Turkish Drinks: 10 Popular Beverages, From Tea to Raki
A guide to 10 popular Turkish drinks, from tea and ayran to raki, boza, and salep, with what each one is, how it's made, and when Turks drink it.
Turkish drinks fill every part of the day. Tea runs from breakfast to bedtime, ayran cools down a plate of kebabs, salep and boza warm up winter, and raki anchors a long evening of meze. This guide walks through 10 popular Turkish beverages, what each one is, how it’s made, and when people actually drink it.
For everything else worth tasting alongside these glasses, start with our Istanbul food guide, and see the full lineup of Turkish foods these drinks are poured with.
The 10 Turkish drinks at a glance
| Drink | What it is | When it’s drunk |
|---|---|---|
| Turkish coffee | Coffee boiled in a pot, served in tiny cups | After meals, when guests visit |
| Turkish tea | Strong black tea in tulip-shaped glasses | All day, especially at breakfast |
| Ayran | Salty, foamy yogurt drink | With kebabs, gözleme, börek, lahmacun |
| Boza | Thick fermented grain drink, sour taste | Winter, with cinnamon and chickpeas |
| Şalgam suyu | Fermented turnip juice, mild or spicy | With heavy kebabs, or mixed into raki |
| Raki | Anise spirit, 40 to 50 percent alcohol | Long meze dinners, diluted with water |
| Salep | Hot orchid-root drink with milk and sugar | Winter, dusted with cinnamon |
| Pomegranate juice | Fresh-pressed, tart and tangy | Year-round, from street stands |
| Nane limon | Dried mint boiled with lemon | Winter, for colds and sniffles |
| Efes Pilsen | Turkey’s best-known pilsner beer | Anytime; the default Turkish beer |
1. Turkish Coffee
In 1517 the Ottoman Turks conquered a small Yemeni town named Mocha and took their coffee beans back home. They were unaware that this was the beginning of an empire’s favorite drink.
Turkish coffee is cooked by boiling, not brewing or mixing with hot water, unlike many other types of coffee. Drinking coffee is customary after meals or when guests are over at a Turkish household.
Turkish coffee has a strong taste and is usually served in espresso-sized cups. Serving a Turkish delight or a small piece of chocolate with it is a common tradition in Turkey. If you want to brew it at home, we walk through the steps in how to make Turkish coffee, and we rate the city’s best cups in our guide to the best Turkish coffee in Istanbul.
2. Turkish Tea
Tea was not a popular drink in Turkey until the 1950s, when coffee bean prices skyrocketed during World War II. Turkish people were used to caffeine and needed an alternative, so they turned toward black tea, which grows in Turkey and is highly caffeinated.
Turkey now has the highest tea consumption in the world, at 3.2kg per person each year.
Turkish tea is often served in tulip-shaped glasses and consumed all day long, especially at breakfast. The redder, more caffeinated, and stronger the tea, the better. That red, strong hue is called “tavşan kanı,” which translates as “rabbit blood,” the perfect word to approve the tea before sipping it. To make it the Turkish way, see how to make Turkish tea.
3. Ayran (Turkish yogurt drink)
Ayran is a refreshing yogurt-based drink. This chilled, salty, and slightly sour beverage has been around for centuries and is a traditional way to beat the heat.
Ayran is popular because it pairs well with many Turkish dishes, including meat dishes, kebabs, gözleme, börek, lahmacun, and pide.
You can find packaged ayran in nearly every restaurant in Turkey, but the best glass is the homemade, foamy kind. “Yayık ayran” usually refers to homemade ayran.
You can make ayran with any yogurt you have at home. Mix yogurt and salt together, then slowly add water until you reach the right consistency.
4. Boza
Boza is one of the oldest Turkish drinks, a fermented beverage made from grains such as millet, barley, wheat, or corn. It’s consumed more in winter, since it’s densely structured and has a sour taste. It’s served with cinnamon and roasted chickpeas on top.
Traditional Turkish boza is made with millet semolina, water, and sugar. It’s rich in probiotics and lactic acid.
Boza is not as easy to find as the other traditional Turkish drinks listed so far, but it can be found if you know where to look. Vefa Bozacısı has been serving one of the best bozas in Turkey since 1876 at its original shop.
