Treats and tradition in Tehran鈥檚 oldest, tiniest teahouse
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With his trimmed beard, red scarf and bronze-colored waistcoat, Kazem Mabhutian serves a steady stream of customers in the smallest and oldest teahouse in Tehran, but at 63 years old, he is counting on God to find him a successor.
Tucked in an alleyway of the Grand Bazaar, wedged between a clothes shop and the door of a mosque, his 1.5-square-meter chaikhaneh (teahouse) is invisible from the main street.
And yet it is the most famous among tea connoisseurs in the Iranian capital.
In between pouring glasses of steaming brew for his customers, Mabhutian tells the century-old story of the fabled Haj Ali Darvish Tea House with pride.
His father Haj Ali Mabhutian, nicknamed the Dervish or Beheshti, or 鈥淗e who deserves paradise,鈥 was born in Hamedan in western Iran, he said.
鈥淗e came to Tehran at the age of 15 to earn a living. He bought this shop from Haj Hassan who had opened it in 1918.鈥
Arranged around him are cups and teapots, boxes of tea and a samovar water-heater. There is an antiquated radio, a paraffin lamp, statuettes of dervishes, and gold-colored sticks of Nabat, a saffron-scented barley sugar.
On the wall, a tourism ministry certificate assures that the place 鈥渋s part of the intangible heritage of the national culture.鈥
Aside from the traditional Iranian black tea, Mabhutian prepares cardamon, cinnamon, mint, thyme and hibiscus brews every day from 7:30am.
But his favorite is his signature 鈥渢ea of kindness,鈥 a mixture of mint, lemon and saffron which gives it a zesty yellow color. Business is usually steady: Experts say that Iranians consume an average of nine small glasses of tea a day, or 100,000 tons nationwide every year.
鈥淯ntil 2007, my father ran this house, known as the smallest in the world,鈥 said Mabhutian. 鈥淭hen he broke his leg and never returned to work. He stayed at home until his death in 2018 at the age of 92.鈥
Kazem then left his advertising agency job and took over the business.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 regret it at all,鈥 he said. 鈥淎dvertising was a business, but this is a question of love. I chose this job with my heart, not for the money.鈥
On the menu, the price of a cup of tea is listed at 100,000 rials (35 US cents), but 鈥渢he rates are not fixed,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t depends on the financial situation of the customer.鈥
Every day he serves some 200 customers.
鈥淢ost of them come from outside the market because they know us,鈥 he said.
鈥淭here used to be a lot of tourists too, because this shop was in the guidebooks, but the foreigners disappeared with the pandemic.鈥
Given the miniature size of the teahouse, there are no tables, but customers can pull up a plastic stool outside, amid the bazaar鈥檚 bustle.
鈥楳ade with love鈥
Seated there was Shafagh, a 32-year-old graphic designer, with her friend Forough, 47.
鈥淓veryone sells tea, but the important thing is to know how to make it,鈥 said Shafagh, enjoying a cup of kindness tea.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like cooking 鈥 when someone makes tea with love, it tastes completely different.鈥
Forough chimed in that 鈥淚 also come to chat with the owner. I think his tea is nothing like the tea served in other places.鈥
Every weekday, Habibollah Sayadi, 70, leaves his nearby clothing shop to enjoy his Iranian black tea.
鈥淚鈥檓 a regular 鈥 I鈥檝e been coming here for almost 50 years because I love the taste of his tea,鈥 he said, adding approvingly that 鈥淢r Kazem respects hygiene鈥 in times of Covid.
Mabhutian, the owner, is getting on in years and is still single, so does he worry about what will become of his beloved shop in future?
鈥淣ot at all,鈥 he said confidently. 鈥淕od will find me a successor. A place like this one does not die.鈥
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