00:00In Azerbaijan, tea is more than a drink.
00:03Known locally as chai, it's part of daily life.
00:07Served before meals, after meals, during celebrations and moments of reflection.
00:12It arrives in a pear-shaped glass designed to keep the tea hot at the base
00:17while allowing it to cool at the rim.
00:20Alongside it, something unexpected, jam.
00:23So it's very centuries old and beyond of very classic jams.
00:28So it's a strawberry jam you can see and sweet cherry, also very popular.
00:34Feihua, it's also one of very popular and not everywhere you can find this art of jam.
00:41It's feihua in south of Azerbaijan and west-north is queens also.
00:47So in north of Azerbaijan, this is called paradise apple.
00:51It's fascinating really because that concept of eating the fruit first.
00:56Yes.
00:56In the form of a jam and then a tea.
01:00I'd love you to demonstrate how that's done.
01:02My favorite is strawberry.
01:04Very classic.
01:05So we do it like this.
01:07We took.
01:10And then you drink.
01:18There are other countries in the region that do variations of coupling jam and tea, like stirring it into the
01:25tea.
01:26But here, the action of eating that piece of fruit and then sipping that bitter tea is very popular here
01:33in Azerbaijan.
01:34Did the jam come with the tea or was that later on?
01:39Families tried to save these fruits for the winter.
01:42How they did it, it was different, of course.
01:44They tried to preserve them with sugar or with honey.
01:50But we have this tradition from our, really centuries old, from our grandmas and grand-grandmas.
01:59Strawberry, pear, apricot and walnut are among the most popular varieties.
02:04Unlike commercial spreads, the fruit remains intact, carefully preserved to maintain its structure and flavor.
02:11The sequence is deliberate, a spoonful of sweetness, followed by the heat of tea.
02:18Balance is central.
02:21At Gurbansaid, some of the jams have been made by the family.
02:25The process requires patience, particularly walnut jam, which demands repeated preparation before it reaches its final texture.
02:34The way the fruit is preserved is beautiful.
02:38It has to be beautiful, also, because when you serve it on the table, it has to look beautiful.
02:46It must be very time-consuming.
02:48So how much time is dedicated to making a jam?
02:52Three days or two days you can do it.
02:55So you do it first phase and then you do it another step next day.
03:01Three days.
03:02Across cultures, tea carries history.
03:06But in Azerbaijan, it is the pairing that defines it.
03:10This is the jam and chai, not just as flavor, but as tradition.
03:16What does it mean to you as an Azerbaijani to have the jam and tea?
03:22When you sit down at your table, it's very normal for you.
03:24But what are the kind of feelings that go through?
03:28Myself, I can say for me, you have tea and then you get this feeling at once.
03:37Yes, it's everything will be good.
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03:42you have tea and then you have tea and then you have tea and then you have tea and then
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03:42you have tea and then you have tea and then you have tea and then you have tea and then
03:42you
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