"If I don’t drink tea, I feel like my head is going to explode.” On tea and people who are addicted to it in Iraq
22 Aug 2024
Iraqis consume twice the average daily amount of tea. This is about the journey of tea, from import to brew.
In Iraq people do not gather without tea. No hospitality is felt without it. It is associated with all occasions, happy and sad, and adheres to its own daily routine. It provides warmth in the winter and is never forgotten, even in the sweltering Iraqi summer.
Mohammed Al-Moussawi, 35 years old, an employee in the Ministry of Finance, is a regular tea drinker. He drinks it a lot and enjoys small, hot sips from a teacup, known in Iraq as istikan. It has a special shape, without a hand, is a small cup although larger than a coffee cup, and is placed on a transparent glass plate, made especially for drinking tea in Iraq, Turkey, and Iran.
Al Moussawi drinks tea in the morning with breakfast followed by two to three cups at work. Then he drinks one cup after lunch and another after dinner. It is also taken for granted that he will be drinking it during his meet ups with friends in his neighbourhood’s popular cafes.
Al-Moussawi tells Jummar, “Tea is essential for these gatherings, especially when playing dominoes and backgammon. I can’t imagine my daily routine without it. I feel like my head is going to explode if I don’t drink tea.”
Tea originated in East Asia, more specifically in China, where its evergreen shrubs grow up to nine metres (approximately 30 feet) above the ground. Its branches are pruned, dried, and roasted to acquire the black colour that tea is known for. Its leaves are then sorted to separate the larger from the smaller leaves. Tea belongs to the camellia sinensis family, known for its beautiful and fragrant flowers. There are several types, including green, red, and yellow tea.
Even though Iraqis drink a lot of tea, its cultivation in Iraq has not reaped much success.
Farmers in the Kurdistan Region have tried to grow tea, but the environment was not suitable. Tea bushes need soil with the right density, in addition to medium salinity levels. A lack of temperature variation between day and night is also needed, as well as continuous sunlight and abundant rain, frequent in East Asia, but not in Iraq.
Environmental factors prevented the Iraqi cultivation of the well-known black tea variety, but did not prevent the growth of some of its other types. For example, Kajrat tea, or Zahrat, as it is called in other Arab countries, has been successfully grown. In addition, growing fragrant herbs and flavoured tea has been done by farmers in Diwaniyah.
To meet the high demand, Iraq decided to buy one of many fields in Vietnam which specialise in growing tea in Vietnam. It also invested in the Iraqi-Vietnamese Tea Cultivation Company and owns 55% of its shares.
In 1975, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, the former president, bought Vietnamese land for growing tea, rice, in addition to rubber farms. He then linked their management to the Iraqi embassy. These two tracts of land met Iraq’s tea needs. Tea was packed in wooden boxes weighing 10 kilograms (approximately 22 pounds) per box. Also exported from Vietnam – from the time of their purchase until 2003 – was rice known as Thai rice, and rubber used in the manufacture of Diwaniyah tires. After 2003, it was rumoured that Iraq’s new ruling parties had taken over these farms, in addition to other farms in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Sudan, Mauritania, and other countries.
In 2020, Alia Nassif, a member of the Iraqi parliament, called for an investigation into the operation of these farms by private entities linked to the Ministry of Trade. The entities denied the accusation. Once again, in 2022, the Parliamentary Integrity Committee revisited the issue. A member of the committee, Hadi Al-Salami, told the press that they had obtained substantial documentation of the corruption connected to these farms. The Ministry of Trade and senior officials in past governments – without being explicitly named – were also accused of being linked to this corruption.
This controversy ended in 2023, after the Ministry of Trade announced that it would relinquish these farms after having reached an understanding with the Vietnamese government. However, the ministry did not take the initiative to publicise any evidence or statistics confirming the allegations or indeed to clarify what was to be done with the Iraqi farms.
In 2007, the Ministry of Trade was accused of importing shipments of expired Iranian tea and distributing them as food rations. This led to protests in Babylon which escalated to a sit-in. In March 2024, there were again reports about Iraq importing shipments of expired tea.
