Tea is usually served black in Russia, with preserves. You can add milk or cream if you like. Also completely optional, but not inappropriate, is a bit of vodka, brandy, or rum.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 4 servings
Ingredients
5 rounded teaspoons (or tea bags) of good black tea, like Assam, Darjeeling, or Keemun (or English Breakfast tea)
Fruit preserves, such as strawberry, raspberry, cherry, lingonberry, or black currant
Sugar, optional
Small wedges or thin slices of lemon, optional
Preparation
Step 1
Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Heat a teapot by rinsing it with a little of the hot water. Combine 1 quart water and the tea in the teapot and steep for 3 to 5 minutes.
Step 2
Strain the tea into preheated cups and stir in the preserves, usually a couple of tablespoons per cup. Add sugar to taste and a piece of lemon if you like; serve.
The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.
MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.
