the concentrated tea brew is added to cups and diluted with water from the bottom pot because the top pot is too concentrated to be enjoyable on its own. For the top pot, a 1:3 ratio of leaves to water is typical, but it can be adjusted to your liking.

So, while you may want to go out and get your own çaydanlık just for aesthetics alone, make sure to also get one for the true tea-lover in your life.