How to brew a cup of Turkish tea

A typical Turkish "çaydanlık" set, with "demlik" on top

© Ugur Akinci

Turks use a set of stacked kettles called “çaydanlık” to brew their tea.

The smaller kettle that sits on top is called “demlik.” That’s where the tea leaves go. A demlik never touches the flame or heat source directly.

The larger kettle at the bottom, which sits directly on the flames, is also called a “çaydanlık” for lack of a special word.

The çaydanlık sets come in all sizes. They are made of either porcelain or stainless steel.

You start with placing the desired amount of tea leaves in the small kettle on top (demlik) -- while it's still cold and not warmed up, and BEFORE placing it on top of the bottom and larger water kettle.

Usually one or two tablespoon of leaves is enough but you can increase or decrease the amount depending on your number of guests or the intensity of the brew you desire. The exact amount of tea leaves in the demlik is less critical in Turkish style brewing since you can always adjust the final strength of the brew by mixing it by any amount of hot water you want from the bottom kettle.

Next is filling the bottom kettle with clean water and placing it on the burner. You take the lid off the bottom burner and sit the demlik (the upper and smaller kettle) right on top of it.

In this double-decker configuration, as the water gets hot in the bottom kettle, the steam rising upwards warm up the demlik automatically and soften up the tea leaves inside. Some Turks add just a little water to demlik even when the water is yet cold so that, as the demlik warms up, there is some sort of pre-brewing going on inside the demlik.

When the water boils in the bottom kettle, you fill the demlik about one half to three quarters with hot water, place the lid of the demlik back on and sit it again on top of the bottom kettle. Now it’s time for brewing. Reduce the flames to low and wait about 5 minutes. Your Turkish tea would be ready in no time.

Serve it by first pouring a little of the “dem” (brewed tea) from the demlik ("container of the dem") and then topping off the glass with clear hot water from the bottom kettle.

NOTE: Use a strainer to catch the loose tea leaves from pouring into your cup (unless you like that specifically). Drinking a cup of Turkish tea with tea leaves is not a comfortable experience. That's why Turks always use a strainer to pour brewed tea out of a demlik. If you balance the strainer on top of the tea cup, you can use both hands just to pour the hot content from the demlik. Throw away the tea leaves caught in the strainer. They won't be good for a second cup. Here is a strainer I recommend you use to pour Turkish tea, especially if you're using the authentic narrow-waisted Turkish tea cups. Here is another one.

You can pour as little or as much brewed tea as you like from the demlik. That kind of separation between the brewed tea and the clear hot water provides a great degree of freedom to produce servings of various strength from the same kettle set.

If a guest wants a light (Turkish: açık) cup of tea, then you can pour just a little brew and then diluting it by adding a lot of plain water on top.

But if a dark and strong (Turkish: koyu) cup of tea is requested, you can fill the cup all the way to half or even more with the brew and fill up the remainder of the glass with plain hot water. You can serve black tea in all kinds of strength and robustness levels thanks to the Turkish double-kettle set up.

NOTE: if you brew for too long, Turkish tea turns bitter very quickly. Similarly, it’s not a good idea to brew the same Turkish tea leaves more than once either as it tastes very stale.

Also see: Turkish Tea facts