Russian tea drinking history and traditions. Tea traditions of different countries

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— Morocco —

Tea of the Tuareg nomads from the territory of Morocco is a mixture of mint, green tea leaves and a generous portion of sugar. Such tea is considered a gourmet treat and is served in tall and thin armud glasses.
— Tibet —

In Tibet, they do not ask themselves what to add to tea - milk or sugar. Here, oil and salt are added to the tea. And in the mountains, tea is often prepared by boiling for many hours. The resulting paste is kneaded with flour and eaten as energy bars. Often this mixture is fed to livestock.
— India —

India is the largest producer and consumer of tea in the world. Here they like to combine tea with spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and pepper. Although regional recipes may vary, this spiced tea is a typical element of Hindu life and is sold on every street corner. They drink a drink from simple clay cups, which allow you to fully appreciate the taste and aroma of the drink.
— Argentina —

In Argentina, they drink mate - herbal tea, which the Argentines themselves call the "drink of the gods." Mate is cooked in calabash, special containers made from local gourds. Tea is drunk through straw straws to filter out the fine suspension of grass, which is mate.
- Russia -

Tea traditions in Russia were created in those days when tea was quite a rarity and tea drinking in itself was a rather extraordinary event. Especially in order to have enough tea for everyone, samovars were invented - large containers where water was heated and black tea was brewed. In Russia, it is customary to drink tea with sugar and milk - they say that the British borrowed this habit from the Russians.
— China —

The traditional Chinese tea ceremony is an incredibly detailed process that can vary from province to province. The ritual includes small teacups, tongs, special napkins and towels, as well as a strictly observed brewing sequence. In China, it is customary to drink tea slowly from tiny cups in order to better understand the taste and characteristics of the drink.
— Thailand —

In 1949, as civil war raged in China, Chinese refugees fled to Thailand, taking with them elements of Chinese culture, including the tea ceremony. But in Thailand, the tradition has changed significantly to include special Thai teas, as well as additional ingredients like anise, dates, and orange blossom.
— Taiwan —

Taiwan has a lot in common with China, but not in the field of tea. In Taiwan, they drink iced tea with cream and sugar syrup. Such a drink is called tapioca - in honor of a plant that has white, starchy inflorescences. Taiwanese tea was invented as recently as 1988, but quickly became famous all over the world.
— Hong Kong —

Tea in a sock does not sound very attractive, but this is how a traditional Hong Kong drink is prepared. Tea leaves are poured into a special stocking, which is placed in a container with water. Such tea is served (most often oolong), along with milk and brown sugar.
— Japan —

The island state has a very diverse tea ceremony. These rituals include many details, from home preparation to special equipment. The Japanese especially like to drink the bitter green variety of Matcha and eat it with sweet candies.
— Pakistan —

Tea is the most common drink in Pakistan, which has a lot in common with Indian traditions. Here they drink a tea mixture that includes a combination of pistachios, almonds, salt, milk and spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, and anise. The result is a pale pink drink served with traditional sweet pastries.
- Great Britain -

Tea appeared in England in the 17th century, but traditions developed later - around the middle of the 19th century. In 1840, the standard tea party began in the evening, after a nutritious dinner. The maids prepared a pot of black tea and many small snacks like cakes and sandwiches. They drank tea for a long time, passing the time by talking and eating snacks.
- New Zealand -

British missionaries brought tea with them in the early 19th century, and on the spot acquired the habit of brewing kiwi slices with tea. This is how New Zealand tea appeared, which today is drunk in the same way as in Victorian Britain, but with local exotic additions.
— Iran —

Having penetrated the territory of Iran from India, tea at first did not take root here. However, in the 20th century, the Iranians radically solved the problem by developing their own variety of black tea, which today is a matter of national pride. It is served strongly brewed and poured into small mugs. They seize tea with various sweets and pieces of crushed sugar.
— Malaysia —

In this country of Southeast Asia, tea is drunk mixed with sugar, condensed milk, while whisking the drink a little. So it acquires a slightly foamy structure, and the whipping process itself can become a very unusual sight.

A meal at the tea table was a necessary component of the Russian holiday of all classes. Tea was first brought from Mongolia to Russia in 1638 as a gift to Tsar Fyodor Mikhailovich, but became widespread only in the last third of the 19th century. Since that time, tea at the samovar has become a persistent element of the Russian national way of life.

tea drinking

Tea drinking - a feast with tea. A meal at the tea table was one of the necessary components of a festive pastime. Tea on holidays was drunk in intelligent urban families, in merchant houses, in the huts of peasants.

