Iranian Culture Boot Camp: Tea Etiquette

Welcome to the new series on My Persian Corner: Iranian Culture Boot Camp. This is where we dive into the nitty-gritty details of specific aspects of Iranian culture so that you’ll be able to fit in and speak like a local. First up in the series is everything you ever wanted to know about tea culture and etiquette in Iran.

In US households, it’s coffee pots that purr to life in the mornings. In Iranian households, on the other hand, it’s the flicker of gas stoves, the sounds of gently boiling water, and the steam impatiently rushing out of the kettle that signal the start to a new day. Iranians take their first tea at breakfast and don’t stop until they’re about to turn in for the night. For many, that final glass acts as a sleeping pill for sweet dreams. And matters of tea are not taken lightly in these parts. If you make tea, rest assured your Iranian guests will be mentally evaluating it on its color, strength, taste, temperature, and presentation. So here’s how to get it right.

Necessary equipment

To brew the perfect cup of Persian tea, you need the proper equipment. This includes:

قوری / ghuri (teapot)

کتری / ketri (kettle)

استکان / estekân (tea glass) (or فنجان / fenjun )

نعلبکی / nalbeki (saucer) (optional)

Glasses should be clear so you can gauge the color of the tea and adjust its strength. The most traditional glasses are known as استکان کمر باریک / estekân kamar bârik (thin-wasted glasses). You NEVER serve tea in a mug, and shame on the cafes in Tehran that serve it in cappuccino mugs. Sacrilegious!

For special occasions, you could brew tea in a samovar, and there are two types of those: 

سماور زغالی / samovar zoghâli (charcoal) 

سماور برقی / samovar barghi (electric)

Tea essentials

First and foremost, chai in Iran refers to black tea (no milk or lemon- perish the thought!). (Herbal teas are دمنوش / damnush.) And the best tea is loose-leaf. Even though some places offer teabags, Iranians tend to look down on them and only use them in a real pinch. Good tea should be:

تازه دم / tâzeh dam (freshly brewed)

لبریز / lab riz (filled to the brim)

لب سوز / lab suz (hot [enough to burn your lips])

لب دوز / lab duz (lip-smacking)

To properly brew it, you need to place the ghuri on top of the ketri, turn down the heat, and let the tea “cook” so to speak. When it’s ready to pour, you fill the bottom of the estekân with tea and dilute it with boiling water from the ketri. How much tea you pour depends on if you want: 

چای کمرنگ / chai kam rang (weak tea) 

چای پر رنگ / chai por rang (strong tea)

There’s also چای زغالی / chai zoghâli (charcoal tea) which is brewed in a ghuri/ketri but over a fire. This helps it develop a nice smokey flavor. Iranians are fans of this type of tea, especially on an outing in nature.

If tea is anything other than scalding when you first serve it, it’s too cold. (We take the lab suz thing seriously.) As a guest, if you let your tea sit for too long, your host will tell you, “Drink you tea. Yakh kard!” (It’s getting cold- literally, it froze) and either offer to pour you a fresh glass or do it anyway.

The only time warm tea is acceptable is for kids. I remember that the adults used to آب سردی / âbsardi our tea- that is, they would top it off with cold water. I still do that sometimes when I’m not in the mood to wait for my tea to cool off or if I’m in a hurry.

Flavors

Black tea on its own is perfectly fine, but Iranians like to add a bit of flavor to it. Those flavors are typically:

هل / hel (cardamom)

دارچین / dârchin (cinnamon- preferably the stick)

زعفران / zaferân (saffron- just a thread or two)

Sweeteners

Tea sweetened with sugar (شکر / shekar) is called چای شیرین / chai shirin (sweet tea). It’s important to know that it’s only acceptable to drink chai shirin with breakfast- kind of the way Italians only drink cappuccino in the morning. There’s something so perfect about the sweet-salty combination of chai shirin and noon-panir (bread with cheese).

Throughout the rest of the day, options include:

قند / ghand (sugar cubes)

نبات / nabât (rock candy, and the cure-all of Iranian home remedies)

خرما / khormâ (dates)

کشمش / keshmesh (raisins)

شیرینی / any type of shirini (sweets)

Side note: I actually remember the days when my grandmother used to buy kaleh ghand (a sugarloaf). She would spread out a large cloth on the ground and then use a hammer and chisel to break it up into smaller pieces to put in the ghandun (sugar [cube] bowl). Good times 🙂

How to drink it

Never stir your sugar cubes into the tea (actually, you won’t even have a spoon to attempt that option). Instead, place the sugar cube in your mouth and suck on it with every sip of tea you take. Simple as that. You’ll notice that some Iranians (typically the older generation) first dip their sugar cube in the tea before placing it in their mouth. Another thing they tend to do is pour the tea in the nalbeki to let it cool off, and then [blow on it] and drink it straight from the nalbeki. 

One way to express how much you enjoyed the tea is to say چسبید / chasbid (It hit the spot, literally- it stuck)… and then you’ll surely be offered another glass. (You can use chasbid for any food or drink that hits the spot.)

Questions/comments about tea culture in Iran? Leave them in the comments below!

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