Every so often, Iraqi authorities would announce the dumping of certain shipments of expired imported tea. In January 2021, the Border Ports Authority destroyed about 20 tonnes of expired tea. In February of the same year, the Nineveh Health Department dumped more than 15 tons of tea. In September 2021, National Security in Diwaniyah Province burned 5 tonnes of expired tea on the pretext that it contained a significant amount of sawdust.
A source with the Border Ports Authority confirmed to Jummar that most tea shipments arrive in Iraq from East Asian countries via seaports. Other shipments, meanwhile, enter Iraq by land in trucks or lorries across Iraq’s borders with Iran and Jordan.
According to the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, this negligence is due to corruption at the Ministry of Trade which grants import contracts to chosen merchants, as well as the greed which drives such traders to import expired tea.
The source also stated that corruption occurs at other levels. This is because shipments arriving in the country pass through various environmental conditions. Many shipping methods lack appropriate cooling to prevent moisture. As such, tea shipments sometimes arrive with mould or damaged. This underscores the difficulty of estimating the country’s losses from these shipments. Iraq does not keep accurate statistics documenting its financial losses.
Importing
Iraq imports tea in large quantities to meet its sizable market demand. Average imports exceed about 20 million kilograms (just over 44 million pounds) annually.
The country ranked first among tea importing countries in 2022 when, according to official statistics, the volume of imports exceeded 17 million kilograms (over 37 million pounds.) Other statistics indicate that Iraq imported more than 23 million kilograms (over 50 million pounds) during the first six months of 2022 from Sri Lanka alone.
The average spend on these imports ranges from 30 to 37 million dollars annually, according to statistics from Iraq’s Central Statistical Organisation, affiliated with the Ministry of Planning. This expenditure goes to tea exporting countries, most notably Sri Lanka, China, India, and elsewhere. Traders and commercial companies operating in Iraq also import tea independently and sell it on the markets. These products take different forms, including being packaged into ready-made bags, in addition to being sold in bulk.
What is sold in the markets ranges from 3 to 10 thousand dinars (about 2-7 US dollars) per kilogram. Its price is determined according to the dollar exchange rate and market fluctuations. Prices often rise during a crisis, and they rarely come down when the market has stabilised.
When did Iraqis discover tea?
It is not known exactly when tea first appeared in Iraq. Ibrahim Khalil Al-Alaf, a professor of modern history at the University of Mosul, said that the prevailing belief is that tea first arrived in Iraq through British companies operating in Persia (now Iran.) This was because these companies had branches in the province of Basra, which was an important traffic hub for the Persian Gulf area at the time. Despite this belief, Al-Alaf believes that this introduction dates to the late nineteenth century, during the Ottomans’ control of Iraq.
Al-Alaf also told Jummar that tea consumption expanded after the British occupation of Iraq, (1914-1918) and soon became the preferred beverage among Iraqis. This ended coffee’s dominance at cafes. Tea imports and its supplies had also increased with the merchants of the Shorja market in Baghdad the first to import it at the beginning of the twentieth century. With that the era of Chai Khanat, which was the name given at that time to places that sell tea in various regions of the country, really began, according to Dr. Al-Alaf.
In the past, tea was steeped using steam and a special device called a samovar. A samovar is a large machine with coal placed in its bottom half, water in its body, with tea placed on top. It contains two spouts, one for pouring tea and the other for emptying the boiling water. This was a method developed by the Ottomans that is still used by people in Turkey today.
The device itself is still used in some old heritage cafes in Iraq, although very rarely. Al-Alaf traces the origins of samovars to Russia. Iraqi use of their unique istikans also originates from Russia and was adopted by Iraqis for drinking tea, due to its light weight and ideal size.
Other traditional methods used include placing the teapot on another larger teapot that contains only water to help steep the tea. Others blend the tea with water before putting it on the heat source. Still others add tea to the water after it boils, turn down the fire, or even turn it off for a few minutes, then pour it into cups.