It was first tried by Russian people in 1638, when four pounds of tea leaves with brewing instructions were sent from Mongolia as a gift to Tsar Fyodor Mikhailovich. They liked the drink and the tea gifts of the Mongol and Chinese rulers began to be accepted with great pleasure, and from 1679, i.e. after the conclusion of an agreement with China on the supply of tea to Russia, drinking it became fashionable among the highest nobility, nobles, rich merchants. True, until the end of the 111th century. it was mostly drunk by men. Women refused to drink tea, considering it too strong and bitter.

In those years, it was brewed differently than now: one medium-sized cup accounted for about 50 grams. tea leaf. The tea leaf was placed in a copper teapot and boiled there. For people of average income, and even more so for peasants, tea was not available because of its high cost. The high cost of the tea leaf was due to the high costs of its transportation from China to Russia. He entered St. Petersburg and Moscow by land through Mongolia, Siberia, the Urals, and the North of European Russia.

FROM THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH C., TEA DRINKINGS STARTED TO BE HELD IN THE HOUSES OF POOR CITIZENS, T.K. THE TEA LEAF HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED IN CONNECTION WITH ITS TRANSPORTATION BY SEA WAY FROM CANTON TO ODESSA.

This drink became most widespread in Russia in the last third of the 19th century, especially after the construction of the Siberian Railway, which significantly reduced the cost of transporting tea. Since that time, tea drinking at the samovar began to be considered as an element of the national way of life: “All Russia“ from the Finnish cold rocks to the fiery Colchis, everyone from young to old, a millionaire and a day laborer, a Great Russian and a son of the south, a Belarusian and a Kalmyk, drink tea, who ordinary, some brick with salt, butter and milk, some fragrant ma-b-kon, some bouquet liang-sin, others even outlandish pearl or golden-shaped khan's ”(Kokorev I.T. 1986. P. 445).

Russian people drank tea both in festive and everyday situations, at home, in tea houses, taverns, on the road at inns. They drank it after the bath, “from the cold”, “from the exhaustion”, “from the road”: “A peasant near Moscow drinks it, with joy that he profitably sold two carts of firewood, and drinks “up to the seventh tier of sweat”; the artel of artisans, whom you recognize by the merciless extermination of tobacco, drinks together: a company of coachmen drinks tea; a tired pedestrian reinforces his strength with tea” (Kokorev I.T. 1986, p. 448). Tea, it was believed, amused a person in a sad moment, calmed after the turbulent events of life, consoled in trouble: “Cup after cup, and little by little, in the whole being, through all the veins and joints, an inexplicable complacency spreads; warmth begins to live in the world, lighter and more cheerful in the heart; neither care nor sadness dare to approach you in these blissful moments” (Kokarev I.T. 1986, p. 492).

Tea was drunk mainly only by the peasants of the northern, northwestern and central provinces of European Russia, as well as Siberia. In addition, there were people in Russia who considered tea a “filthy potion”, and tea drinking a deviation from the true Christian faith. Among the Old Believers, it was even widely believed that a person tea drinker will not enter the kingdom of heaven after death.

Tea parties in Russia, both festive and everyday, were held according to certain rules approved by tradition.

Tea in Russia, probably from the beginning of the 19th century. they drank using a samovar for boiling water, and a porcelain or faience teapot for brewing. In the samovar, the water was always in a boiling state thanks to a special brazier with hot coals located inside it. The teapot was placed on top of the samovar on the samovar burner, which protected the tea leaves from cooling down during a long tea party. Russian people liked to drink tea very hot, when: “it penetrates into all the pores of the body and gradually plunges the nerves into a sweet numbness” (Kokorev I.T. 1986, p. 447).

At home, a samovar with a teapot was placed on a tray on a common table or on a special round table attached to it. Nearby were placed cups on saucers with the obligatory teaspoons placed on the saucer with a handle to the handle of the cup. Sugar, honey, jam, pies, buns, donuts, koloboks, shanezhki, etc. were served with tea.

In peasant families, the cup was filled with tea with edges, so that “life was full”, and so that guests would not think of putting sugar in tea. In noble and merchant houses, where cream and a lot of sugar were served with tea, it was customary to fill the cup not completely. Usually Russians drank tea from a saucer, holding it in the fingers of the right hand raised up and slightly apart. This was due to the habit of drinking tea from a samovar, where the water was always kept at the boiling level. Tea poured from a cup into a saucer was less scalding.

