A teaspoon per hour. Value per hour per teaspoon in a reference book on phraseology How different classes drank tea

The Russian tea tradition, they say, is unlike any other.

The official history of tea drinking in Russia dates back to 1638. According to legend, the Mongol Khan sent Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich four pounds of tea leaves as a gift. The wonderful drink was enjoyed at the court of the Russian sovereign. In 1655, the court physician cured Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the father of the future Emperor Peter I, with tea infusion from a stomach illness. And in 1679, the Russian ambassador Golovin managed to negotiate with the Beijing court about the passage of Russian tea caravans.

The widespread distribution of tea already at the beginning of the 19th century led to the emergence of a unique and colorful tea drinking ritual in Rus'. Since good tea in those days was not cheap, it was very important, in addition to the ability to brew delicious tea, to also serve it. In Russia, from the 16th to the mid-19th centuries, they drank exclusively Chinese tea. And in terms of the total volume of import and consumption of tea, the inhabitants of the Russian Empire drank even the British by 1844...

Since 1885, the first tea plantations appeared in Russia - due to climatic conditions in the southernmost regions of the Empire - in Georgian Adjara, and then in Azerbaijan, in the south of the present Krasnodar Territory and in the regions of Transcaucasia. Now in Russia, tea is grown only in the Krasnodar Territory, but 95% of Russians consume it, so it is approximately 1-1.2 kg per capita. in year.

On tea plantations...
...In Moscow, a pound of green tea cost 12 rubles, and the same amount of black tea cost a little more than 2 rubles. This could not but affect the attitude towards green tea; it was forced out of the markets of the European part of the Russian Empire. The habit of drinking only black tea subsequently prevented the spread of green tea. A hundred years later no one knew him anymore.

Moscow was the trendsetter in tea consumption.
Nowhere else did they drink tea like in Moscow. Until the mid-19th century, Moscow consumed up to 60% of the tea imported into Russia. There was an expression “Muscovites-tea-drinkers”, although among Ukrainians and Cossacks they said disparagingly: “Muscovites-water-drinkers”. The fact is that in these regions, even in the 19th century, they knew about tea only by hearsay and identified it simply with drinking water. “Is there at least one similar city on the globe in which tea plays such an important role as in Moscow”? - N. Polyakov once asked.

A.I. Vyurkov left a wonderful description of Moscow tea drinking in the last century in his work “Family Friend”: “Muscovites drank tea in the morning, at noon, and always at four o’clock. At this time in Moscow, samovars were boiling in every house. The teahouses and taverns were full, and life came to a standstill for a while. We drank it in the evening; drank when sad; They drank because they had nothing to do, and “just because.”

They drank it with milk, with lemon, with jam, and most importantly - with pleasure, and the Muscovite loved the tea strong, infused and hot, so that it burned his lips. The Muscovite delicately refused liquid tea, “through which you can see Moscow,” and could not stand drinking it from a teapot...

If a Muscovite, after drinking a dozen glasses, put the glass aside, this did not mean that he was drunk: this was how he took a break. But when he turned the glass upside down, put the rest of the sugar on it and thanked him, it meant that the tea party was over and no amount of persuasion would help. During tea drinking, the Muscovite carefully watched as tea was poured for him. If the glass was not filled to the top, the guest immediately asked to top it up so that life would be fuller. If the samovar, crackling its coals, “sang songs,” the superstitious Muscovite rejoiced: this is for good.


If, with the coals burning, the samovar suddenly began to whistle for no apparent reason, the Muscovite would frightenedly grab the lid, cover the samovar with it, and begin to shake. Having drowned out the whistle in this way, the Muscovite spent a long time afterwards in anxiety and anticipation of all sorts of troubles. It was considered the worst omen if the samovar broke down. In this case, be sure to expect trouble.”

Tea was popular everywhere. Among the merchants, tea drinking was carried out on a special scale. The merchants spent long hours at the tea table and sometimes drank twenty cups (“merchant tea”).


And here’s how, for example, the famous Kustodievskaya “Merchant’s Wife” could drink tea: with sweet cherry, strawberry, apple jam, with honey or with a piece of crushed sugar. She spread the jam on bread or ate it with a spoon from a saucer. Sugar in the 19th century was completely different from the current one, scattered. It was unclarified and in pieces - the owner of the house chopped it off from a large “sugar loaf”, and they drank tea with it “in a bite”. And crushed sugar did not dissolve instantly, but was “long-lasting,” like candy, which helped prolong the pleasure. And, of course, as today, milk, cream or a slice of expensive lemon, and sometimes fruit liqueurs were added to the tea.


