So many of you are curious about Russian tea habits. Here are some Russian tea traditions. Please keep in mind that Russia is a large country with many regional customs, so some traditions and methods will differ. As always, none of the links are affiliate links. We do not earn money if you buy a samovar at Amazon, heh.
Tea.
Russians discovered tea in 16th century, when Ivan the Terrible sent two Cossack atamans (war chiefs), Petrov and Yalychov to Siberia with a decree to “unknown peoples” who might be living there. They made it to the sea, passed through Mongolia, and reached China. Whether or not tea was a part of this expedition remains hotly debated by Russian historians, but it is clear that there was an eventual establishment of diplomatic ties between Russia and China, and in 1618 Czar Mihail Fiodorovich Romanov was presented with several crates of tea by the Chinese delegation. Russian word for tea, “Чай,” phonetically spells out chai.
At first tea was viewed as a medicinal drink, but it quickly gained popularity, and by the end of 17th century everyone was drinking it. By 19th century, tea was a big deal. Strict laws were enacted to prevent sale of contraband tea and banning production of koporskii tea, made from fireweed. Koporskii tea tasted kind of nasty, but if you messed with it enough, in a dry state it looked like real tea, so unscrupulous merchants would cut real tea with it.
In the 20th century, a lot of tea in USSR was either home grown or imported from India and Ceylon. Eventually, due to economic difficulties, those imports dried up and so did the consumption of tea. Now it has picked back up and Russian tea market is the fourth largest by volume, right behind China, India, and Turkey. Most of the tea in Russia comes from India, then Sri-Lanka, then China and Indonesia. They keep trying to grow tea in the Krasnodar region, but it accounts for less than 1% of all tea consumed.
Russians drink 10 times as much black tea as green tea, and the green tea still throws a lot of them for a loop. During her first career, my mother was an engineer working for a company designing an anti-missile system. She and her coworkers ended up viewing the tests of the prototype, and the military put them into some old barracks. It was like camping out in a cabin.
One day they all went to the view the tests, and the weather was bad and cold, so they send one guy back ahead of time to make hot tea. He found the tea, but accidentally grabbed the green tea someone had instead of the black tea. So he brews a kettle of this tea and it’s the wrong color. Being an engineer, he concludes that this tea is weak and solves this problem by adding more tea and more tea, until he gets the nice brown color he wants.
The team returns, takes some nice swallows of said tea and then they all have heart palpitations and a spirited debate regarding whether or not they need to go to the hospital.
Tea Equipment
Traditional tea preparation involves zavarka, very strong concentrated tea brewed in a tea pot, which is then diluted by boiled water to the desired strength. Children get weaker tea, adults get stronger tea.
This is where the traditional Russian samovars came into play. They are basically low-tech electric kettles designed to boil water and then keep it warm for hours. First samovars used coal, now they are electric. You can see the one below comes with a matching removable tea pot.
Samovars are pretty, but not practical, because they are a pain to clean.
In the pre USSR times, tea was drank in pretty cups, which were always served with a deep saucer dish. Tea was frequently poured into the saucer and drank from it because it cooled faster.
The tea I remember was served in cups at our house. On a train and in a school cafeteria, tea came in glasses, often with a podstakannik, a metal holder.
The glass is removable and easily washed.
Tea is usually sweetened with sugar, more rarely with honey. Honey was more expensive and less readily available. Sometimes lemon was served, but lemons were also a bit of a luxury. Some people mix in preserves. Very few people drink it unsweetened. Milk is usually a no and will get you funny looks.
Indian spiced chai was not a thing in Russia when I left. Most of the times I can’t drink it. It doesn’t taste right to my palate. Neither is adding bergamot, and I can only tolerate it in small amounts. It works in London Fog from Harney’s but not in Earl Grey for me.
Tea is a ritual. In my house, tea was typically consumed at breakfast, with some fruit and sandwiches with bologna or whatever sausage we had handy. You drank your tea and took off for school.
Tea must be consumed hot enough to nip at the roof of your mouth.
Medicinal properties
This is legend and folklore, so please don’t take it as a medical advice.
Hot tea with a couple of teaspoons of raspberry preserves in it will quickly break a fever. Right now I am not feeling that hot – I haven’t felt that hot all week – and I drank some this morning.
Tea with shipovnik, rosehips, is considered to boost immune system and improve kidney function but is counter indicated for anyone with stomach acid related issues. We would drive out once a year and gather our own rosehips from the edges of the farm fields where it grew like a weed.
In case of conjunctivitis, Russian mothers brew very strong tea, let it cool, and wash the eyes out by dipping a cotton pad into the tea and gently pressing it to the eye. I can confirm that conjunctivis does seem to go away at record rate with this treatment.
