| Turkey's exotic call: Eurasian flavorings influence culture mix
Next time in Istanbul, I'm hiring the Screaming Shopper. It was a hot July day when I was cooling my heels in the hotel bar waiting for friends. But the party had to wait until Joe and Mary Lou Rimsky finished their four-hour shopping blitz at the Grand Bazaar. This was no small venture. The Rimskys were prowling for three new Turkish rugs for their Cincinnati home. Shopping for Turkish rugs is a complex ritual of tea-drinking and rug-unfurling, so the thought of scoring three in a matter of hours boggles the mind. The Grand Bazaar boggles the eyes, the ears and the mind, with more than 4,000 shops spread over 61 streets under one roof. It's fascinating and confounding, with pulsating colors and beckoning vendors. Please, have a cup of tea and see our rugs.
Middle East demand lifts Dubai tea trade
DUBAI: Dubai's tea trading centre DTCC said yesterday it was on target to reach a volume of 5.5 million kilogram this year, up 27.9pc from last year, on growing Middle East demand. The Dubai Tea Trading Centre (DTTC), which is part of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), is seeking to position itself as a hub for blending and storing multi-origin teas. It said 18.3m kg of tea passed through Dubai in the first two months of this year, up from 16.2m kg during the same period last year. "We are still on target to achieve a volume of 5.5 kg of tea this year, and we have grown significantly during the course of the year," DTTC director Sanjay Sethi said. Last year, a total of 105.5m kg of tea passed through the Gulf emirate, up from 96.6m the previous year.
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