They drank tea with sugar, jam, honey. In urban families, sugar was served on the table chopped or sawn. The hosts and guests drank tea in an overlay, dropping pieces of sugar into a cup or into a bite, breaking it into small pieces with tweezers. Merchants, peasants tried to buy sugar in heads, i.e. in the form of cones of different sizes. A head of sugar standing on the table clearly demonstrated the prosperity and well-being of the house to the guests who came. Sugar was usually pricked by a man. He took the head with his left hand by its upper part, and right hand with a blunt knife clamped into it, he hit the free end.

The head fell apart into two parts, which were then split with the help of sugar tongs. The sugar crumbs were poured into a saucer. Peasants always drank tea with sugar as a snack, drinking on the slip was considered a great waste. The guest was supposed to be treated with tea, urging him to drink one more cup and another, thereby showing honor and respect to the hosts. With each new request for tea, the cup was supposed to be rinsed with boiling water so that the drink poured into it did not immediately cool down. A well-known researcher of the middle of the 19th century. A.V. Tereshchenko very vividly described village tea drinking: “In the north of Russia, tea replaces a pleasant pastime: there, sitting at tea, they talk and drink in bite with such art that a small piece of sugar takes out for half a dozen glasses. Sweat is pouring from the peasant, he drinks breathlessly; wipe off hollow and again by the cup ”(Tereshchenko A.V. 1848. S.). A sign for the hostess that the guest had finished drinking tea was a cup turned upside down or placed sideways on a saucer.

For a long time, tea drinking in the villages was considered the lot of only holidays. For weekdays, this drink was considered an expensive pleasure: “Where are we fools to drink tea on weekdays,” Russian peasants said. They sat down to drink tea at the end of the feast, when the guests were already tired of food, intoxicating drinks, noise, fun, singing and dancing. The joint drinking of tea calmed the reveling men and women, gave a kind of decency to the feast, relieved the stress of the holiday. However, over time, when tea fell in price, it began to be consumed on weekdays.

“It was getting dark; on the table, shining,
The evening samovar hissed,
Chinese kettle heating;
Light steam swirled beneath him.
Spilled by Olga's hand,
In cups with a dark stream
Already fragrant tea fled,
And the boy served the cream.

It could also be arranged on Sundays, when good neighbors came in for tea:

“In the evening sometimes converged
Good family of neighbors
Unceremonious friends
And to grieve and slander,
And laugh about something...
Time passes; meanwhile
They will order Olga to cook tea ... "
(A.S. Pushkin).

On holidays, when guests gathered at the house, tea drinking was usually held after dinner before dancing:

“... But they bring tea: the girls decorously
As soon as they took the saucers,
Suddenly from behind the door in the long hall
Bassoon and flute sounded ... "
(A.S. Pushkin).

Let us admire the dexterity with which the sexual bears in one hand a tray laden with dishes, and in the other two teapots ... Everywhere you hear the almost exclusive demand for tea, the clinking of cups; you see how people scurry back and forth, how some visitors are replaced by others, thirsty, like them, for tea drinking, and how the sexual ones barely have time to satisfy their requirements: in a word, there is “no salvation” here without tea (Kokorev I.T. 1986, p. 448 ).

Russian people believed that joint tea drinking maintains love and friendship between family members, strengthens family and friendly ties, and a samovar boiling on the table creates an atmosphere of comfort, prosperity and happiness: “here the samovar starts its usual song in different voices. Either it will be dragged into it with the rattling voice of a spree old man, then a piercing treble is enough, then it will take a soft tenor, rise from it to a loud basso - cantante and suddenly descend into a melodious mezzo-soprano, fall silent for a minute, as if thinking about something, and fill up again with a ringing song, now joyful, now mournful. What is the meaning behind it?" (Kokorev I.T. 1986.S. 493).

Shangina Isabella Iosifovna

The term “globalization” had not yet been coined, and goods were already roaming the world, bringing borrowed tastes, habits, and manners to every culture. So foreign tea has infiltrated Russian life imperceptibly and unobtrusively. The exact date of its appearance in Russia remains in question. One gets the impression that samovars have been boiling in huts since time immemorial, and tea drinking has always been an original Russian tradition.

In the time of Ivan the Terrible, tea was known only by hearsay. Russian ambassadors, Cossack chieftains Yalyshev and Petrov, who returned in 1567 from a Russian trip to the Chinese Empire, are considered the first to tell about the unusual drink. However, historians have found evidence that a hundred years earlier, in the middle of the 15th century, during the reign of Ivan III, Eastern merchants were already bringing tea to Russia.

