Saturday, April 28, 2012

Tea in Egypt

Tea in Egypt (and I'm guessing around the Middle East, however I could be wrong) is essential. One cup in the morning, one or two cups at work, one cup after dinner, and maybe one cup late at night (however this depends on if the person is staying up late or not). This is a rough estimate. There could be more cups per day or there could be less cups per day, nonetheless, tea in Egypt is something that's available quite a bit.

Tea after breakfast is essential. It is technically considered during breakfast however since most people drink it after the meal then it is after breakfast. It is sort of an energy booster for the morning.

After dinner and either before or after the nap (depending on how tired an individual is) there must be a cup of tea. Usually more than one person drinks from a pot at a time so they leave the sugar up to the individual to place as much as they want. The large tray that comes in through the door carrying at least five or six cups of tea with sugar in it's own separate container is quite a sight. The smell is amazing (if it's made right) and the color is beautiful. The light reddish, or whatever that color is, is definitely essential post meals for plenty of people.

Then the late night cup of tea. However like I said before it depends on whether a person is staying up late or not. If they don't mind, then they sure will definitely drink a cup right then. This is also sometime however not all the time after the late night meal.

The reason for drinking tea after meals is because people over in the Middle East think that it "puts a lid on the meal". If a person ate a heavy meal or something, then that cup of tea will ease the heavy feeling, or so I understand from the Middle Eastern explanation.

Tea is also essential for gatherings. For instance if you have friends at your house or if you are going to someone's house or whatever the scenario may be, guaranteed there will be tea offered. After meals at a friends' house, they'll most likely offer you tea. At any shack or sit down area, people will most likely be drinking tea.

This also brings up the question of other forms of beverages such as coffee or juice. Juice and coffee is around, nonetheless it is not as popular as tea. I honestly couldn't tell you much about coffee or anything like that because I just personally haven't seen much of it in Egypt, except maybe at some people's homes or a restaurant or something like that.

Tea is extremely popular in Egypt...

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