The Famous Cup of Tea - Katy

Above is a photo of the famous cup of tea we have mentioned in previous blogs. A typical day doesn't pass without consuming 4 - 8 glasses of tea. You typically are offered tea at the end of every meal (or at the beginning with breakfast). Anytime you visit someone, the invitation for tea is extended and almost always accepted. As you can tell from the photo they aren't super-sized cups. Now that we've been here a couple of weeks we are all accustomed to the usual drinking schedule (and at times crave a glass). We do try to consume Turkish coffee when we can, which is also quite delicious. It is made with very fine coffee grounds that are boiled (w/ sugar if that is your preferrence) and served unfiltered in an espresso sized cup. You can usually get down to 1/8th of the cup left before you 'hit the grounds'. An interesting tradition here in the Mersin region is that it is often served with a shot of creme de menthe in the afternoon or evening. Yet another tradition we've come to enjoy.

The only downfall is that these beverages don't seem to have the caffine-kick that our systems are used to. I'm sad to report that we did stop at Starbucks in Adana on the way to Mersin to ease our caffine withdrawals. We just needed one hit, we will not foolishly waste our remaining time in Turkey seeking out more Starbucks.

One more day in Mersin, then off to Antalya for the district conference. It will be a slow day tomorrow (yeah!) so I'm sure we'll have another chance to post.