An online contact mentioned plans to visit Kazakhstan–not in relation to tea–and it seemed interesting to do research related to an unknown country, removed from even the vague hearsay one might catch about a country like Turkey. Some hearsay about tea in Turkey: they drink typical black tea there not so different than Assam or Ceylon, brewed strong, taken with sugar but no milk. But that’s only what I’ve been told by a couple of people there.
I’ve researched local tea culture in preparation for trips to Korea, Japan, and Indonesia in the last year–with mixed results–and the review process itself was interesting. In addition to tea background, I ran across some interesting tangents in those searches, like finding a traditional medicine / herb market in Seoul, where I did find green tea, just not the quality level I was hoping to find.
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| Background / what to see in Kazakhstan: |
Trip Advisor contributes a good initial summary:
The world’s ninth-biggest country is the most economically advanced of the ‘stans’, thanks to its abundant reserves of oil and most other valuable minerals. This means generally better standards of accommodation, restaurants and transport than elsewhere in Central Asia. The biggest city, Almaty, is almost reminiscent of Europe with its leafy avenues, chic cafes, glossy shopping centres and hedonistic nightlife. The capital Astana, on the windswept northern steppe, has been transformed into a 21st-century showpiece with a profusion of bold futuristic architecture.
Moving their capital city from Almaty to Astana essentially meant building a new city from the ground up. This planned-city capital theme comes up in Australia, Malaysia, and even Washington DC. The same happened here in Thailand, just awhile back, with modern planning results thrown off by replacing a canal system with roads.
Wikipedia covers the general level of background detail well, explaining that 63% of the 17+ million people are ethnically Kazakh, 70% are Muslim, and so on. Due to Soviet influence–from being a part of USSR–use of their original language has been joined by Russian. Of course, not that many people are still living in yurts (nomadic tents), with current housing options separated by price and style, from Soviet-era apartments on the low end to condos and houses beyond that.
No dedicated tea shops turn up as Trip Advisor reviews, so apparently the tea cafe scene isn’t much yet.
Russian / Soviet tea history:
Prior to Soviet inclusion (as part of the USSR) related to a nomadic culture, the tea history was probably not unlike Mongolia, especially since they were conquered by Mongolia at one point. Russian tea history initially had close ties with China, not just during that brief communist common-ground phase but well prior; but the Eastern-bloc fall-out Soviet cultures switched completely over to black teas from other places, and this is essentially where they stand today. Here is more on Russian tea history cited from an interesting Tea Tips site related reference:
In 1567, Cossack atamans (chieftains), Petrov and Yalyshev, visited China, where they tried a local drink — tea. In 1638, an ambassador, Vasily Starkov, brought a present to the Russian Tsar from one of the Mongol khans — 64 kg of tea.
So far so good. Those may be the same teas we order from China today, some maybe not, seems likely less black teas in that time period, but to jump ahead:
In 1970, for the first time in several centuries, the supplies of tea from China were cut off — due to political discrepancy between the two countries. Soviet tea industry could not meet the demand in full — the USSR began to import tea from India and Sri-Lanka. Our citizens appreciated Indian and Ceylon teas, and they forgot Chinese teas very quickly — nowadays, the share of Chinese teas in the Russian tea market is hardly higher than 5%.
Here is one rather vague reference to Kazakh specific tea history:
Regional drinks: Kazakh tea or chai is very popular and there are national cafes called Chai-Khana (tea-rooms) where visitors may sip this Kazakh speciality. It is drunk very strong with cream.
Of course, since chai just means tea in some languages–“cha” instead in Thai–this doesn’t clarify if anything was mixed with it, as with masala chai, the tea and ginger and various spices blend from India.
“Tea In Kazakhstan” will resume next week.
I am fascinated by the varied appearances of tea in cultures around the world. I’m under the impression however that green tea is being introduced everywhere in recent years as people around the world begin to see the profound health benefits of this type of tea. As the citizens of the earth begin to take some responsibility for the health of the planet, so too are they beginning to take responsibility for their personal health. I believe tea can play a significant role in this shift.
It was interesting seeing an article on tea in England referencing that only green tea was drank there at one point, and separately reading about how black tea itself is a relatively recent development (as the history of tea goes; it does pre-date the United States as a nation). So it’s more interesting that green tea is now gaining ground due to possible health benefits, even though the claims about tea health benefits are hard to pin down, and there are different claims for the different types. Anyway, here’s a reference about that black tea history, surely not the last word but some interesting background: http://www.teavivre.com/info/black-tea-history/
Thanks for your share！
It is interesting
I am trying to figure out an appropriate gift for my brothers new wife’s mother, whom is Kazakh and has juat arrived in America to spend a month hwlping with her newest grandson, my nephew, just 10 days old. My family and I will be invited to a formal dinner to meet her and I must bring a gift. What do I bring??!! A beautiful tea pot and cup and tea? I’m having a hard time finding anything appropriate other than freshly or not yet, slaughtered livestock as an appropriate gift. That isn’t an option for me so what is? I am in desperate need of guidance and I understand this article, as well as the other one I commented on, was posted in 2016 so the likelyhood of a response is slim at best.
I think you can never go wrong with a lovely tea pot, cup and tea. I’d go with a small, individual sized one just for her. I’m sure she will be delighted by the gift. Best of luck.
Michelle is right; who wouldn’t want a teapot and some tea. I had a ceramic one once, like someone’s grandmother would use, even with a floral pattern on the side, and I loved that. As for tea I think rolled oolongs are perfect as an introductory tea, very pleasant even for inexpensive versions. And Chinese black teas are nice, sweet, complex, and not astringent, easy to brew even for people not into tea. I can help with where to find it too. It sounds like you might be on a tight timeline, so that a local shop option might work best, or online shopping as it stands there would be options.