تازه دم / Tazeh Dam

Close to the Caspian Sea, Iranian tea thrives in fertile soil, creating lush fields filled with tea leaves and other vegetation consumed across the country. The leaves are gathered, dried, and fermented before becoming the tea we drink. In this book, I document the tea-making process, both by hand and in a factory.

Every day, I drink tea the way I was brought up to enjoy it—steeped with a bit of cardamom in the tea leaves and topped up with hot water to lighten the color. This ritual is a constant for me; my days feel incomplete without my morning tea. It’s not just any tea—it’s the tea from this region that I want and crave.

Here is a selection of photos capturing tea in Iran, from its cultivation to its consumption and everything in between. These images are taken with admiration and gratitude for the people and places they represent. I feel honored to have witnessed this process and to have been trusted to document parts of it.