In Iraqi Arabic, the process of preparing tea is called steeping or simmering. A teapot is called a katli or qori; sugar is called shakr, A sugar bowl is call shagradan, a teaspoon is khashoget chai, where Iraqis turn the letter pronounced sheen into an emphatic ch similar to the Persian and Turkish g.
Tea has come to be associated with Iraqi customs and traditions. It has become the go-to drink for all occasions. Iraqis have excelled in mixing tea with different aromas and flavours.
The Art of Tea Mixing
Some Iraqis prefer to drink black tea without added flavours. Others go to extremes and add a variety of different flavours, such as cardamom, mint, or fragrant herbs, and mix them together to form a distinctive taste.
What’s known as ‘Bride’s tea’ is one of the Iraqi ways to prepare tea, diluting it with boiling water until it becomes light in colour. They also drink hibiscus tea, or Kajrat, or add dried lime known as noomi Basra. Sometimes they add cinnamon sticks, or darseen as it is called in Iraq.
Currently, the use of ready-made canned tea is prevalent. This ready-made version actually contains strong aromatic flavours. Many people have come to rely on it, due to the ease of preparation.
Addiction to the core
As soon as Iraqis got to know tea, they became addicted to it. As people say, it is the drink of both the rich and the poor. Tea sellers spread out on the sidewalks, and even inside official government buildings. Iraqis become tea lovers and the sound of small spoons clinking in their cups turns into a soothing tune as they stir sugar into their hot tea.
Data indicates that an Iraqi individual consumes about half a kilogram (one pound) of tea per month. This exceeds the average level of tea consumption, which is less than a quarter of a kilogram (half a pound) per month.
Dr. Ibrahim Khalil Al-Alaf believes that the British contributed to spreading tea culture among Iraqis, where they benefited from its trade. Iraqis learned how to prepare senkin tea, which means medium in colour and taste, from the British. Senkin is not light like Levantine tea, nor heavy and black like Egyptian tea. Al Alaf confirmed that Iraqi and British methods of preparing tea remain similar to this day, based on his experience in both countries.
Iraqis drink tea for a variety of reasons, including because it contains caffeine that calms the mood. This makes it an appropriate drink to relieve the tensions that Iraqis experience daily.
The happiness hormone
Modern cafes have spread across Baghdad and other provinces, largely attracting young people. Many of them prefer to spend time there, adopting these cafes as places of social and recreational gathering, said the owner of one of these cafes, who preferred not to share his name.
He added that young people are attracted to such tea cafes because tea has become part of their routine, as it is a drink Iraqis have grown up with since childhood. They have it in the morning after breakfast, at noon after lunch, in the afternoon when the family gathers for tea, and at night after dinner. He added that a large segment drinks tea for a sugar high, to increase, in his words, “the instant happiness hormone.”
Mohammed Kamal, a tea seller in the neighbourhood of Karrada, attributed Iraqis’ love for tea to its lightness and sweetness compared to coffee. “There are people who fill a cup of tea with sugar so they can have fun with it.” Mohammed buys about 20 kilograms (approximately 10 pounds) of tea and 10 kilograms (approximately 5 pounds) of sugar daily to meet his customers’ demands.
He said of the Iraqis’ love for tea, “Many customers visit me every day. Some of them come to drink tea before going to work or school and others while waiting for someone or to run an errand at a nearby government office. Workers also buy tea from me after their meals.” Regarding the habit of drinking tea in the summer, Mohammed confirmed to Jummar that Iraqis are accustomed to drinking it regardless of high temperatures, which has made it a constant source of income for him.
Salam Hassan (41 years old) from Baghdad said, “For us, tea is like a drug. We drink it any time to feel refreshed, summer or winter.” On drinking it in the summer heat, he said, “I keep drinking it even if I’m sitting in the sun. It’s a habit we got from our fathers, and it is difficult to give it up.” There is one saying about the Iraqi habit of drinking tea in the summer, “We break the heat with heat.”
