How to Make Tea in a Samovar

A samovar is a metal urn used to brew tea in Russia. If you have one of these devices, you can brew your own cup of Russian tea. All you need to do is heat the water, create a concentrated tea brew and serve.

Things You'll Need

• Outlet adapter
• Tea pot
• Loose tea
• Tea cups
• Lemon (optional)
• Honey (optional)
• Sugar (optional)

Instructions

1. Attach an outlet adapter to the large round prongs at the end of the samovar cord, if your samovar was purchased in Russia. Plug the adapter into your standard wall outlet.

2. Fill the samovar with warm or hot water, if possible, and wait for the water to come to a boil, usually about 10 to 15 minutes. You can begin with cool or cold water, if necessary, but it may take longer for the water to boil.

3. Pour ½ cup hot water into a small non-electric tea pot, swish, and allow the water to stand for several minutes before emptying.

4. Add two or three tablespoons of the loose tea of your choice to the teapot. Fill it with boiling water, and allow the mixture to steep for 10 to 15 minutes. This brew will be your tea "concentrate."

5. Fill each teacup ¼ of the way full with the concentrated tea from the tea pot, and then fill the remainder with boiling water from the samovar. Add lemon, honey or sugar.

Tips & Warnings

• Outlet adapters can be found at your local electronics store, and will enable you to plug the device into the wall outlet found in most U.S. homes. The outlet adapter product #273-1406D seems to work well for most Samovars. Ask the clerk at the electronics store if they have this model in stock, or if they are able to order it in for you. Loose tea can be found in specialty tea shops, and many upscale grocery stores. Use any flavor you like, but if you want a real authentic Russian tea, try Kusmi or Caravan tea.