Persian tea is not a kind of leaf. It is a blend, and a way of brewing it. Plain black tea poured into a clear glass is still just black tea. What makes tea Persian is the blend: a mix that tastes familiar to anyone who grew up with a samovar in the kitchen, brewed strong and poured to each person's taste.
Persian tea is a blend
In many Persian homes the blend is made by hand. A family buys four or five different teas, mixes them in its own proportions, then adds rose petals or a splash of rosewater. Some add saffron, some add cardamom. Everything goes into the pot to dam, slowly, until it runs deep red. Every household has its own version, and every version takes a shelf of tins, jars and herbs to make.
Black Gold Persian Tea is that blend in one box. Instead of spending $80 on different teas and herbs to get one familiar glass, you open one box that is already blended and finished by hand. Our Earl Grey is Ceylon black tea with cold-pressed bergamot. Our Rose & Cardamom adds rose petals and green cardamom. Brew either one the Persian way and you have Persian tea, without the shopping list.
The rest of this guide covers that Persian way: the strong concentrate, the samovar or kettle, the glass, the sugar and the manners around it, with links to the Journal articles that go deeper on each part.
The idea: a concentrate, not a cup
The heart of the Persian method is that you never brew a single cup. You brew a small pot of very strong tea, called the dam, and build every glass from it with hot water. One pot can then serve a whole room, strong for one guest and pale for the next. How to serve Persian tea walks through it step by step.
The equipment: samovar, or a kettle and a teapot
Traditionally the water is kept hot in a samovar, a metal urn with a small teapot resting on top so the concentrate stays warm. The samovar came to Iran from Russia in the nineteenth century, a story told in how the samovar came to Persia. You do not need one to begin: a kettle and a teapot follow the same two-vessel logic, as brewing tea without a samovar explains. If you do own one, see how to use a samovar and how to clean and care for it.
Brewing the dam
- Warm the teapot with a splash of hot water, then pour it out.
- Add about one heaping teaspoon of loose leaf for each glass you plan to pour, plus one for the pot.
- Pour water just off the boil over the leaves.
- Let it steep for eight to fifteen minutes, kept warm on the samovar or under a cloth.
The long steep is the point: you are drawing out colour and depth, and the hot water in the glass will tame the strength later. If your dam turns harsh, the cause is usually time, not heat; see why is my tea bitter.
Pouring: por-rang or kam-rang
Pour a measure of dam into the glass, then top it up with hot water. A good starting point is one part dam to two or three parts water. A deep glass is por-rang, "full colour". A pale glass is kam-rang, "light colour". Everyone at the table gets exactly the strength they want from the same pot.
The glass
Persian tea is served in a small, clear, waisted glass called an estekan, on a saucer. The glass is clear so you can judge the tea by its colour before you taste it. The estekan explains the shape, and the Persian tea set covers everything else on the tray.
Sweetening
The tea in the glass usually stays unsweetened. Instead, many people hold a sugar cube in the mouth and sip the tea through it, a habit explained in why Persians hold sugar in their teeth. Others stir with a stick of saffron rock sugar (nabat) or take a bite of date between sips (Persian tea and dates). All the options are in how to sweeten Persian tea.
What to serve with it
Persian tea goes with the whole day: bread, cheese and walnuts at breakfast (morning tea in Iran), sweets in the afternoon (pairing tea with Persian sweets), and a strong glass after dinner. Persian tea and food covers the rest. It is almost always drunk without milk.
The manners around the glass
Tea is the first thing a guest is offered and the last thing to run out. The host insists, the guest politely declines, the host insists again: this is taarof, explained in taarof and Persian tea and tea and Persian hospitality. To host your own afternoon, see how to host a Persian tea party.
Through the year
Tea runs through every Persian celebration, from the New Year visits of Nowruz (tea gifts for Nowruz) to the longest night of the year (Yalda night). In summer the same method makes a strong iced tea; see iced Persian tea.
Choosing the leaf
The method asks a lot of the leaf: it has to steep long without turning harsh and still taste of something after it meets hot water. Black Gold Persian Tea is blended for exactly this kind of brewing. Choose Earl Grey for the everyday glass, or Rose & Cardamom for guests and celebrations. Whichever you choose, keep it sealed in a cool, dark cupboard; see how to store loose leaf tea.