Doğuş Filiz Tea 500g — Turkish Black Tea, Loose Leaf Karadeniz Grade

Filiz is a grade, not a flavor. In Turkish tea terms, filiz means shoot or bud — a cut that includes the tender young shoots picked as the tea plant sprouts. That changes how the tea behaves in the pot: filiz-grade Black Sea tea brews softer and rounder than standard cuts, with the deep mahogany color Turkish tea is known for but noticeably less of the tannic bite. It is the grade many Turkish households reach for when they want a tea that stays smooth even after sitting on the çaydanlık for an hour. Doğuş Çay is one of Turkey's largest tea producers, founded in the early 1980s as a small tea trading company in Rize on the eastern Black Sea coast — the heartland of Turkish tea growing, where a mild, wet climate produces leaves that are naturally gentle and low in bitterness. The gold seal printed on this pack states it plainly: 100% Karadeniz tea, produced in Doğuş Çay's own factories. Brew it the Turkish way, in a double teapot (çaydanlık). Add two to three heaped spoons of leaves to the small upper pot, pour boiled water over them, and let the tea steep over the gently simmering lower kettle for 10 to 15 minutes. The leaves are cut fine to release full flavor during this long, slow infusion — a quick three-minute Western steep will not show you what this tea can do. Pour a third of a glass of the dark concentrate, top up with hot water from the lower kettle, and adjust to your strength: koyu (dark) or açık (light). No çaydanlık? A regular teapot kept warm works; just give it the full steeping time. The 500g brick pack is the standard Turkish household size — enough for several weeks of daily glasses.