In 1618, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov received a royal gift from the Mongolian Altyn Khan - four pounds of tea leaves. The drink did not impress the court, and ordinary Muscovites felt nothing for tea, except for curiosity.

The second tsar of the Romanov dynasty, Alexei Mikhailovich, had problems with digestion, and the healers sold him tea. The result pleased everyone, the "life force" of the tea drink was highly appreciated. In the medicinal recipes of that time, tea appeared as a medicinal ingredient, and this was its main use.

Soon trade agreements were signed with China, and tea became a subject of exchange, most often for valuable furs. The quantity of goods was then measured in camels, and the product was transported in cybics.

Cybik - a package or box lined with raw leather and filled with dry tea weighing about 40 kg.

The superficial acquaintance of Russians with a fragrant drink grew into true love thanks to Catherine II, who herself had a weakness for overseas potion. Invigorating properties were noticed, its taste was appreciated, and communication with tea began to bring pleasure.

During the reign of Catherine II, six thousand “loaded camels” of tea leaves were consumed per year. The Empress personally supervised the tea caravans and the production of tableware at the Imperial Porcelain Factory. Under her rule, Moscow quickly turned into the tea capital of Russia.

It took more than six months for a convoy of horse-drawn carts to travel across Russia's vast expanses from China through all of Siberia and further to Moscow. Therefore, tea was a very long-awaited, expensive and inaccessible product for the common people.

During the reign of the Romanovs in the 17th century, royal receptions were held with tea drinking. Boyars and wealthy merchants drank it, who, moreover, seized on the "tea business" and began to make a fortune on it. It wasn't until the next century that tea spread to the nobility and middle class merchants.

In Russia, there was a tendency for him to replace traditional Russian drinks (sbiten, honey), which had a sweetish taste. This is probably why women did not like it because of the bitterness, especially since it was originally drunk without sugar. Strong tea was considered a man's drink.

In the second half of the 19th century, they also began to import Indian and Ceylon varieties through the port of Odessa; railways. In a short time, tea turned into an affordable product, and towards the end of the 19th century, all classes drank it. tsarist Russia. At the same time, low-grade cheap varieties appeared on the market.

How different classes drank tea

Tea gradually descended along the hierarchical levels of society to the very bottom. Each layer of the population tried to imitate the higher, but due to disabilities brought something of her own and adjusted the tea ritual for herself.

Refined aristocrats copied the British in many ways - impeccable table setting, beautiful dishes, a milkman. Here they used expensive Chinese tea of rare varieties, which was brought in dry form and brewed at the table.

The nobles initially, before the advent of porcelain tea utensils, drank it from carved glasses in glass holders. An integral part of the tea party was communication, in fact, for this purpose, the company gathered at the tea table.

Merchants and wealthy landowners flaunted their prosperity and measured their wallets. The tea ceremony was a great opportunity to stand out, so it was furnished with all the pomp and attributes of abundance: a samovar, various jams, honey, a variety of sweet and salty pastries.

Tea drinking lasted long and thoroughly, the cups were filled many times. They drank tea from a saucer. Considering the amount drunk, the tea leaves were made very strong so that they lasted for a long time, and they diluted it in cups with boiling water. Varieties used such that give a rich dark color.

The philistines - officials, shopkeepers, innkeepers and city dwellers - imitated the rich estates, and gathered for tea like aristocrats. Lacking financial resources, they still tried to lay a plentiful table in the merchant's manner.

Tea was expensive, so they took the cheapest variety and diluted it to a translucent state. Appetizers were simple. Gatherings were accompanied not only by conversations, but also by songs, often performed with a guitar.

It is believed that Russian urban romance with a guitar arose and took shape in a musical genre during the time of petty-bourgeois tea parties. With a simple and small tool, it was convenient to sit at the table.

Its own culture of tea drinking developed in tsarist Russia in public catering. In taverns, tea was served in two teapots, which were placed one on top of the other and were a prototype of a samovar: boiling water in the lower one, tea leaves in the upper one. The visitor himself prepared a drink of the desired strength. Tea was drunk from glasses, which were also used for alcohol.

The tea room usually consisted of two rooms. In one there were large tables on which a samovar and teapot were displayed. Tea was diluted to taste and drank with snacks. In another hall, business issues were resolved, meetings were held and documents were drawn up.

