土耳其:泡在茶水里的國家

土耳其茶壺和冒著泡沫的茶

A cup of tea with froth and a Turkey teapot

在我的腦海里，中國是世界上第一個茶葉大國，然而來到土耳其才知道，土耳其才是一個真正泡在茶水里的國家。

根據最近調查結果，土耳其喝茶的人越來越多，而且發展勢頭迅猛，土耳其人的喝茶數量已位居世界第一，每人年均喝茶1250杯，全土耳其每天消費高達2.5億杯，在飲茶數量上，在過去兩年就已經超過愛爾蘭和英國，位居世界第一，真是一個名副其實的泡在茶水里的國家。

土耳其是一個伊斯蘭教國家，被稱為“文明的搖籃”，也是古代絲綢之路的終點。她位于亞洲西部、歐洲東南角，地跨亞歐兩洲，大部分領土在小亞細亞半島上。歷史上的土耳其有著6500年悠久歷史和前后13個不同文明的歷史遺產。

日前，我們有幸踏上了這片神奇的土地。

世界上愛喝茶的不只是中國人，還有英國人，他們把飲茶當作一種休閑和舒緩心情的享受。日本人也不甘落后，早中晚隨時都可以喝茶，而且茶的種類不勝枚舉。最酷愛喝茶的還要數土耳其人，在土耳其無論我們走到哪里都可以看見茶的身影。在土耳其的大街小巷我們都能看到大大小小的茶館，無論我們在達達尼爾海峽的碼頭上，還是在鄉村公路邊的小超市都能看見茶。幾乎在土耳其的每家商店里也都備有茶，不管我們是否購買東西，店家總是先送上一杯茶，一般是紅茶，還伴有幾塊方糖。

在伊斯坦布爾我們坐上了一艘十分華麗的雙層游船，在博斯普魯斯海峽上游弋，海風吹拂著我們的臉頰，海鷗在我們頭頂來回翱翔，高掛在游船桅桿上的星月旗迎著海風飄揚。我們剛坐定就有一位土耳其老漢手托著一個精美的盤子，盤子上用一只只小碟子分別盛載著精致的郁金香玻璃杯，只見紅茶在這樣的玻璃小腰杯里顯得格外的可愛，像一盅紅得透

邱明亮

亮的葡萄美酒，也像一柱玲瓏剔透的紅瑪瑙，還像一朵笑口圓開的郁金香，左右賞看，極為養眼，熱氣騰騰的紅茶香氣撲鼻而來，茶杯旁邊還放著幾只閃亮的小匙和幾塊雪白的小方糖。老人家邊嘴上輕輕地說“Cha、Cha、 Cha”，邊笑瞇瞇地來回走動向我們推銷。我們每個人都被老人家的熱情所感動，拿出一個里拉，一人就順手捧起一杯紅茶慢慢地享用。

早在數百年前，茶就隨著絲綢之路遠行到了歐洲。土耳其，作為絲綢之路的終點，完整地保留下了一套屬于她自己的茶文化，茶文化就成了土耳其永遠不變的文化。在這里，土耳其人把茶叫做cay（Cai），很像漢語中茶的發音。

據說土耳其人比中國福建人還愛喝茶，不可一日無茶，不可一日少于10杯茶。即使是等公交車都要端著杯茶，等人時坐在路邊小攤前也要來杯茶。在土耳其，早晨起床，未曾刷牙用餐，先得喝杯茶。無論是大中城市，還是小城鎮，到處都有茶館，甚至點心店、小吃店也兼賣茶。別有情趣的是，據說凡在城市工作的人，只要吹一吹口哨，附近茶館的服務員，隨即手托一個精致的茶盤，上放一杯熱茶，給你送上。所以，在城市到處都可以看到有穿街走巷、挨門挨戶送茶的服務員。 我們的導游是一位性格開朗的土耳其人，他用中國人的習慣，讓我們叫他小名“阿褃”。他曾經在上海一家外貿公司里工作了3年，因此對中國有特別深厚的感情，會講一口并不那么標準的中國話，還能

插著小銀匙的玻璃杯中是誘人的茶水。

Glasses with a small spoon and alluring tea

TEA CULTURE茶葉博覽

土耳其碼頭上的飲食車也賣茶。A mobile tea vendor at a dock

茶汁分別傾入各個小玻璃杯中。爾后，再將大茶壺中的沸水沖入盛有濃茶汁的小茶杯中，加上一些白糖，用小匙攪拌幾下，使茶、水、糖混勻后便可飲用。

土耳其人煮茶，講究調制功夫。認為只有色澤紅艷透明、香氣撲鼻、滋味甘醇可口的茶，才是煮得恰到好處。土耳其人喝茶也獨具一格，無論到當地茶檔品茗還是接受市內商店款待，都是一律采用我們在博斯普魯斯海峽的游船上用的這種精致的郁金香玻璃杯。

總之，茶已經滲透到土耳其的每個角落、各個階層，成為土耳其一道獨具特色的生活景觀?！?/p>

茶販肩掮茶斗，腰纏茶杯，吆喝土耳其茶。

A fully equipped street tea vendor in Turkey

matter whether we buy or do not buy anything, black tea is served with a few cubes of sugar.

A boat tour we take in the Bosporus in Istanbul also testifies to the tea drinking passion in Turkey. The breeze touches our faces, sea gulls hover above the ship, and the flag high on the mast flut-ters in the winds. As soon as we sit down, an old man comes over carrying a large plate heaped with glasses. Black tea in each crystal cup looks fascinating. He says cay, cay, cay to us. The word is pro-nounced like the Chinese word Cha. The tea in such wonderful cups is irresistible. We each buy a cup of black tea from him.

We learn that as the one end of the ancient Silk Road coming all the way from China, Turkey has preserved a complete tea tradition and it has woven intricately into its culture. We know that people in Fujian Province consume more tea than in other places in China, but it seems to us that Turks drink more tea than Fujian people do. They drink ten cups a day at least. It is a common sight that those waiting for a bus hold a cup of tea. They have a cup of tea as soon as they get up in the morning. Teahouses are everywhere. Pastry shops and small restaurants all sell tea. Tea sales people can be seen everywhere in cities. They deliver tea to your door. It is said you can surely have a cup of tea whenever you whistle because one of these tea sales people will surely hear you.

Our guide is a friendly man, who worked three years in a trade company in Shanghai. His Chinese is not extremely standard, but he tells us about his experience in Shanghai. He says Shanghai is his favorite Chinese city and his second hometown, dreaming to revisit it when he has an opportunity.

He gives us a brief lecture on how his people love the tea. They

love black tea without any milk and they love it flavored by lump

sugar. With a lot of sugar, their favorite black tea carries a taste of honey. The tea set for a Turk is usually composed of a glass, a small spoon and a small saucer. They use two copper pots to make tea. A large copper pot sits on a charcoal stove to boil water and a small copper pot sits upon the large one. The boiled water is poured into the small one to make tea. Wait for 3 to 5 minutes until tea is ready. Then the undiluted tea is distributed into small glasses. The boiled water is then poured into the glasses to dilute the original tea water. Sugar is added and the small spoon is used to stir the sugar to get it well mixed with tea. A cup of tea is ready.

Turks prefer a cup of tea that looks red and bright, that smells redolent, and tastes sweet and pleasant. □