Çaykara means tea stream, which is a fair summary of what you see here. The town sits in a deep valley in the eastern Black Sea mountains of Turkey, in Trabzon province, and the slopes around it are covered with tea bushes in neat green terraces, clinging to hillsides that look too steep for any farmer. The air is damp, the clouds sit low, and the whole country smells of wet earth, woodsmoke and the faint bitter-sweet scent of tea leaves.
Tea became the local living in the twentieth century. Before that, the people of these valleys grew hazelnuts, corn and beans, and moved their cattle to the high summer pastures, the yaylas, and some still do. Now the cash crop is tea, and the harvest from spring to autumn shapes the life of the valley: women with baskets work the rows, the factories hum, and every house offers a glass of strong, dark tea in a small tulip-shaped cup. The people speak in a quick, singing accent that other Turks love to imitate, and they are known for their humour and their hospitality.
For riders, Çaykara is the doorway to the high country. The road up the valley leads to Uzungöl, the long lake, and to the yaylas above, and it climbs through forest on a series of bends that grow tighter and wetter as you rise. The tarmac is generally good, but rain is frequent here, so the surface can be slick, and landslides sometimes bring rocks or mud across the road. Fog can turn the mountains into a grey wall. The best time is late spring to early autumn, with mornings usually clearer, and the greenest months are May and June.
As a stop, the town does the job well. It has well over fourteen thousand people, petrol stations, banks, bakeries, small restaurants and shops, and it is the last place to fill the tank properly before the mountains. Local food includes muhlama, a rich dish of melted cheese, butter and cornmeal, along with anchovies from the coast, grilled trout and fresh bread. A tea garden by the river is a pleasant place for a pause.
Buy a packet of local tea if you can. It is cheap and travels well, and it tastes better when you remember the valley.