pyramid tea bag packaging machine in Russia market

In terms of tea varieties, Chinese people like to drink green tea, while Russians love black tea. Interestingly, black tea in Russian is "чёрный чай", which literally means "black tea". There seems to be a logical reason why it is called "black tea": first, black tea is black when not soaked in water, and second, Russians like to drink strong tea, and strong black tea is also black; in terms of the taste of tea, Russians prefer to drink sweet tea, and are accustomed to adding sugar, lemon slices, and sometimes milk when drinking black tea; therefore, in Russian tea culture, sugar and tea are inseparable, and people use Спасибо за чай-сахар (literally translated as thank you for the sweet tea) is used to express gratitude for the host's warm hospitality. From the specific way of drinking tea, Russians have three ways to drink sweet tea: one is to put sugar into the tea, stir it with a spoon and drink it; the second is to bite off a small piece of sugar and hold it in your mouth to drink tea; the third is to drink tea while looking at the sugar, neither putting the sugar in the tea nor holding it in your mouth, but looking at or thinking about the sugar. The first way is the most common, the second way is mostly accepted by the elderly and farmers, and the third way actually often refers to the situation where there is no sugar. The tea drinker thinks about the sugar in his mind while tasting the tea. As a result, he seems to taste the sweetness in the tea, which is a bit like "looking at the plum to quench thirst".

Tea drinking method

It is worth mentioning that Russians also like to drink a kind of sweet tea with honey instead of sugar - чай с мёдом. In the countryside of Russia, people like to pour tea into a small saucer instead of a tea bowl or cup. They hold the saucer with their palms flat, put a mouthful of honey into their mouths with a tea spoon, and then put their mouths against the edge of the saucer, sucking the tea mouthful by mouthful with a sound. The face of the tea drinker is flushed by the hot steam of the tea, revealing incomparable happiness and satisfaction. This way of drinking tea is called "drinking tea with a saucer" in Russian. Sometimes homemade jam is used instead of honey. The way of drinking is the same as tea with honey. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this was a way of drinking tea that people in the countryside of Russia were more respectful of.

The connotation of tea culture

Russians attach great importance to tea drinking, and often give tea drinking more cultural connotations, thus making the word "tea" (чай) in Russian have more meanings; Russians often use пригласить (звать) на чай (на чашку чая) (please come and have a cup of tea) to invite friends to be guests, which is also the best way to show friendship and sincerity to the other party; in addition, in the old days, Russians had the habit of tipping after drinking tea, which is called "давать на чай" in Russian. Later, this Russian expression was transferred to mean "paying a tip" in any occasion.