Ziraat Tea Garden

The Ziraat Tea Garden sits on the hillside above Rize at the state tea research institute, offering one of the most dramatic views of the city: the coast stretching away in both directions, and on clear days the Kaçkar peaks rising sharp and white behind. The garden itself is planted with demonstration rows of different tea varieties, and you can walk among them before settling at one of the outdoor tables.

Tea is served here in the traditional Turkish double-pot style, with strong concentrate in the upper pot diluted to taste from the lower. Order it koyu (dark) if you want the full Rize experience. This is the best place in the city to understand the landscape and drink very good tea at the same time.

things to do sight tea
A story
The Turkish word for tea — çay — comes from the same Chinese root as the English "tea" and the Russian "chai," all tracing back to the Minnan Chinese pronunciation of the character 茶. But Turkey only started growing its own tea in the 1930s, when importing from Ceylon became too expensive. Rize's wet climate proved ideal, and today Turkey is among the world's top five tea-producing countries.