Persian tea is a reddish-brown tea made with loose black tea and flavored with cardamom, rose, and/or saffron. In Iran, the Iranian tea is drank throughout the day and central to social culture.
Persian Tea
Persian tea is made primarily from loose black tea, which can be ceylon, assam, or darjeeling. Other ingredients may include cardamom, rose petal or water, and saffron. The color of the tea is reddish brown and can be diluted with water by each drinker to match their preference for strength.
Since the Iranian tea is made with loose black tea, it is a little bitter. A sweetener, such as sugar or honey, can be served with tea. Traditionally, sugar cubes are served with the tea. The drinker holds one of the cubes between their teeth, and allows it to melt as they enjoy the Persian tea.
Iranian Tea
Iran is one of the highest countries for tea consumption per person. Irani tea is a central part of Iranian culture and social interaction. It is drank throughout the day and offered to all guests.
Persian Tea Set (aka Turkish Tea Set)
Persian tea is served in a clear tea set, typically a so called Turkish tea set. So a Persian tea set is actually a Turkish tea set. The mug must be clear so that the drinker can visually inspect the color and opacity of the tea. By doing this, one can see the strength of the tea, and then detemine how much water to add to dilute it for personal preference. A Persian tea set, or Turkish tea set, is shown below.
Persian Tea Set (aka Turkish tea set) on Amazon
Persian Tea Kettle
Any tea kettle will suffice for making Irani tea. However, a glass or clear tea kettle makes a good Persian tea kettle so that you can see how dark the tea is. Then you can determine whether to continue steeping or not.
When you want to stop steeping, you will need to strain the tea. Or you can use a tea kettle that has a removable infuser. Add your ingredients to infuser and steep with boiling water in tea pot. Then simply remove infuser when you are done steeping, leaving the filtered tea in the teapot. The Teabloom tea kettle below makes a good Persian tea kettle.
Persian Tea Kettle
How to Make Persian Tea
Persian tea is simple to make. Assemble your ingredients
- loose black tea (assam, darjeeling, ceylon)
- cardamom
- rose petals, or rosewater (optional)
- Saffron (optional)
Bring your water to a boil. Meanwhile, put all your dry Irani tea ingredients into tea pot. If you are using rosewater, you can wait to add it until just before serving. Break open the cardamom pods before adding. Pour your boiling water into tea pot and let steep with ingredients for about ten minutes.
After steeping, strain tea and serve in glass persian tea cup. Add rosewater when serving, if desired. Add additional hot water to dilute if tea is too strong. If Iranian tea is too light, let steep longer.
Persian Tea
Equipment
- tea pot
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp loose black tea assam, darjeeling, or ceylon
- 4 pods cardamom green
- 0.25 tsp rose water optional, or you could use rose petals
- 4 threads saffron optional
- sugar or honey optional, to taste, for serving
- fresh mint optional, for serving
Instructions
- Put dry Persian tea ingredients (loose black tea, cardamom pods, saffron, and rose petals, if using) into tea pot. Make sure to break open the cardamom pods first.
- Pour boiling water into tea pot. Let steep for about ten minutes.
- Look at opacity of the tea. If you wish it to be stronger, let it steep longer. Otherwise, strain tea and serve. Add a little rosewater right before serving, if desired.
- Serve in a glass Persian tea cup. Allow drinker to add more hot water to dilute tea to their personal preference. Serve with sugar cubes, honey, and/or mint.