In the middle of the 19th century, and not only in Moscow, but in all major cities, tea from large samovars began to be offered to the public in parks and other walking places. Hot tea was an indispensable remedy that eased the hardships of traveling along the roads of Russia.

At post stations, both gentlemen and coachmen were treated to tea, so samovars were placed both in the “clean” half and in the driver’s quarters. In winter, it was not recommended to drink alcoholic beverages on the road, since in severe frosts, intoxication could lead to tragedy, but tea invigorated, warmed, and lifted the mood. But you could drink tea while on the road not only at post stations. For this purpose, a special utensil was used - a road cellar.

It included, as a rule, two cups with saucers, two spoons, a teapot, a teapot with an alcohol lamp, a canister for alcohol, a box for sandwiches, and finally, the cellar itself. Such a chest was widespread in the southern regions of Russia, among steppe landowners who were forced to make long trips.

The appearance of purely Russian establishments that had no analogues abroad—tea houses—dates back to the 19th century. They appeared in rural areas in the Tver province under Alexander II. From the very first days, the teahouses were placed by the government in very special conditions: they had a minimum rent, a very low tax and a “democratic” operating mode. Teahouses had the right to start working at 5 am (when the taverns were still closed). This caused great dissatisfaction among tavern owners, who reproached the authorities for providing tax benefits to tea shops.


Teahouses quickly won the love of working people, especially those living in barracks and hostels, and peasants who came to the market, cab drivers who whiled away the time waiting for riders.

In St. Petersburg, the first teahouse was opened on August 28, 1882. Then they appeared in Moscow and other Russian cities. At first they were opened on the working outskirts, near large industrial enterprises, then they appeared near markets and cab drivers’ stops. As a rule, each teahouse had three rooms (except for the kitchen, dishwasher and utility rooms).


Teahouse owners were allowed to have “music” (gramophone) and billiards. Almost all tea shops had files of newspapers. But they had no right to sell alcoholic beverages. Boiling water was only allowed to be served in samovars. Tea was served with milk, cream, bread, bagels, bagels, butter, and crushed sugar.

This is how, for example, Smolensk local historian A.Ya. describes. Trofimov is one of the city teahouses of the end of the last century, which was maintained by the society for the care of people's sobriety. “It was a one-story wooden structure up to 25 meters in length: two halls, a kitchen, where cooks prepared light snacks - pancakes, scrambled eggs, meat and fish dishes.

The Russian invention of the samovar also appeared (although the “prototype” of such a samovar itself was brought to Russia from China). Rich merchant families kept several samovars of different shapes and sizes and metal teapots.


There were thermos teapots in which hot coals were placed so that the water did not cool down. The samovar was the pride of the family and was considered the heart of the house. Often he personified the wealth, taste and social status of the owner.

Since the end of the 18th century, Tula gunsmiths began to make samovars. In the 19th century, samovars became an item of mass consumption, but even at the beginning of the 20th century they were still considered a rather expensive acquisition and were passed on from generation to generation. Usually samovars were made of copper, but there were also expensive silver ones. The design of the samovar consists of 12 elements; it was heated with wood or hot coals. In addition to efficiency and beauty, samovars were valued for their “musicality.” Before boiling, this device began to “sing”, and its “song” gave special comfort and intimacy to the tea table.

... Since ancient times, our taverns and teahouses were not only drinking establishments, but also original people's offices. Here, for a moderate, or even a meager fee, they could draw up a petition, a complaint, or any piece of paper. And former minor employees of public places “served” as clerks in taverns and teahouses... In the evenings in this “clerks’” hall they showed “foggy pictures” to the audience through a projection lamp, charging 1-3 kopecks for entry...

In the 19th century, Russians developed their own tea drinking ritual and their own recipes for making tea. The custom of drinking tea with sugar with a bite or, as they said then, “with remorse” came from Siberia.


The so-called “sugar loaves”...

So what is Russian tea drinking? This is, first of all, a spiritual procedure. In V. Dahl’s “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Russian Language,” the verb “tea” means “to hang out over tea, drink it in the wild.” And of course, only a Russian person could describe the teapot so colorfully in his riddle:

There is a bathhouse in the belly,
There is a sieve in the nose,
On the head there is a navel,
Just one hand
And she’s on her back.

In Russian tea drinking, company is most important. Perhaps it is this unconscious joy from the fact that good people are sitting at the table, that the conversation is flowing peacefully and sedately, and that in general there is such an opportunity - to break away from the bustle for an hour or two, forget about all matters and just drink tea - that is exactly what it is. the most important part of Russian tea drinking.


