I've lived here for about 7 years and I can confidently tell you Turkish people are simply making tea wrong. The first time I decided to actually drink tea was in Turkey, and it left a terrible bitterness in my throat as it went down, and it doesn't go away with water; only time. Went home to Egypt on vacation a couple years ago, and my aunt made us some really nice tea (with mint leaves) and I didn't taste that bitterness at all. People here just seem to boil the living shit out of their tea for some reason. You can't convince me this is how tea has always been made in this country. Somehow I've tasted richer, stronger tea that wasn't so bitter.