Characteristic features of Russian tea drinking

For some reason, Russians are more fond of black tea. "Tea drinking" has become synonymous with intimate conversation, a sign of hospitality and an obligatory final stage of the feast. English stiffness and compulsion, Japanese and Chinese subtlety of the tea ceremony in Russia did not take root. Here, the formalized order of tea drinking was completely swept aside.

The Russian soul requires scope, openness and sincerity. Tea traditions in Russia are inseparable from detailed conversations on any pressing topic. Tea is drunk as many times as you like, more often in winter than in the warm season. Sweets are always attached to it - jam, pastries, honey, sweets.

For guests in many houses there are festive services: table and tea. In Soviet times, such special dishes were an indicator of well-being and status in society. All housewives, in order to somehow join the elite, dreamed of a mother-of-pearl Madonna service.

Festive table

Two stages of the Russian feast always remain unchanged: main dishes with alcoholic drinks and tea with desserts. During the table change, the guests, exhausted from a hearty meal, go out to smoke and powder their noses, and tune in to a leisurely tea party and frank conversations. Strong tea promotes digestion and invigorates.

Such a continuation of the feast saves from the consequences of overeating and excessive intoxication. Table setting and the method of brewing tea depend on the hostess. Candies, honey, sugar, jam, lemon slices, pastries or cake, milk / cream in the milk jug are exhibited.

Special "sweet table"

So it is customary to call an economical kind of feast, cut down to tea drinking. It is used for various reasons: the organizers want to quickly celebrate some event without etiquette formalities, there is little time for communication, circumstances do not allow setting a full table, and so on. Often in such cases, they take tea bags and minimum set sweets in disposable tableware or collect the table pooled.

at home

Russians drink tea several times a day, at home and at work: as a "third" after the main meal or separately, with or without dessert. Usually, both at home and in the office, everyone has their own favorite cup. Often drink it in front of the TV.

Fans add aromatic herbs or spices to tea leaves. If tea is prepared for the whole family, it is infused in a teapot and diluted with boiling water in cups. Boiling water is added to the teapot 1-2 times as it is empty.

Unexpected guests

Treating with tea is a common sign of hospitality, even if a person did not come to visit, but for some reason. Especially in cold weather, it is a sacred thing to offer a cup of tea to a chilled visitor. There are no set rules here.

If desired, the host can keep the guest company or offer some sweets, but he may not do this. This tradition is also followed in offices, depending on how much time the visitor spends there.

Tea drinking in Russian is very democratic - each house has its own traditions and recipes. Tea is brewed different ways. All of them are extremely simple. The main feature was and remains "two-teapot" brewing and good heating.

The happy owners of the samovar put a large teapot on top of a special nest. As the water warmed up in the samovar, a vessel with tea warmed up. The drink was poured into glasses without diluting, and drank with sweets.
If there is no samovar, then a “tea pair” was made from a teapot and a teapot. The tea leaf was poured with boiling water in a teapot and warmed for infusion. For him, they often sewed a beautiful special heating pad - a “woman”. Such tea was served undiluted, with a bite of sweets.
The third method is perhaps the simplest, economical and popular in Soviet times: a very strong infusion was made in a teapot, poured a little into cups, and topped up with hot water.

Tea must be given its due - it has gained such popularity that it has completely replaced traditional Russian drinks from everyday life. At the same time, I didn’t even have to invent dishes. Russian sbiten has always been prepared in a samovar, which in composition resembles non-alcoholic mulled wine.

Sbiten: A very thick dark red decoction is prepared from molasses mixed with spices (St. The viscous liquid is diluted with water as needed and sugar is added.

Mors and mead were also popular drinks. With the advent of tea, the samovar was "retrained" for "tea making".

Popular types

Tea gourmets in Russia appeared immediately. Very rare elite varieties of Chinese tea entered the country, including imperial yellow and expensive representatives of black “flower”.

There were several hundred Chinese shops in Moscow, where the choice of green and black was very rich. Muscovites fell in love with green teas "Imperial Lansin" and "Pearl Choice", yellow "Yunfacho with Flowers" and white varieties "Silver Needles". The northern capital preferred the delicate taste of flower varieties.

In big cities, the choice of tea was easier. Inhabitants countryside did not understand elite drinks and were not puzzled by varieties and quality. Firstly, not the best and cheapest varieties went on sale, and secondly, due to high prices, the peasants preferred to prepare fees instead of them:

"Koporsky" from dried herb Ivan-tea;
"wooden" from leaves and bark of trees (, from oak, ash);
herbal preparations;
from leaves and fruits of fruit trees and berry bushes.

