{"id":26007,"date":"2019-05-20T14:32:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T14:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surfiran.com\/mag\/?p=26007"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T11:30:07","slug":"tea-history-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surfiran.com\/mag\/tea-history-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"The History of Tea in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tea is woven into everyday hospitality in Iran, from breakfast at home to conversations with friends. Its history also tells the story of changing trade routes, urban coffeehouses and the rise of tea farming along the Caspian coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tea and coffee circulated in Iran long before local tea plantations became established. Their early history is complex, but Encyclopaedia Iranica<\/a> documents how tea consumption expanded over time and eventually became a defining feature of Iranian daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tea\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Coffeehouses were important social spaces in Safavid-era cities. Travelers described them as places for conversation, entertainment and the exchange of news, even as tea gradually gained a stronger place in local drinking habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Shah Abbas I, Isfahan became a major political and cultural center. The development of Naqsh-e Jahan Square<\/a> was part of that transformation, while coffeehouses flourished in the wider urban culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pond\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Persian term qahveh-khaneh<\/em>, literally coffeehouse, survives even where tea is the usual drink. These establishments became gathering places, although their character and clientele varied across periods and locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tea became increasingly familiar during the nineteenth century as imported supplies and commercial networks expanded. The transition was gradual, and it is misleading to assign a single year or cause to the shift from coffee toward tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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