Respectable merchants, drinking hot tea after a bath, had the habit of stroking their stomachs in different directions, which meant that the tea went to their liking, along all their veins.

The production and packaging of tea expanded.

...Among the most famous tea partnerships in Russia, Vysotsky and Co., S. Perlov, Pyotr Botkin, Caravan (T.D. Vogaz and Co.), Brothers K. and S. Popov stood out ", "Vasily Perlov" and many others. The history of the Perlovs’ “tea empire” began in 1787.

In 1895, according to the design of the architect K. K. Gippius, the facade and interior of the house were decorated in Chinese style. This decoration of the building was carried out in connection with the arrival of the regent of the young Chinese Emperor Li Hung-Chang in Moscow for the coronation of Nicholas II. As soon as it became known that Lee Hung-Chang would be staying in the house of the tea merchant Perlov, a decision was made to remodel the facade of the house and the interior of the store in the Chinese style. The store on Myasnitskaya still retains the Perlov style...




Well, speaking about the traditions of tea drinking, it is simply impossible not to mention the following: long after the appearance of imported tea, in Russia they drank the so-called “Koporie tea”, named after the place of its first appearance in the town of Koporye...

In the summer, the well-known Ivan tea or fireweed (lat. Epilobium) blooms throughout Russia.

In its composition, Ivan tea is very close to Chinese tea leaves: it contains iron, nickel, copper, boron, titanium, manganese, vitamin C, due to which Koporye tea helps improve immunity, digestion, hematopoiesis, relieves headaches, nervous tension, and helps with insomnia. In the old days, a medicinal drink similar to tea was made from its leaves, and even “Russian tea” was widely exported from, as they said then, Muscovy to Europe, where even the British liked it. But with the advent of “overseas tea” as a result of powerful competition with the East India Tea Company, mass production of Koporye tea in Russia practically ceased.

• Introduction, brief history of tea and tea culture in ancient China from the 3rd millennium BC.
• The main events that influenced the development, change and spread of the drink.
• The essence of the tea ceremony. The right approach to the perception of tea. Principles and basics of opening tea leaves. Water.
• Object medium and its correct use in the tea ceremony: dishes and tea utensils. Yixing clay, Jingdezhen porcelain.
• Criteria for systematization and identification of varieties, the most common in the world of tea classification.

Lesson 2 – Puer

• Basics of professional tea tea testing
• Pu-erh: history of appearance, production technology, main places of production, differences between types and varieties, legends, preferred containers and brewing options
• Lecture and tasting using gaiwan (pin-cha tea ceremony) using the Tea Color simulator and the “wheel of aromas”.

Lesson 3 – Red teas

• Red tea: history of appearance, production technology, main places of production, famous varieties, differences between varieties, legends, preferred containers and brewing options.

Lesson 4 – Green Teas

• Green tea: History, production technology, main places of production, famous varieties, differences between varieties, legends, preferred containers and brewing options.
• Lecture and tasting of the method of preparing tea using gaiwan (pin-cha tea ceremony) using the Tea Color simulator and the “wheel of aromas”.

Lesson 5 - Oolong

• Oolongs: history of appearance, production technology, main places of production, famous varieties, differences between varieties, legends, preferred containers and brewing options.
• Lecture and tasting of the method of preparing tea in the ceremony of gong fu cha (highest tea skill) using the Tea Color color simulator and the “wheel of aromas”.

Lesson 6 – White, Yellow and Black tea

• White and yellow and black teas: history of appearance, production technology, main places of production, famous varieties, differences between varieties, legends, preferred containers and brewing options.
• Lecture and tasting of the method of preparing tea using gaiwan (pin-cha tea ceremony) using the Tea Color simulator and the “wheel of aromas”.

Lesson 7 – water, tools, tea conversation, properties of tea

• Preparing dishes for the ceremony, caring for tea utensils
• Theory and practice of different ways of brewing tea.
• Biochemistry of tea: tea leaf substances and their effects on the body. Tea as a medicine from the point of view of Chinese medicine, 10 prohibitions on tea, simple tips on the correct use of tea. Rules for storing tea at home
• Non-tea teas: flowers, additives, combinations. Tea mixology, tea aromatization and blending.
• Exam for theoretical and practical mastery of the information received and brewing tea using the Pin Cha method.

