Brewing tea Russian-style, with a samovar (RT TV)
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- Any Russian's best friend. No, not a person, but in the past that's how the Russians treated their samovar. It had a place of honor at the table, and in some homes it still does.
SOUNDBITE Konstantin Ziskin, samovar enthusiast, speaking Russian: "Tea from a samovar tastes much better than tea from an electric kettle. It smells of smoke, fresh wood and pine cones."
Literally a self-boiler, a samovar has traditionally been used to heat water for tea. And that's how it's done the old way: water from the well, wood chips and a lot of huffing and puffing make up the recipe for a perfect tea time.
SOUNDBITE Konstantin Ziskin, samovar enthusiast, speaking Russian: "God, you are so heavy."
A teapot filled with brew, or zavarka in Russian, goes on top to stay warm. You then dilute the brew with hot water for just your cup of tea.
SOUNDBITE Konstantin Ziskin, samovar enthusiast, speaking Russian: "This all disposes to drinking a tea like the merchants did. This saucer is not right, but there is a special one for tea drinking. And the merchants usually drank tea, holding the saucer on three fingers."
And the Russians loved their samovars. More than just a water-boiling device, it was a symbol of home, bringing friends and family together. A small samovar meant for just one person was even dubbed "selfish". Tea time was very much a social thing.
PTC:
If relatives or friends weren't speaking to each other for some reason, they'd meet for tea to make up and used their samovar as a mediator. They'd actually talk to it, asking to pass on their message. Dear samovar, please, tell my cameraman to stop sulking because we are almost done and we will be going home soon. -- Ha, dear samovar, please tell Svetlana that I'm very happy about it.
The first Russian samovar was made in the 18th century and soon people throughout the country couldn't imagine living without it. Samovar competitions became all the rage -- the biggest ones usually won.
Many samovars perished during World War II, melted into bullets by order of Stalin. But a lot of them survived. And if they're lucky they can even get a new life. In his workshop, Valery Shakhray, a samovar restorer, collects old samovars and restores them to their former glory. A completely restored samovar will set you back some $2,000. But for him, it's more than just business:
SOUNDBITE Valery Shakhray, samovar restorer, speaking Russian: "If you take a good look at it, you'll notice: each samovar has a story to tell -- a story not just about someone who used it a hundred years ago, but a story of someone who made it. Just like people, they're all different."
And whether they're used purely for decoration or actual tea-making, samovars have firmly become part of Russian exotica.
Barack Obama was treated to a cup of tea from a samovar, kindled in a traditional way -- with a jackboot.
And it's no surprise that samovars are a permanent fixture in souvenir shops.
SOUNDBITE shop assistant, souvenir shop, speaking English: "It will be in different shape, like this or bigger shape, or smaller shape, it will be painted in different style, like we have different traditional colors."
A Russian writer once said that while in Europe it's hard to imagine a home without a fireplace, in Russia it's hard to imaging a home without a samovar. Not every Russian home now has one. But you can hardly find a taste more Russian than a cup of tea brewed in a samovar.
Copyright 2011 RT TV
RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a government-funded global multilingual television news network based in the Russian Federation. It was founded in 2005 as Russia Today by the government-owned RIA Novosti.
I'm glad RT did a video about the Samovar, by chance I watch their news often and have been wanting a Samovar for around the same time as I'm a big tea drinker.
So informative.
Such a Beautiful thing.
Beautiful tradition and beautiful Samovars!
Remember and respect the old ways.
Sorry, no
I always see it on my daughter's favorite cartoon, Masha And The Bear.
Thanks good video 🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷
Oh, I want one so bad!
I want to go to Russia one day~
You're flying in Tardis ?
Денис Эпов Maybe yes? ;)
I Justin one today
Me too I want to go to Russia so bad!!!!
you wont see this there
"ahh" after every sip is a must! 😂
I'm english,and i use my electric samovar every evening. It lives on my bedside table. It doesnt have an off switch so i have to unplug it when it boils.
i'm from kurdistan people here use to my old grandpa had a golden samavar its 120 years old
I'm Polish, and my family also used a traditional samovar .. my mother still has one, but the thing is verrry old .. she keeps it on display in her kitchen D:
yay i am not t h e only non russian to have used a samovar
yea, it Slavic thing
@@konstantinscheglikov9466post soviet I must say because we caucasians use samovar as well.
very fascinating
My grandma used to pour her tea into a saucer as well. I always thought that it was just her being weird. Didn’t realize it was a cultural thing.
