Let the tea come! “Chaykhana” crawl

In Azerbaijan, tea is central to the national psyche in a whole range of important ways. With the phrase Çay gəlsin! (‘Let the tea come!’), people are not just ordering a cuppa, but maybe also sealing a business deal, brokering a marriage proposal or saying farewell to the deceased at a funeral. Tea is also the mainstay symbol of welcome in any household, and the culmination of a bath-house experience. In this imaginative tour, we invite you to discover Baku from a tea perspective. Passing through the crooked streets of the timeless Old City, learn how this most celebrated of drinks came from China via the Silk Routes to become Azerbaijan’s main national beverage. En route we pop into caravanserais, hamams and hidden residential yards as you get an even better sense of Azerbaijan’s distinctive tea-based traditions. A key element of the tour is visiting three contrasting Baku “chaykhanas” (teahouses), each with their own distinctive atmosphere – medieval-oriental, modern-fusion and simple Soviet-style. Taste various types of tea (perhaps thyme, rose, clove-infused or others) served with traditional Azerbaijani sweets and a wide range of jams in cherez (dessert sets). Let the journey begin, “let the tea come”!