Others tend to drink tea because of its taste and flavour, such as Zaid Abdul Ali, 37 years old, also from Baghdad. He believes that the perfumes it contains, and its smell, are the source of its attraction. He also believes that drinking tea from street vendors or popular cafes relaxes the soul and takes the imagination back to the life that their fathers and grandfathers had experienced, back in the olden times of popular cafes. He also enjoys sitting in on conversations and overhearing stories of friends or even strangers.
Mustafa Al-Dakhili, 27 years old, described his addiction to tea, which started at home where his family would gather around drinking cup after cup throughout the day. He also shared that this habit developed as he grew older and went out with his friends. They would spend their free time in one of the neighbourhood’s cafes, talking or playing games like cards or dominoes, away from the hustle and bustle of the street. His monthly spend at these meetups ranged from between 60 and 75 thousand dinars (about $45 to $60).
Tea also helps calm the mood. Muhammad Hazem, 46 years old, from Baghdad described it as a great stress reliever. This is why he drinks so much of it: to stabilise his mood. He said that he became so attached to tea that he was now addicted to it. All attempts to control this habit have failed. He added to Jummar, “My psychological state deteriorated when I cut down on tea. I would get angry over the simplest things. So, I went back to drinking a lot of tea again.”
Sarah Al-Sudani, 37 years old, agrees and told Jummar that she became used to drinking tea, in the morning, noon and evening, when she was young. She added, “We are used to this routine. It has become as habitual as eating Eid breakfast.” She mentioned that tea drinking in the evening is linked to her eating sunflower seeds. “Tea and sunflower seeds change our mood, especially when young people hang out. They lift the mood along with conversation.”
Iraqis’ attachment to tea has also impacted on many of their tribal customs and traditions. Tribal elders use it in their gatherings to welcome guests.
Perhaps one of the less common customs associated with tea is the refusal to drink it at such tribal gatherings, a practice used to demonstrate dissatisfaction or the desire to claim their rights. Placing a spoon inside a cup of tea is considered insulting to the guest and unwelcoming. Placing a spoon on the plate accompanying the cup indicates a host’s respect for his guests. The host should avoid pointing the spout of the teapot toward those seated as that would indicate ill will.
The matter is not limited to just these traditions but is also embedded in Iraqi tradition. For example, there is the notion that that putting two spoons in a single cup of tea indicates that a man will marry two women. If bubbles appear inside the cup after pouring the tea, the tea drinker can expect a financial boost.
Benefits and harms
Like all herbal drinks, tea has many benefits, including reducing cholesterol and blood sugar levels. It also improves the digestive system and heart function, according to Dr. Saad Al-Amiri, a gastroenterologist at Tikrit Teaching Hospital.
He pointed out that tea’s caffeine content can improve a person’s mood, but frequent consumption increases the body’s tolerance to that effect, rendering it moot. According to Al-Amiri, Iraqis do not feel this effect due to their frequent tea drinking.
Regarding some of the beliefs prevalent among Iraqis about tea, he confirmed that the belief that tea helps with digestion is erroneous. Tea’s high temperature eliminates many vitamins, proteins and beneficial fats, which means that hot tea is more harmful to digestion than it is beneficial.
To reap the benefits of tea, at most one should drink three cups a day, al Amiri told Jummar. Drinking too much of it reduces the body’s absorption of iron and causes osteoporosis. Therefore, it is recommended that it is drunk for more than half an hour after meals, and at a moderate temperature.
Since there is no disagreement about the extent of Iraqis’ love for tea, it has even entered their musical heritage. The late artist Salima Murad sang about the importance of tea in the relationship between two people in love:
Make the tea. Make tea. Who do I make it for, my love?
Ooh my dearest than soul, why you are always so forlorn
I swear never to drink it or be around it
Unless my beloved comes and I can bask in their beauty.
Tea is also featured in a song by Hadhiri Abu Aziz during World War II when it disappeared from the markets. The government resorted to supplying it to citizens along with monthly food rations. The song goes:
Fill out the form…fill out the form
Ration keeper, fill out the form.