To be honest, most health issues in Russia are treated with tea. Headache – tea. Fever – tea. Broken arm – tea. Tea is the way.
Happy brewing.
I love the notion that tea cures everything! Being of Irish descent, tea was always available. Family or friends visiting? Put the kettle on…no one drank coffee after breakfast. We drank tea when we were sick, cranky, often toast would accompany that because tea and toast cured it all…ha ha. Still does in my house…and no nasty bergamot in my tea, thank you!
Broken arm? – Tea ????????
A tea remedy I have used for years involves plain old Lipton tea. Brew a strong pot of Lipton and pour over a large bowl of ice. Soak white cotton in the liquid and wring out, apply to sunburns. You can also add a pot of Lipton to a cool bath and soak in it, although we reserved that method for the “I can barely walk I am so sunburned.” occurrences.
We used this when I was a kid. It has the side effect of turning your sunburn into a tan.
Co-signed. (Though I am pretty sun resistant, so it was usually me ministering to family and friends.)
I brew a pot of tea for dinner in the fall & winter, as strong as possible and with two or three spoonfuls of local honey in the pot for allergies. I put milk in their mugs to cool it so they don’t burn their mouth. The older they get the less milk. 🙂
I take my tea as strong as possible when I’m working, English Breakfast or Russian Caravan please!
I am a tea-oholic (hot tea) and I live in the South. I have tried to show my children and grandchildren how wonderful hot tea is. I am having some good results, as a few of my granddaughters like to have tea with me!!
Can I just say that it is so fascinating to read of all the different backgrounds and experiences of the BDH.
And Italian Canadian here. Grew up with the half milk/half coffee in the cereal bowl with my Cheerios. Tea was only for sick people.
Then I got old … er, more mature and coffee late at night became problematic. So it’s Earl Grey or Lady Grey for me and Lemon Ginger for my sister at night.
“Sweet Tea” is still waaaayyyy too much for me. When we could travel and I went to the States, I could never ask for tea bc I could never be sure I wouldn’t get that cold, wpsweet stuff. Ugh.
(Sorry, sweet tea lovers)
It’s funny, someone told me years ago that chamomile tea is a cure for conjunctivitis (applied the way you described) – I’ve used it successfully since then, to the great approbation of our family physician, who has actually confirmed the presence and subsequent absence of conjunctivitis after treatment with tea. I’ve never thought of using regular tea but will have to remember this for next time! (I rarely have chamomile at home – I dislike the taste – so have to run out and buy it every time).
Your last few sentences remind me of two songs- I’m sure they originated elsewhere, but I knew them thus: Have a Cuppa Tea by Great Big Sea (https://youtu.be/0OSDItxZR_0) and A Cup of Brown Joy by Professor Elemental (https://youtu.be/eELH0ivexKA)
It’s cold and gross out, so seems like a lovely time for tea! Hope you feel better soon.
Other random tea factoid. Dogs going through radiation get soar gums. Tea is used to sooth it.
When I was growing up, sunscreen was not used as often as it is today. We had suntan lotion but it did not work as well as today’s products so we just got burned. We would then put used tea bags on the sunburn. It did two things. Most importantly to me it took away the pain. Something to do with the tannic acid in the tea. It also changed your color from red (or white before the sunburn) to tan.
I LOVE my Russian tea blend by the French tea company Mariage Freres called Alexandra David-Neel! Love the Russian tea history
I’m pretty ecumenical when it comes to tea. Growing up, at home we had tea in bags. Then there was Chinese tea (though I didn’t get exposed to really good Chinese tea until I was older) and Japanese tea, mostly via various family members. In middle school my mom got mad at me because I went through Constant Comment too quickly. (I had one cup a day. My mom… was generally bad at being frugal. The kind of person who serves meat all the time, but then buys a tiny bottle of olive oil which is only for salads, and complains bitterly about my cooking always tasting better than hers.)
In my teens, when I was first on my own, as soon as I wasn’t broke my morning ritual was a pot of Bewley’s, and real cream. (And the new york times, because I was a ridiculous 15 year old.) And green leaf tea in the afternoons, maybe.
I learned to make chai from one of my Uighur friends when I was studying various turkic languages. I still really dislike most of what is sold as chai in the US – the chai mixes taste bitter, metallic, and unbalanced to my palate. Cardamon needs to be used *carefully*. I was lured away from a more traditional mode of making chai by a spice seller friend, who taught me to make a decoction of the spices in a small amount of water, and then add tea to steep, before adding milk. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some simmered milk chai, but it’s a pain to work with and I like the results of the decoction/infusion method best.