Tolstoy's novel, "The Cossacks" chapter XXIV brought me here. The samovar is a beautiful and functional art piece.
Same thing here, he also mentions the samovar on Anna Karenina (which I'm reading right now)
Génial j'adore l'authenticité et le naturel de ce gars !!
My samovar is electric.
Oh wow I have added this to my wish list!
Very strange the Russians call it samovar as well. I have seen it being used in our local tea shops and its called a "samavar" here. By the way I was born in Quetta/Pakistan. Just surprised to see how an eastern European/Russian item has managed to travel that far and still retained its pronunciation across a different culture/country.
RAZ MUHAMMAD the word samovar is pretty Russian, its translation is like: "self cooker" or "self boiler"
It is a russian word. "Sam" - self, and "Varit" - to cook.
@@TenorDmitry* "varit'" - to boil
It's great,we have a samovar in Kashmir and brew with samovar is wonderful.… Love it.…
From Russia to India samovar in the «satem» (opposite to the «centum») speaking countries.
I love this way to prepare my tea.
very interesting
very interesting video!
In iraq we used to have it
It was symbol of family time
Of course they were from Russia
Very interesting. I've seen it before, but never knew what it was called. I didn't realize the importance of it to Russian culture.
Thanks for the information.
Wow! My grandfather wasn't Russian but he always drank his tea out of the saucer lol
The forerunners of the modern waterpipes .
I prefer boris to make me tea with samovar
Your profile picture makes this comment really kinky LMAO
Máximo Gorki´s novel, THE MOTHER, brought me here.
Dostoevsky's House of the Dead here!
I can understand the love for brewing a beverage the old school way.
I have an 1950s Cory vacuum coffee pot. It is heated on the stovetop. The coffee tastes so much better than the machine made ones.
Nice
*Me:* I want Mono-Audio!
*Her:* I want Stereo-Audio!
*Samovar:* We use Stereo-Audio, but made as mono sound where each ear has a different audiostrip!
Samovar Is a Interesting
Thank you Russia .....👍👍👍
well water in russia is better than the rest of the world
so after you get the fire going, you can bring inside the house? I didnt know that, is the coal still burning inside the samovar when its in the house? I have a newer coal/wood turkish samovar that I use for camping and picnic.
They look very top heavy. Do they ever topple over.?
Incredible. 😍
And it would seem Samovar has brought me to Tolstoy's "The Cossacks"!.. What version are you reading? I assume in english hopefully as my russian is very limited.
Alot of russian literature converted to english i've noticed while the story is carried over, the translation is often poor or even neglected.. I looked on amazon and in 30 seconds of scrolling and reading I noticed in chapter 1..
"...they stepped into the porch." - "Oh, by the by,said the traveller," by the by..? by the way is ment?'
Who's here because of Dostoyevsky?🙂
I drank chai from samovar.
daniel.
What happened to the sound? I can not hear the translation?
Orders for distribution/sale in Nigeria
Notice the (possible) Chinese samovar seller in the end?
Russia has many native asian ethnic minorities, mainly: Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Yakuts, Buryats, Tuvans, Kalmyks and some Tatars (they mostly look like mixes of Caucassians and Asians). Many ethnicities from the former Soviet Union. And tens of not hundreds of other minorities in the north of Siberia and Russian far East. The woman does not look like Han chinese.
باسلام،لطفا،سماورهایی بسازیدکه نیترات آب راهم جداکنند؛باسپاس😊😊
Samovar is for rich man
300 euros not 2000 euro
wtf is prof Xavier doing, brewing tea in Mother Russia... Instead of fighting crime...
In soviet Russia tea drinks you
السماور وصخ
Watch out for the chinese copycats.
The gopnik way
u have stolen 2 minutes from my life
Nice