The lover of tea fell ill
Sugar is pricey…sugar is pricey
Where can I get the tea.. and sugar is pricey
Things are sweet…and where can I get the tea.. And sugar is pricey
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In Iraq people do not gather without tea. No hospitality is felt without it. It is associated with all occasions, happy and sad, and adheres to its own daily routine. It provides warmth in the winter and is never forgotten, even in the sweltering Iraqi summer.
Mohammed Al-Moussawi, 35 years old, an employee in the Ministry of Finance, is a regular tea drinker. He drinks it a lot and enjoys small, hot sips from a teacup, known in Iraq as istikan. It has a special shape, without a hand, is a small cup although larger than a coffee cup, and is placed on a transparent glass plate, made especially for drinking tea in Iraq, Turkey, and Iran.
Al Moussawi drinks tea in the morning with breakfast followed by two to three cups at work. Then he drinks one cup after lunch and another after dinner. It is also taken for granted that he will be drinking it during his meet ups with friends in his neighbourhood’s popular cafes.
Al-Moussawi tells Jummar, “Tea is essential for these gatherings, especially when playing dominoes and backgammon. I can’t imagine my daily routine without it. I feel like my head is going to explode if I don’t drink tea.”
Tea originated in East Asia, more specifically in China, where its evergreen shrubs grow up to nine metres (approximately 30 feet) above the ground. Its branches are pruned, dried, and roasted to acquire the black colour that tea is known for. Its leaves are then sorted to separate the larger from the smaller leaves. Tea belongs to the camellia sinensis family, known for its beautiful and fragrant flowers. There are several types, including green, red, and yellow tea.
Even though Iraqis drink a lot of tea, its cultivation in Iraq has not reaped much success.
Farmers in the Kurdistan Region have tried to grow tea, but the environment was not suitable. Tea bushes need soil with the right density, in addition to medium salinity levels. A lack of temperature variation between day and night is also needed, as well as continuous sunlight and abundant rain, frequent in East Asia, but not in Iraq.
Environmental factors prevented the Iraqi cultivation of the well-known black tea variety, but did not prevent the growth of some of its other types. For example, Kajrat tea, or Zahrat, as it is called in other Arab countries, has been successfully grown. In addition, growing fragrant herbs and flavoured tea has been done by farmers in Diwaniyah.
To meet the high demand, Iraq decided to buy one of many fields in Vietnam which specialise in growing tea in Vietnam. It also invested in the Iraqi-Vietnamese Tea Cultivation Company and owns 55% of its shares.
In 1975, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, the former president, bought Vietnamese land for growing tea, rice, in addition to rubber farms. He then linked their management to the Iraqi embassy. These two tracts of land met Iraq’s tea needs. Tea was packed in wooden boxes weighing 10 kilograms (approximately 22 pounds) per box. Also exported from Vietnam – from the time of their purchase until 2003 – was rice known as Thai rice, and rubber used in the manufacture of Diwaniyah tires. After 2003, it was rumoured that Iraq’s new ruling parties had taken over these farms, in addition to other farms in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Sudan, Mauritania, and other countries.
In 2020, Alia Nassif, a member of the Iraqi parliament, called for an investigation into the operation of these farms by private entities linked to the Ministry of Trade. The entities denied the accusation. Once again, in 2022, the Parliamentary Integrity Committee revisited the issue. A member of the committee, Hadi Al-Salami, told the press that they had obtained substantial documentation of the corruption connected to these farms. The Ministry of Trade and senior officials in past governments – without being explicitly named – were also accused of being linked to this corruption.
This controversy ended in 2023, after the Ministry of Trade announced that it would relinquish these farms after having reached an understanding with the Vietnamese government. However, the ministry did not take the initiative to publicise any evidence or statistics confirming the allegations or indeed to clarify what was to be done with the Iraqi farms.
In 2007, the Ministry of Trade was accused of importing shipments of expired Iranian tea and distributing them as food rations. This led to protests in Babylon which escalated to a sit-in. In March 2024, there were again reports about Iraq importing shipments of expired tea.
