Since 1638, tea has had a rich and varied history in Russia and the samovar has become a symbol of hospitality and comfort.<\/p>\n
One of Russia’s most celebrated writers, Alexander Pushkin even highlights the role of tea in establishing romantic relations in his famous work Eugene Onegin:<\/p>\n
Of single boredom, right away
\nThey speak\u2013but in a cunning way.
\nThey call him to their samovar\u2013
\nNone but Dunya will pour the tea;
\nThey whisper to her: “Dunya, see!”
\nAnd then produce her sweet guitar.
\nO Alas! She then begins to cheep:
\n“Come see me in my golden keep!”<\/p>\n
A notable feature of Russia’s sophisticated tea culture is the elaborate brewing process of the country’s de facto national beverage.<\/p>\n
Although the British often claim to be masters of the brew, four out of five British people don\u2019t know how to make their tea correctly, according to a stirring new study.<\/p>\n
Researchers at University College London (UCL) found Britons fail to brew their tea for anything like the required length of time, which they say is up to five minutes.<\/p>\n
Professor of Materials and Society at University College London, Mark Miodownik, told the Telegraph: \u201cWhat frustrates me is the British think they know about tea, but most people have no idea what they are doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously subjective but I feel people are missing out on a drink which could be so much more sophisticated because they don\u2019t wait for the tea to brew long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTea is made of 30,000 different chemicals, it\u2019s a very complex thing and those molecules take time to emerge and influence each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think of all the people who grow and pick these plants in order for you to experience this wonderfully complex drink and at the last minute Brits throw that all away by brewing it badly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miodownik also said if people want a milky drink they should opt for something other than tea.<\/p>\n
The study suggested that the optimum temperature for drinking is around 65C.<\/p>\n
Researchers also attempted to clear up a question which has trouble the British since the dawn of tea: whether to put the milk in first.<\/p>\n
If using a mug, the milk should go in after pouring, researchers opined. To put it in beforehand would interfere with the brewing process.<\/p>\n
In what will come as a great relief to middle class tea drinkers, it is apparently okay to put the milk in first if you are using a teapot.<\/p>\n
The study\u2019s conclusions are among the most controversial on the topic since radical author and journalist George Orwell suggested in his 1946 essay \u201cA Nice Cup of Tea\u201d that the drink should be supped without sugar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Since 1638, tea has had a rich and varied history in Russia and the samovar has become a symbol of hospitality and comfort. One of Russia’s most celebrated writers, Alexander Pushkin even highlights the role of tea in establishing romantic relations in his famous work Eugene Onegin: Of single boredom, right away They speak\u2013but in … Continue reading “Some stirring remarks on British tea”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2961,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,3],"tags":[11225,11227,11224,11223,11226],"class_list":["post-18068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-news","tag-brew","tag-samovar","tag-stirring","tag-tea","tag-teabags"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2961"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18068"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18078,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18068\/revisions\/18078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}