teatips.info :: tea in russia

russian tea tradition

The custom to drink tea from the saucer, spread among the merchant class mostly, owes its origin to the samovar. In these urns, water remained boiling or next to boiling quite long. The tea pot was kept on top of the samovar, so, the brew was also very hot. It was simply impossible to drink such tea, but they wanted it, urgently. Thus they started pouring it into saucers. First, it faster got cooler there. Second, one could sip tea from the saucer and mix it with air when inhaling. Sounds which were produced at such tea-sipping sprees did not suit a respectful society.

russian tea-drinking

When you have a hundred-year-old samovar, full of boiling water, porcelain tea set, two tea-pots (with Chinese and Ceylon teas), a dish with a pile of pancakes, one huge pie, and a couple of smaller ones, several kinds of jam, honey, condensed milk, slices of lemon, sugar (for sweet-teeth) — all on your table, you will understand what Russian genuine happiness is.

see also

history of tea :: russian tea history
types of tea :: flavored black teas
drinking tea :: snacks