5. Şalgam Suyu (fermented turnip juice)
A staple of Turkish cuisine, şalgam suyu is prepared with turnip or purple carrots, bulgur wheat, salt, and yeast. It comes in two versions, mild and spicy hot.
One common pairing is to drink it as a soft drink alongside kebabs, especially at traditional kebab restaurants that serve fat-rich, heavy plates.
Şalgam suyu also makes a potent cocktail that’s popular in Turkey. Mixing it with raki, the traditional Turkish spirit, creates a strong concoction.
6. Turkish Raki
Raki, a high-octane spirit with a distinct taste of anise, is traditionally served in Turkish taverns. It’s made of suma (white grape pomace) and anise seeds.
Turkish raki is potent, at 40 to 50 percent alcohol, so it’s commonly diluted with water or ice cubes to make the taste more enjoyable and manageable.
This drink got the nickname “Lion’s Milk” because it turns white once mixed with water, and the lion is a common metaphor in Turkey for a strong, courageous person.
In Turkey, people drink raki over long conversations and a whole appetizer culture around the table. Raki is in the same family as Greek ouzo, French pastis, Italian sambuca, and Middle Eastern arak. For the full story, see our guide to Turkish raki, and for the small plates that surround it, our Turkish meze guide.
7. Salep
Salep, often topped with cinnamon, is a hot, intense winter drink made of powdered orchid roots, milk, and sugar. The traditional version requires collecting the tubers of wild orchids (orchid roots are also called salep) and grinding them into powder.
Orchid roots are rich in starch, and when mixed with milk they turn into a thick, custard-like texture. Salep powder is also the key ingredient in Turkish ice cream, where it makes for a dense, chewy treat.
8. Pomegranate juice
In Turkish mythology, the pomegranate is a symbol of beauty, fertility, and abundance.
This fruit can be found on every corner in Turkey, and it’s easy to see why. Packed with antioxidants, the fresh juice is said to carry health benefits ranging from lower cholesterol to flushing out toxins.
Even before you go looking for it, you’ll naturally come across stands juicing it fresh all over Istanbul. It’s one of the easiest things to grab while eating your way through the city’s street food.
9. Nane Limon (dried mint and lemon)
Nane limon is made by boiling a slice of lemon with dried mint. This winter warmer keeps everyone safe from the cold (according to every mother in Turkey) and has been shown to help fight seasonal sniffles.
Fresh black pepper and honey are often added to make it more effective.
It’s not a well-known drink among tourists, but it’s one of the most popular winter drinks for Turkish people.
10. Efes Pilsen
Efes Pilsen is Turkey’s most famous beer, known for its iconic bottle design and crisp taste. When people talk about beer in Turkey, an Efes Pilsen bottle comes to mind first.
Efes also produces Bomonti, which has recently become one of Turkey’s most popular beer brands.
Alcohol consumption in Turkey is lower than in most European countries, but beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage among Turkish people. For the wider lineup, see our guide to Turkish beers.
Bonus content
The following drinks are not traditional in Turkey but worth mentioning.
Apple tea
Apple tea is an unusual drink in Turkey that locals most likely have never tried and have no idea what it is. Yet many tourists claim it’s their favorite Turkish beverage.
Apple tea is not popular among locals, but it can be found in hotels and tourist shops.
It’s customary in Turkey to offer black tea to guests as a sign of hospitality, whether at home or at work. The traditional black tea is strong, though, and not always to a tourist’s taste, so it often gets swapped for sweet, flavorful, non-traditional apple tea. Don’t judge it too harshly; it is tasty.
Turkish Cocktails
While locals would never call it a cocktail, the mix of fermented turnip juice (şalgam suyu) and Turkish raki is one of Turkey’s most popular two-ingredient drinks.
Some other notable Turkish cocktails are:
Turkish Screwdriver: raki and orange juice
Turkish Delight: rose liquor and rose water
Hot Bunny: raki and pomegranate liquor
Turkish Delight Martini: vodka and rose syrup
You can find the recipes here: https://kuletos.com.au/cocktails/Turkish-Cocktails
Final words
That covers 10 popular Turkish drinks, from the everyday glass of tea to the long raki evening. To taste the food they’re poured with, browse our Istanbul food tours or book the Taste of Two Continents tour, which crosses from the European side to Kadıköy on the Asian shore.