Every so often, Iraqi authorities would announce the dumping of certain shipments of expired imported tea. In January 2021, the Border Ports Authority destroyed about 20 tonnes of expired tea. In February of the same year, the Nineveh Health Department dumped more than 15 tons of tea. In September 2021, National Security in Diwaniyah Province burned 5 tonnes of expired tea on the pretext that it contained a significant amount of sawdust.
A source with the Border Ports Authority confirmed to Jummar that most tea shipments arrive in Iraq from East Asian countries via seaports. Other shipments, meanwhile, enter Iraq by land in trucks or lorries across Iraq’s borders with Iran and Jordan.
According to the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, this negligence is due to corruption at the Ministry of Trade which grants import contracts to chosen merchants, as well as the greed which drives such traders to import expired tea.
The source also stated that corruption occurs at other levels. This is because shipments arriving in the country pass through various environmental conditions. Many shipping methods lack appropriate cooling to prevent moisture. As such, tea shipments sometimes arrive with mould or damaged. This underscores the difficulty of estimating the country’s losses from these shipments. Iraq does not keep accurate statistics documenting its financial losses.
Importing
Iraq imports tea in large quantities to meet its sizable market demand. Average imports exceed about 20 million kilograms (just over 44 million pounds) annually.
The country ranked first among tea importing countries in 2022 when, according to official statistics, the volume of imports exceeded 17 million kilograms (over 37 million pounds.) Other statistics indicate that Iraq imported more than 23 million kilograms (over 50 million pounds) during the first six months of 2022 from Sri Lanka alone.
The average spend on these imports ranges from 30 to 37 million dollars annually, according to statistics from Iraq’s Central Statistical Organisation, affiliated with the Ministry of Planning. This expenditure goes to tea exporting countries, most notably Sri Lanka, China, India, and elsewhere. Traders and commercial companies operating in Iraq also import tea independently and sell it on the markets. These products take different forms, including being packaged into ready-made bags, in addition to being sold in bulk.
What is sold in the markets ranges from 3 to 10 thousand dinars (about 2-7 US dollars) per kilogram. Its price is determined according to the dollar exchange rate and market fluctuations. Prices often rise during a crisis, and they rarely come down when the market has stabilised.
When did Iraqis discover tea?
It is not known exactly when tea first appeared in Iraq. Ibrahim Khalil Al-Alaf, a professor of modern history at the University of Mosul, said that the prevailing belief is that tea first arrived in Iraq through British companies operating in Persia (now Iran.) This was because these companies had branches in the province of Basra, which was an important traffic hub for the Persian Gulf area at the time. Despite this belief, Al-Alaf believes that this introduction dates to the late nineteenth century, during the Ottomans’ control of Iraq.
Al-Alaf also told Jummar that tea consumption expanded after the British occupation of Iraq, (1914-1918) and soon became the preferred beverage among Iraqis. This ended coffee’s dominance at cafes. Tea imports and its supplies had also increased with the merchants of the Shorja market in Baghdad the first to import it at the beginning of the twentieth century. With that the era of Chai Khanat, which was the name given at that time to places that sell tea in various regions of the country, really began, according to Dr. Al-Alaf.
In the past, tea was steeped using steam and a special device called a samovar. A samovar is a large machine with coal placed in its bottom half, water in its body, with tea placed on top. It contains two spouts, one for pouring tea and the other for emptying the boiling water. This was a method developed by the Ottomans that is still used by people in Turkey today.
The device itself is still used in some old heritage cafes in Iraq, although very rarely. Al-Alaf traces the origins of samovars to Russia. Iraqi use of their unique istikans also originates from Russia and was adopted by Iraqis for drinking tea, due to its light weight and ideal size.
Other traditional methods used include placing the teapot on another larger teapot that contains only water to help steep the tea. Others blend the tea with water before putting it on the heat source. Still others add tea to the water after it boils, turn down the fire, or even turn it off for a few minutes, then pour it into cups.