Unscrupulous businessmen, ready for any tricks to play on the popularity of the product and profit, took advantage of such a rich assortment of alternative drinks. This is how counterfeit teas appeared.

They had to look like real ones, so home-made collections were processed with dyes, often poisonous, mixed with non-natural additives and passed off as a natural product. The worst kind of such activity was the manipulation of the sleeping tea leaves, which were collected in tea establishments. The government has developed a suppression scheme and a system of punishments for counterfeit dealers.

Thanks to folk ingenuity, many recipes for alternative drinks have been tried. Some of them are so liked that they became popular. So the concept of "herbal tea" entered Russian everyday life.

stereotypes

The traditions of Russian tea drinking have developed their own clichés that influence its assessment. Non-existent forms and facts are attributed to him, but:

The samovar is not a Russian invention, but has been used for a very long time, first for sbiten, then for tea.
Saucer - drinking from it is considered vulgar. But who has tried, he knows - it really tastes better. So it was accepted in the merchant, and later the philistine environment.
A glass with a cup holder is a tea exhibit, a tribute to the times, the echoes of which remain in Russian trains. But still good tea in a glass is great. Especially if you look at the light.
A woman on a teapot - a toy with wide skirts can be replaced by a funny chicken or a multi-colored rooster with wings outstretched on the teapot. In extreme cases, the master's hat will do. As long as the tea doesn't freeze.
Brewing - why not, so as not to mess around with endless brewing in the midst of a conversation.

Tea is a versatile drink that saturates, invigorates and soothes at the same time. It is pleasant with him in the company and alone. And even reading about him is good over tea.

photo: depositphotos.com/island, Forewer

From this article you will learn why Russian people fell in love with tea so much, when and with what they drank tea, Russian traditions of tea drinking. And you will see how tightly tea has merged into traditional Russian culture, although it spread only at the end of the 19th century.

When was tea brought to Russia?

Why did tea become widespread only in the last third of the 19th century?

Until the end of the eighteenth century. it was mostly drunk by men. Women refused to drink tea, considering it too strong and bitter. In those years, it was brewed differently than now: one medium-sized cup accounted for about 50 grams. tea leaf. The tea leaf was placed in a copper teapot and boiled there.

For people of average income, and even more so for peasants, tea was not available because of its high cost. The high cost of the tea leaf was due to the high costs of its transportation from China to Russia. He entered St. Petersburg and Moscow by land through Mongolia, Siberia, the Urals, and the North of European Russia.

From the second half of the nineteenth century. tea parties began to take place in the homes of poor townspeople, tk. the price of the tea leaf fell significantly due to its transportation by sea from Canton to Odessa.

When did Russian people drink tea?

Where was tea especially popular, and where was it considered a "foul potion"?

This drink was especially popular in cities, primarily in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Suzdal, Arkhangelsk, Vologda: of this earthly ambrosia, a radical upheaval would take place in the life of Muscovites! Hospitable hospitality, this great-grandfather virtue, invariably preserved by us, would collapse to the end ”(Kokorev I.T. 1986. P. 445). In the villages, it was not as widespread as in the cities. Tea was drunk mainly only by the peasants of the northern, northwestern and central provinces of European Russia, as well as Siberia. In addition, there were people in Russia who considered tea a “filthy potion”, and tea drinking a deviation from the true Christian faith. Among the Old Believers, it was even widely believed that a person who drinks tea will not enter the kingdom of heaven after death.

Tea drinking rules

Tea in Russia, probably from the beginning of the 19th century. they drank using a samovar for boiling water, and a porcelain or faience teapot for tea leaves. In the samovar, the water was always in a boiling state thanks to a special brazier with hot coals located inside it. The teapot was placed on top of the samovar on the samovar burner, which protected the tea leaves from cooling down during a long tea party. Russian people liked to drink tea very hot, when: “it penetrates into all the pores of the body and gradually plunges the nerves into a sweet numbness” (Kokorev I.T. 1986, p. 447).

According to custom, tea was supposed to be poured by the mistress of the house or the eldest daughter. Strong tea was poured into cups, diluted with boiling water from a samovar. The amount of tea leaves was determined by the guest to whom the cup was intended. A strainer always hung on the spout of the teapot, protecting it from falling into the cup of tea leaves. In peasant families, the cup was filled with tea with edges, so that “life was full”, and so that guests would not think of putting sugar in tea. In noble and merchant houses, where cream and a lot of sugar were served with tea, it was customary to fill the cup not completely. Usually Russians drank tea from a saucer, holding it in the fingers of the right hand raised up and slightly apart. This was due to the habit of drinking tea from a samovar, where the water was always kept at the boiling level. Tea poured from a cup into a saucer was less scalding.