In grad school I got heavily into green tea – which seems, for me, to be chinese leaf teas, and than matcha imported from Japan. (There is good matcha available in the US, but there’s more terrible matcha. Ye gods.) This has continued as my staple. I also keep both green and black teas on hand (oh, yeah, my black teas are much more varied in origin) as well as a number of tisanes. I’ve long been caffeine sensitive, and if I want to sleep I should have substantial amounts of caffeine past noon. (I also sometimes make chai with rooibos. One of my favorite post martial arts beverages if students are hanging out, on cooler evenings. This was extra fun when I lived on the housebarge, when sometimes I would end up with a small crowd in my very limited space.) (I miss that! I have a great space for it right now – and the big back porch for warm evenings – but with the pandemic, the only teaching I’ve been doing is via webcam.)
Thank you for this, really learned a lot. Using tea with conjunctivitis works I suspect bc tea has tannic acid, which is closely related to the boric acid often used to treat things like eye inflammation. Tea itself is supposed to contain anti inflammatories.
On the other hand military surgeons hated British medics, they would give a wounded soldier a huge dose of morphine and a cup of tea,without seeing if patient had a belly wound,Brits were legendary for tea peritonitis cases.
I remember the glasses w the metal holder. When I was growing up friend of mine’s family was Russian ( grandfather escaped from the USSR in the early 20s). The grandmother lived with them,and I remember the Samovar and the glasses.
The Russian approach to tea sounds a bit similar to the Irish one! Tea for every emotional issue. Flat 7-up (Sprite, and yes, it had to be flat) for every internal physical ailment. Sudocreme (zinc oxide cream) for every external physical ailment. It’s a wonder any of us are still alive….
I won’t drink tea without milk unless it’s plain green tea with my dinner. I also like my earl grey to have enough bergamot to smack you. Davidson’s is usually the best for this.
This post and all your stories just made me smile & laugh. First, I grew up in Southeast Alaska (fireweed everywhere). I got a masters degree in Slavic Languages and Literature and my advisor (from Omsk, Siberia) taught me about many homeopathic remedies. My favorite with tea (to help if you have diarrhea) was to make really ungodly strong black tea then put wheat toast in the toaster, then in the oven to get it super hard & dry. Then you eat the toast, followed by the tea and it would settle your stomach, stop the issues.
Love this!! My mother (community health nurse and prof) swore by chamomile tea to clear up conjunctivitis, applied just as you described above.
I can picture myself and colleagues having the same discussion you described with the (very strong) green tea above!
Tea for whatever ails ya! This is the way.
Oh, I really miss tea! It was my go-to drink for years, usually brewed medium strength, with lemon, or stronger with milk and sugar at breakfast. Now I can’t drink tea (or coffee, not such a loss) because of acid reflux and gastritis. I hung on to green tea for awhile, lower caffeine and acid, but eventually had to give that up too. Herbal tisanes are nice and I have quite the variety of them, and I’m trying to like rooibus chai (spiced with milk). But whenever I read about characters drinking real tea, I get so nostalgic.
When I was a child, my mother would give us “cambric tea” (very pale, with milk and sugar) when we were sick. We drank iced tea (unsweet but with sugar available) all day long in the summer. A running joke for kids who added too much was “Would you like some tea with your sugar?” I’m old enough to remember that “Russian Tea” mix made with Tang. I believe we have Heloise to blame for it (or at least for popularizing it). But then my mother discovered Constant Comment and never looked back. The scent of that (or similar orange-spice tea blends) brings her back to me.
Lovely to get a person take in life as it was in USSR
From a direct source.
I have a facebook friend in Kiev , she also does a-great job helping those of us who have not traveled to Russia , Ukraine to get a small feel for-the culture.
Oh yes. My great-grandmother’s brass samovar had a prominent position on the banquet. She drank her tea with preserves, and I did too. I forgot all about this (I was really little), but I thought her tea was special. I bet it was the jam. Or maybe her samovar. I have a bit of raspberry jam left, as well as gooseberry.
I can’t wait to try raspberry preserves in tea. I’m going to look for reduced sugar.
I used to be able to find this Zhenas gypsy tea/ raspberry Earl that I LOVE on Amazon. It’s the perfect blend, not tangy or sour but a perfect blend of Bergamot and raspberry. I think bergamot is like cilantro-either you love it or hate it and I can’t get enough of it!
I love Earl Grey tea all types and I like it strong but not brewed too long so I can use 2 or 3 bags. Black and sweet.
My daughter had COVID this week and drank a lot of tea to soothe her hurting throat. My husband (an Ukrainian) first brew her some rosehips tea (it seems he have gathered some from our roses this fall), and then went to the stores to get raspberry jam for the tea. One can’t get over what’s learned in childhood:-)
And yes he uses zavarka. I keep forgetting to add the hot water so I always drink the stronger version than him.