In Iraqi Arabic, the process of preparing tea is called steeping or simmering. A teapot is called a katli or qori; sugar is called shakr, A sugar bowl is call shagradan, a teaspoon is khashoget chai, where Iraqis turn the letter pronounced sheen into an emphatic ch similar to the Persian and Turkish g.
Tea has come to be associated with Iraqi customs and traditions. It has become the go-to drink for all occasions. Iraqis have excelled in mixing tea with different aromas and flavours.
The Art of Tea Mixing
Some Iraqis prefer to drink black tea without added flavours. Others go to extremes and add a variety of different flavours, such as cardamom, mint, or fragrant herbs, and mix them together to form a distinctive taste.
What’s known as ‘Bride’s tea’ is one of the Iraqi ways to prepare tea, diluting it with boiling water until it becomes light in colour. They also drink hibiscus tea, or Kajrat, or add dried lime known as noomi Basra. Sometimes they add cinnamon sticks, or darseen as it is called in Iraq.
Currently, the use of ready-made canned tea is prevalent. This ready-made version actually contains strong aromatic flavours. Many people have come to rely on it, due to the ease of preparation.
Addiction to the core
As soon as Iraqis got to know tea, they became addicted to it. As people say, it is the drink of both the rich and the poor. Tea sellers spread out on the sidewalks, and even inside official government buildings. Iraqis become tea lovers and the sound of small spoons clinking in their cups turns into a soothing tune as they stir sugar into their hot tea.
Data indicates that an Iraqi individual consumes about half a kilogram (one pound) of tea per month. This exceeds the average level of tea consumption, which is less than a quarter of a kilogram (half a pound) per month.
Dr. Ibrahim Khalil Al-Alaf believes that the British contributed to spreading tea culture among Iraqis, where they benefited from its trade. Iraqis learned how to prepare senkin tea, which means medium in colour and taste, from the British. Senkin is not light like Levantine tea, nor heavy and black like Egyptian tea. Al Alaf confirmed that Iraqi and British methods of preparing tea remain similar to this day, based on his experience in both countries.
Iraqis drink tea for a variety of reasons, including because it contains caffeine that calms the mood. This makes it an appropriate drink to relieve the tensions that Iraqis experience daily.
The happiness hormone
Modern cafes have spread across Baghdad and other provinces, largely attracting young people. Many of them prefer to spend time there, adopting these cafes as places of social and recreational gathering, said the owner of one of these cafes, who preferred not to share his name.
He added that young people are attracted to such tea cafes because tea has become part of their routine, as it is a drink Iraqis have grown up with since childhood. They have it in the morning after breakfast, at noon after lunch, in the afternoon when the family gathers for tea, and at night after dinner. He added that a large segment drinks tea for a sugar high, to increase, in his words, “the instant happiness hormone.”
Mohammed Kamal, a tea seller in the neighbourhood of Karrada, attributed Iraqis’ love for tea to its lightness and sweetness compared to coffee. “There are people who fill a cup of tea with sugar so they can have fun with it.” Mohammed buys about 20 kilograms (approximately 10 pounds) of tea and 10 kilograms (approximately 5 pounds) of sugar daily to meet his customers’ demands.
He said of the Iraqis’ love for tea, “Many customers visit me every day. Some of them come to drink tea before going to work or school and others while waiting for someone or to run an errand at a nearby government office. Workers also buy tea from me after their meals.” Regarding the habit of drinking tea in the summer, Mohammed confirmed to Jummar that Iraqis are accustomed to drinking it regardless of high temperatures, which has made it a constant source of income for him.
Salam Hassan (41 years old) from Baghdad said, “For us, tea is like a drug. We drink it any time to feel refreshed, summer or winter.” On drinking it in the summer heat, he said, “I keep drinking it even if I’m sitting in the sun. It’s a habit we got from our fathers, and it is difficult to give it up.” There is one saying about the Iraqi habit of drinking tea in the summer, “We break the heat with heat.”