Surprisingly, a completely secular phraseology with the meaning of “indulging in something uncontrollably”, “acting decisively and recklessly” came to us from the church. Large and heavy bells were called heavy, therefore, when they struck all the heavy bells (in the original Old Slavonic version - “all the heavy”), a very loud sound was obtained. Gradually, the expression “to go all out” was transformed into “to hit”, and later “to go all out” and acquired a modern meaning.

In (after) an hour, a teaspoon

Once upon a time, the pharmacist wrote by hand directly on the bottles of medicines how to use medicines. This phrase is one such recipe. Now, a teaspoon per hour - very slowly, hesitantly, with stops - you can do whatever you want. Why exactly this dosage has taken root, history is silent.

Cheap and cheerful

It is widely believed that the word “angry” has a common root with the word “heart”, so a cheap but angry gift is a gift at a modest price, but from the heart. The phraseological dictionary gives a different interpretation. The adjective “angry” used to describe items of “good quality, with a high price.” Therefore, this word gives the catchphrase the meaning of “inexpensive, but suitable for its purpose.”

How to give something to drink

When we are absolutely convinced of something, for example, that an event will happen, we can say: “I hope it will happen.” Where does this confidence come from and what does this have to do with drinks? The fact is that previously a tired traveler could knock on any house and ask for water. The owners always fulfilled this request.

To the fullest extent

Whether it's to live, celebrate or have fun, doing something to the fullest means giving it your all. Also, when fishermen are especially trying to catch a fish, they throw out the hook along the entire length of the fishing line wrapped around the reel on the fishing rod. The expression came from this analogy.

On a grand scale

The turnover appeared with the light hand (or rather, the foot) of English King Henry II. A growth suddenly formed on the monarch’s thumb, which he could not get rid of using medical methods. Then he ordered himself special shoes - long, with toes turned up. The courtiers decided that this was a new fashion, and also stocked up on similar shoes. The new shoes became so popular that they entailed legal restrictions on the length of socks: for ordinary citizens - no more than half a foot, for knights and barons - one, and for counts - two. Thus, shoe size became an indicator of a person's wealth.

Slurping unsalted

This is exactly how many Russian folk tales end, the heroes of which do not achieve their goal or do not receive satisfaction from the outcome of the matter. The expression is associated with the peculiarities of life in Rus'. At that time, salt was worth its weight in gold, so it was only put in dishes for dear or important guests. Ordinary people left after tasting only bland food.

For beautiful eyes (for beautiful eyes)

Nowadays this expression is usually addressed to beautiful ladies, to whom you can forgive a lot without demanding anything in return. However, initially it was about the eyes of men - the heroes of the comedy Jean-Baptiste Moliere"Funny primps." Rejected by the mannered beauties, the admirers decided to teach the girls a lesson and sent their servants, disguised as nobles, to charm the pretentious girls. At the climax, the would-be suitors burst into the house and revealed the deception. One of them told the girls that if they fell in love with impostors, it would be only for their beautiful eyes.

Down the drain

If someone bitterly announces that the matter has gone down the drain, it means that his efforts were in vain, and he must either accept the result or start the work again. The phraseological unit was borrowed from the speech of draftsmen, who, in case of an error, had to wash out, that is, erase what they had created. It’s interesting that the expression was originally written separately – “for fun.”

After the rain on Thursday

This year it is difficult to imagine a summer without rain. However, in Rus' drought sometimes reached such proportions that the harvest was in danger of being destroyed. In such cases, the peasants prayed to the thunder god Perun and tearfully asked to send them heavenly moisture. The Thunderer, however, used to ignore these appeals. And, since the fourth day of the week was considered dedicated to Perun, the expression “after the rain on Thursday” arose, that is, it is unknown when or never at all.

Right off the bat

This expression, meaning “immediately, without delay” and, in some cases, “without preparation,” has nothing to do with the place where the minerals are mined. We are talking about a very fast running horse, which riders switched to on command during a cavalry attack.

Quietly

During times of active war, prudent city leaders built a system of fortifications around the territories entrusted to them in order to hold out the enemy. No less prudent military leaders hired sappers - those who dug hidden tunnels to these fortifications and then blew them up. Such trenches were called “saps”. Hence the expression “slyly” - on the sly, unnoticeably.

At least henna

The vague “henny” in this phrase comes from the verb “whine” (or “hunt”), which meant to pronounce various kinds of interjections (for example, “hm”, “um”) and nasal sounds. If a person even gives a damn, he is absolutely indifferent to what is happening. At least he would give a voice!

do smb.; take place

Little by little and infrequently; So slow.