Tea houses to prop up tea sector in Black Sea region

TRABZON - Anatolia News Agency

The Eastern Black Sea Exporters Union plans to open tea cafes in the Black Sea provinces of Trabzon and Rize where food products will also be offered. AA photo

The Eastern Black Sea Exporters Union will take steps to support modern cafes that specialize in tea like those seen in western countries, the union’s President Ahmet Hamdi Gürdoğan.

Gürdoğan noted that despite the fact that Turkey is among the top five tea producing countries in the world, it does not have a large share in the world’s tea market.

“What’s interesting is that Russia, the world’s largest tea buyer, does not have any Turkish tea in its markets,” said Gürdoğan. He went on to add that England, which is not even a tea producer, dominates the global tea market alongside China.

“However, we are making a mistake. We want people to drink black tea. The world, however, wants aroma tea, tea with milk, or herbal tea. The Eastern Black Sea has 75 percent of the world’s flora, yet we do not use this as raw material,” he said.

Gürdoğan believes that one solution is to set up tea cafes abroad in areas like Hong Kong, which not only encourage customers to drink tea, but also gives them the opportunity to purchase tea products.

As a first step, the union plans to open tea cafes in the Black Sea provinces of Trabzon and Rize. These tea cafes will offer tea and also food products like Turkish simit and cheese, similar to the way English cafes serve scones and sandwiches with tea. “In this manner we plan to provide a solution for our tea farmers. We are going to think about how we can make the tea sector profitable for tea producers and factory owners,” he said.