What did they drink tea with?

They drank tea with sugar, jam, honey. In urban families, sugar was served on the table chopped or sawn. The hosts and guests drank tea in an overlay, dropping pieces of sugar into a cup or into a bite, breaking it into small pieces with tweezers. Merchants, peasants tried to buy sugar in heads, i.e. in the form of cones of different sizes. A head of sugar standing on the table clearly demonstrated the prosperity and well-being of the house to the guests who came. Sugar was usually pricked by a man. He took the head with his left hand by its upper part, and with his right hand, with a blunt knife clamped into it, hit the free end. The head fell apart into two parts, which were then split with the help of sugar tongs. The sugar crumbs were poured into a saucer.

Peasants always drank tea with sugar as a snack, drinking on the slip was considered a great waste. The guest was supposed to be treated with tea, urging him to drink one more cup and another, thereby showing honor and respect to the hosts. With each new request for tea, the cup was supposed to be rinsed with boiling water so that the drink poured into it did not immediately cool down. A well-known researcher of the mid-nineteenth century. A.V. Tereshchenko very vividly described village tea drinking: “In the north of Russia, tea replaces a pleasant pastime: there, sitting at tea, they talk and drink in bite with such art that a small piece of sugar takes out for half a dozen glasses. Sweat is pouring from the peasant, he drinks breathlessly; wipe off hollow and again by the cup ”(Tereshchenko A.V. 1848. S.). A sign for the hostess that the guest had finished drinking tea was a cup turned upside down or placed sideways on a saucer.

What days do you drink tea?

In merchant houses, tea could be drunk at any time of the day: the samovar was constantly boiling, inviting everyone to the table. In intelligent wealthy families, in manor estates, tea was served every day in the morning and in the evening. A.S. Pushkin in "Eugene Onegin" describes tea drinking in a landowner's house as follows:
“It was getting dark; on the table, shining,
The evening samovar hissed,
Chinese kettle heating;
Light steam swirled beneath him.
Spilled by Olga's hand,
In cups with a dark stream
Already fragrant tea ran,
And the boy served the cream.

Universal love for tea

Tea parties were also held in tea houses, taverns, which, according to I.T. Kokorev, "no less than in Japan tea houses" (Kokorev I.T. 1986.S.446). These public institutions were places of rest for lonely and poor people, trade deals were concluded there, a peasant who came to the city on business came to have fun and drink tea. Rural taverns and teahouses were full of people during fairs. In Russian literature, many descriptions of tavern tea parties have been preserved: “Let's go into the famous Troitsky or no less glorious Moscow (tavern - I.Sh.). The clever servants, all pure Yaroslavl people, will instantly take off our fur coats, politely indicate where it is more convenient to sit down if we, among the many guests, find it difficult to choose a place, spread a napkin on the red Yaroslavl tablecloth covering the table, and say the usual: “What do you want?” - Of course, tea. Let us admire the dexterity with which the sexual bears in one hand a tray laden with dishes, and in the other two teapots ... Everywhere you hear the almost exclusive demand for tea, the clinking of cups; you see how people scurry back and forth, how some visitors are replaced by others, thirsty, like them, for tea drinking, and how the sexual ones barely have time to satisfy their requirements: in a word, there is “no salvation” here without tea (Kokorev I.T. 1986, p. 448 ).

What did the traditions of tea drinking mean for Russian people?

Russian people believed that joint tea drinking maintains love and friendship between family members, strengthens family and friendly ties, and a samovar boiling on the table creates an atmosphere of comfort, prosperity and happiness: “here the samovar starts its usual song in different voices. It will either drag it with the rattling voice of a spree old man, then a piercing treble will suffice, then it will take a soft tenor, rise from it to a loud basso - cantante and suddenly descend into a melodious mezzo-soprano, fall silent for a minute, as if thinking about something, and fill up again with a ringing song, now joyful, now mournful. What is the meaning behind it?" (Kokorev I.T. 1986.S. 493).

According to the materials of the Russian Ethnographic Museum

Tea is a unique drink that warmed our ancestors on long winter evenings, "cooled" on a stuffy summer evening on an open veranda, gathered guests, friends and the whole family at a common table. Tea came to Russia by land from China and neighboring eastern countries, our ancestors knew and drank only two varieties of tea: yellow and green, sugar was not added to it. Maybe that’s why women didn’t drink it for a long time, because after such traditional Russian drinks as sbiten and honey, which have a sweetish aftertaste, the tea seemed tart and unusually bitter.

