Haj Ali Darvish Teahouse is one of the oldest and certainly the smallest tea house in the Grand Bazaar — just two square metres of floor space, more counter than seating area, run for decades by a single family. Patrons stand in the corridor outside with their glass of chai and watch the bazaar flow past.
The tea is excellent, brewed in the Azeri style with sugar held under the tongue rather than dissolved in the cup. The interior walls are lined with old portraits, hand-written verses, and decades of accumulated bric-a-brac. A small but characterful stop in the middle of a long bazaar walk.