Lost Chaikhanas & Langston Hughes
Central Asian tea houses that were once "as common as the soda fountain in America" plus a recipe for spiced Afghan-style tea
Picture the scene. The year is 1873 and the city is Samarkand.
A boy stands, hidden in a dim corner, under a reed awning. He wears an embroidered skull-cap over his long fake black braids and as he walks barefoot, anklets tinkling, they swing around his shoulders.
There is no noise except for his ankle bells, then, as he strides out, the musicians begin to play the lute-like dutar while others bang tambourines.
Slowly, the boy begins to dance for the men who lounge in the shade of the chaikhana (tea house), each one sipping tea from a piala, a delicate tea cup without handles.
The boy’s hands have finger cymbals and he clashes them. The music picks up and dust spins from the ground as the boy’s feet keep time with the drumming.