Russian tea culture

It is traditionally taken at afternoon tea, but has since spread as an all day drink, especially at the end of meals, served with dessert.

A notable aspect of Russian tea culture is the samovar, which was widely used to boil water for brewing until the middle of the 20th century.

There is a wide-spread legend claiming that Russian people first came in contact with tea in 1567, when the Cossack Atamans Petrov and Yalyshev visited China.

In 1679, Russia concluded a treaty on regular tea supplies from China via camel caravan in exchange for furs.

[8] However, the difficult trade route made the cost of tea extremely high, so that the beverage became available only to royalty and the very wealthy of Russia.

Faster train service reduced the time it took for tea to arrive in Russia from 16 months to seven weeks.

Tea sachets are widely popular in Russia, but less so than the world average, taking up about 50% of the Russian market compared to the 90% worldwide.

A samovar was widely used to boil water for brewing until mid-20th century, when the spread of gas stoves in then-newly mass-constructed apartment buildings largely saw it replaced with kettles.

There is no formal ceremony to drinking tea, on the contrary, tea-drinking is considered to be the best time for small talk.

While it is not a hard etiquette requirement, it is considered good taste for teacups to come from a single set for everyone at the table.

In more casual situations, tea can be drunk from any cups or mugs, their size reaching up to half a liter or even more.

According to William Pokhlyobkin, tea in Russia was not regarded as a self-dependent beverage; thus, even the affluent classes adorned it with a jam, syrup, cakes, cookies, candies, lemon and other sweets.

The Russian language utilizes some colloquialisms pertaining to tea consumption, including "чайку-с?"

Tea was made a significant element of cultural life by the literati of the Karamzinian circle.

[17] By the mid-19th century tea had won over the town class, the merchants and the petty bourgeoisie.

In the Soviet period, tea-drinking was extremely popular in the daily life of office workers (female secretaries, laboratory assistants, etc.).

chto poslye chayu slyeduyet) with the correct answer being "the resurrection of the dead" from the Nicene Creed.

In the 19th century, Russians drank their tea with a cube of sugar (from sugarloaf) held between their teeth.

Traditional mind-altering substances such as alcohol are typically prohibited, and very high concentrations, called chifir are used as a substitute.

Kalmyk tea, for instance, most resembles Mongolian suutei tsai, and includes brewing loose leaves with milk (twice larger amount than that of water), salt, bay leaf, nutmeg, cloves, or butter, to be enjoyed with flatbread.

This drink is especially popular in the Southeastern United States where it is traditionally served at social events during Advent and Christmastide.

References to "Russian Tea" and instructions have been found in American newspapers and cookbooks dating as early as the 1880s.