UZBIEKISTAN TURKMENISTAN GREEN TEA

Tea is usually drunk from a piala, a traditional Central Asian cup in the form of a small bowl. Each guest is received with tea. To refuse to have a cup of tea is considered impolite. The number of bowls placed onto the table with the hot tea-pot is usually one point larger than the number of guests, the extra bowl used in kaytar, a special tea making ritual, consisting of three repetitive acts of pouring tea into the bowl and then back into the tea-pot. Thus the tea is stirred properly and becomes stronger. Tea is usually served together with oriental sweets, fruit and, certainly, with the traditional Uzbek bread.