There’s just something about this time of year that drags me down, too- you are not alone in feeling a bit under the weather. If you can, take a break- ME days (My Enjoyment;) and conversation with loved ones are awesome cure alls! I highly recommend curling up in a comfy spot with fuzzy socks and warm blankets and taking a day devoted to relaxing- binge watch A Discovery of Witches (scenery is wonderful! First season is currently included with Prime through January 31st), eat junk food, lay under a sun lamp, take naps, read, call your favorite people on the phone- you get the idea;). I hope you feel better soon! The winter doldrums are tough…
Thank you for fostering future tea sommeliers- really fun history;)
Loved this! Thank you for writing it! Ps. Love love love your books!
I enjoyed this post! My grandparents were Russian emigrants, and they always took their tea in glasses, not cups. They also used to hold a sugar cube in their teeth and sip the tea through it. I have my dad’s family samovar, although we have never used it (the top teapot is missing), certainly would not like having to clean the inside!
Loved this post on tea ????. The go-to brew in my house for sniffles and sore throat is ginger tea. A large chunk of fresh ginger (grated/sliced), cassia bark pieces (cinnamon’s cheaper and more flavorful cousin), and cloves, boiled up in about 2 or 3 cups of water until it has a light tea colour and the ginger is making your eyes water. Pour over a rooibos tea bag and dose with honey and lemon. Drink while hot for the full “this must surely be killing the germs!” effect.
I loved reading about everyone’s different tea experiences. My husband and I are both born-and-bred South Africans of Indian descent. His family are breakfast coffee drinkers, followed by rooibos tea thereafter. My family are sweet milky black tea addicts, or lightly sweetened chai drinkers (made with lemongrass leaves, ginger, and homemade chai spice).
Here in SA, the most popular brand is called Five Roses. Saffers have been known to pack in their Five Roses teabags when visiting the UK, because PG Tips and Tetley just doesn’t cut it. We have also been known to bring our favourite tea biscuits: Tennis and Marie biscuits. (Maa-ree).
Over time, I have come to appreciate jasmine tea and Earl Grey, and this amazing Amazon leaf tea which I have never been able to find again. Rooibos is not my favourite and matcha is a bit bitter for my tastes.
*Note to self: I thought I saw raspberry jam in the fridge…
Hi all. I am also from Russia, Moscow suburbs. Milk with tea was a thing in our household. Black tea, of course. Tea packets, however, didn’t exist when I grew up. At the end of the Soviet era we would buy tea by weight from certain shops. When I moved to USA I discovered that only ‘fancy’ tea drinkers do that. ‘Normal’ people buy packets, lol
My mother, the RN, says to brew very strong black tea and brush it on your tongue to kill a thrush infection. So I imagine the same mechanism works for conjunctivitis.
I’m amused that the Russian market in Manchester, NH is where I can find the Ahmad of London black fruit teas.
Bologna breakfast sandwiches… uhm, I think I’ll stick with bologna cups with shirred eggs from the Betty Crocker For Kids cookbook.
Totally with you on the temperature of proper tea – it needs to be properly brewed and drunk as soon as you can bear it.
I once was talked into selling my favorite podstakannik. It was considered very exotic here in Southern Alabama. Most that turn up here are the guy on a raring horse, this was a depiction of Sputnik.
Tea Culture…
Korea, Yuja Tea and I’ve heard it looks strange to people to spoon honey citron into a cup and fill with water: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuja_tea
There are other flavors: ginger, and pear for example and I found at Costco before.
I had heard in Finland, preserves/jam/marmalade is added to tea.
When you add raspberry jam to your tea, is there a special variety, or brand? I am 20 minutes from Russian delis and can look when I’m there next. I get Olivier salad, badrijani nigvzit and piroshki to go.
Ilona,
I found a recipe that said it was a Russian tea sandwich called pastille. I don’t know if this is accurate or not or it you have ate it. However, I was intrigued by whipping apples into a type of meringue because I don’t have to feel guilty about eating apples, right? I have used a recipe online that consists of 6 apples, 3/4 C sugar, and 2 egg whites. I was using a hand mixer because I had never invested in a stand up mixer. The consistency was squishy and flat, not like the pictures. I finally broke down and got an inexpensive mixer and tried again, which created awesome firm whipped apple. These sheets of pastille are supposed to be marshmallow-y. The outer part of the sheet is marshmallow-y now after using the stand up mixer (now I just need a new oven 😉 ). Why am I telling you all this? I’m wondering first…is it really a staple of russian tea? Second, have you had it? Did you like it? What was the texture? Do you make it? Do you think it would work with banana? Apparently my teenager doesn’t like the apple, he wants to try banana. Not my preference, for sure. Thanks!
This post made me so nostalgic. My family emigrated Russia in 1989, and to this day my mom heals with tea all possible ails. ????