Gift of the East to the Russian people

(Kustodiev "Merchant")

According to official data, in the 16th century, tea was brought to Russia by envoys from the East as expensive gifts, in the 70s of the 16th century, two Cossack chieftains who visited China and tasted this wonderful drink there, brought some precious yellow tea as a gift to the Russian Tsar . Later, in the 17th century, ambassadors began to bring gifts to the tsar in the form of several tens of kilograms of tea, gradually this drink, which was appreciated for its ability to give vivacity and fight drowsiness, spread throughout the Russian state and reached Siberia. At first it was drunk in the royal mansions: the tsar himself, the boyars and their entourage, then he "reached" the wealthy noble and boyar houses, and by the 19th century became a ubiquitous and affordable drink for all categories of the population of that time. In the middle of the 19th century, there were about a thousand specialized shops selling tea in Moscow, it was then that the common expression “chasing teas” appeared, which showed how much the Russian people were addicted to this occupation. Then, throughout Russia, tea establishments began to open everywhere, where they drank tea at a large common table, shared thoughts and news, and had unhurried, sedate conversations. Already by the 20th century, Russia occupied one of the first places in the world in the use of this amazing invigorating and tonic drink from tea leaves.

(Kustodiev "Tavernkeeper")

The spread of this drink gave impetus to the development of related industries. It was thanks to the expansion of tea consumption that the production of Tula samovars, which were previously used for making sbitnya, began to grow, Russian porcelain, which was ideally suited for tea ceremonies, gained wide popularity and popularity. The samovar, as well as porcelain sets, have been preserved in the history of our country as an integral part of the traditional Russian tea drinking.

Russian traditions of tea drinking

(Peasant tea party: Stozharov "At the samovar")

After tea became a part of the life of a Russian person, the process of tea drinking took an important place in public life. For more than 300 years, not a single family holiday, friendly meeting or gathering has passed without it, over tea they share opinions, argue, discuss business issues and just have a good time with friends and family.

For a long time the appearance of tea in Russia and its wide distribution from Moscow to Siberia, certain tea traditions with unique features, subtleties and nuances have been established.

(Noble tea party: Korovin "At the tea table")

For the tea party, which was usually held in family circle, the table was covered with a tablecloth, a samovar was placed in its middle, which was pot-bellied, hot and shiny, it was regularly cleaned and its “health” was taken care of, it was considered a symbol of comfort and home warmth, a real “owner” of the house. In addition to the samovar, there was a teapot on the table, which was usually wrapped in a heating pad called “a woman on a teapot”, it could be made in the form of a colorful Russian beauty, a fairy-tale character or a nesting doll.

(Moscow intelligentsia: Makovsky "Morning tea")

A faience or porcelain service was put up on the table, each participant in the tea party was assigned a cup and saucer. Previously, in taverns, tea was served in glass cups with coasters (so as not to burn your fingers), hence another tradition, which is considered primordially Russian, to drink tea from glasses.

The rich decoration of the table was also obligatory, various sweets, pastries, jams, lumps of sugar and other goodies were served with tea, it was assumed that the guest should not leave hungry after tea, here the usual Russian sense of hospitality worked, obliging to feed the guest “from the stomach”.

(Tea drinking from the heart: Kustodiev "Carriers")

Tea drinking was a long, lengthy event, during which six or seven cups of tea were drunk, while at the Russian tea table it was not supposed to maintain staunch silence, as is customary among the Chinese and Japanese, or to conduct prim aristocratic conversations, as in England. The main attribute of the Russian tea ceremony at all times was the presence of a warm and sincere atmosphere, long, unhurried heart-to-heart conversations, it was believed that tea could warm not only the human body, but also his soul.

(Tea drinking in the USSR: Bayuskin "At dinner")

Tea traditions in Russia were of great importance for all segments of the population of this vast country, this can be judged by their division into separate subcultures of tea drinking: noble, merchant, philistine and common people. For a merchant's tea party, for example, it was obligatory to have a rich treat, for a philistine tea party - a cultural program. It was thanks to the petty-bourgeois traditions of tea drinking that a new genre in music appeared - the Russian romance.

Russian tea drinking history and traditions. Tea traditions of different countries

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— Tibet —

— India —

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- Russia -

— China —

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— Japan —

— Pakistan —

- Great Britain -

- New Zealand -

— Iran —

— Malaysia —