Others tend to drink tea because of its taste and flavour, such as Zaid Abdul Ali, 37 years old, also from Baghdad. He believes that the perfumes it contains, and its smell, are the source of its attraction. He also believes that drinking tea from street vendors or popular cafes relaxes the soul and takes the imagination back to the life that their fathers and grandfathers had experienced, back in the olden times of popular cafes. He also enjoys sitting in on conversations and overhearing stories of friends or even strangers.
Mustafa Al-Dakhili, 27 years old, described his addiction to tea, which started at home where his family would gather around drinking cup after cup throughout the day. He also shared that this habit developed as he grew older and went out with his friends. They would spend their free time in one of the neighbourhood’s cafes, talking or playing games like cards or dominoes, away from the hustle and bustle of the street. His monthly spend at these meetups ranged from between 60 and 75 thousand dinars (about $45 to $60).
Tea also helps calm the mood. Muhammad Hazem, 46 years old, from Baghdad described it as a great stress reliever. This is why he drinks so much of it: to stabilise his mood. He said that he became so attached to tea that he was now addicted to it. All attempts to control this habit have failed. He added to Jummar, “My psychological state deteriorated when I cut down on tea. I would get angry over the simplest things. So, I went back to drinking a lot of tea again.”
Sarah Al-Sudani, 37 years old, agrees and told Jummar that she became used to drinking tea, in the morning, noon and evening, when she was young. She added, “We are used to this routine. It has become as habitual as eating Eid breakfast.” She mentioned that tea drinking in the evening is linked to her eating sunflower seeds. “Tea and sunflower seeds change our mood, especially when young people hang out. They lift the mood along with conversation.”
Iraqis’ attachment to tea has also impacted on many of their tribal customs and traditions. Tribal elders use it in their gatherings to welcome guests.
Perhaps one of the less common customs associated with tea is the refusal to drink it at such tribal gatherings, a practice used to demonstrate dissatisfaction or the desire to claim their rights. Placing a spoon inside a cup of tea is considered insulting to the guest and unwelcoming. Placing a spoon on the plate accompanying the cup indicates a host’s respect for his guests. The host should avoid pointing the spout of the teapot toward those seated as that would indicate ill will.
The matter is not limited to just these traditions but is also embedded in Iraqi tradition. For example, there is the notion that that putting two spoons in a single cup of tea indicates that a man will marry two women. If bubbles appear inside the cup after pouring the tea, the tea drinker can expect a financial boost.
Benefits and harms
Like all herbal drinks, tea has many benefits, including reducing cholesterol and blood sugar levels. It also improves the digestive system and heart function, according to Dr. Saad Al-Amiri, a gastroenterologist at Tikrit Teaching Hospital.
He pointed out that tea’s caffeine content can improve a person’s mood, but frequent consumption increases the body’s tolerance to that effect, rendering it moot. According to Al-Amiri, Iraqis do not feel this effect due to their frequent tea drinking.
Regarding some of the beliefs prevalent among Iraqis about tea, he confirmed that the belief that tea helps with digestion is erroneous. Tea’s high temperature eliminates many vitamins, proteins and beneficial fats, which means that hot tea is more harmful to digestion than it is beneficial.
To reap the benefits of tea, at most one should drink three cups a day, al Amiri told Jummar. Drinking too much of it reduces the body’s absorption of iron and causes osteoporosis. Therefore, it is recommended that it is drunk for more than half an hour after meals, and at a moderate temperature.
Since there is no disagreement about the extent of Iraqis’ love for tea, it has even entered their musical heritage. The late artist Salima Murad sang about the importance of tea in the relationship between two people in love:
Make the tea. Make tea. Who do I make it for, my love?
Ooh my dearest than soul, why you are always so forlorn
I swear never to drink it or be around it
Unless my beloved comes and I can bask in their beauty.
Tea is also featured in a song by Hadhiri Abu Aziz during World War II when it disappeared from the markets. The government resorted to supplying it to citizens along with monthly food rations. The song goes:
Fill out the form…fill out the form
Ration keeper, fill out the form.
The lover of tea fell ill
Sugar is pricey…sugar is pricey
Where can I get the tea.. and sugar is pricey
Things are sweet…and where can I get the tea.. And sugar is pricey