Turkish Tea: Huddersfield’s Best Restaurant 2023
As well as slinging loose tea for a living, at Porter Hill we love our food. Huddersfield town has a varied selection of independent restaurants dotted about. In one evening, & if you have the stomach for it, you could eat your way around the world: Brazil, Lebanon, Italy, Japan, Iraq, Turkey, Thailand…
Guzel sits unassumingly on Cross Church Street, squashed between a piri piri joint & the Kingsgate shopping centre. If you’re not wanting spoilers stop reading now. Lamb neck soup; honey butter and fig jam; tea. They serve a huge healthy Turkish breakfast with fresh bread and halloumi. You can mix & match any of the freshly prepared curries and moussakas. Each meal is served with a finely diced, tangy side salad and a basket of traditional pide bread. Albeit brief, go for yourself & taste what real flavourful food tastes like when cooked with care & love.
Next time you’re in Huddersfield please do pop in. Guzel is open Monday to Saturday, 9am - 8pm, cash only, & be sure to finish off the evening with a classic cup of Turkish tea!
Turkish Tea History
Out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish Republic focussed on creating a self sustaining country. 1924 saw a law passed calling ‘for the cultivation of tea, citrus fruits, and hazelnuts (filberts) in the black sea region of Rize’¹. During Rize’s growing period, the weather is—well—imagine a warm, wet Wales.
With a fair wind & government championing of Turkish tea cultivation, farmers swapped corn crops for tea forests. In 1950, just three years after the first tea factory opened, consumption of tea tripled in the country. There are now 230 factories in Turkey, & 2020 saw them process & export 4,135 tons of the stuff. If you work in elephants, that’s 592 African elephants.
How to Brew Turkish Tea
You can buy special dual turkish teapots, but if you’ve yet to buy a çaydanlıkt then you can use a kettle & a regular teapot.
Using a 1:40 tea/water ratio, measure out your desired amount in the teapot. With cold tap water rinse the leaves to wake them up & aid in releasing more flavour. We recommend to drain some of the water & leave them sitting in a little water while your kettle boils.
Once the kettle has whistled, pour the water into the teapot & leave to brew for 10 minutes or until the tea becomes tavşan Kanı, or the colour of rabbit’s blood. Serve in a small cup, or traditional tulip-shaped ince belli, sit down & enjoy!
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¹ https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pc0MEAAAQBAJ&vq=Hulusi+Bey&source=gbs_navlinks_s - 374