What is a samovar, and how does it work? A samovar is basically a device to cook tea and keep it warm. Originally, samovars were kept going with fuels like coal, charcoal, pine cones, wood and paraffin (some still apply those fuels if, for example at a datcha or on the terrace, there's no electricity available). "Antique" samovars have a fuel chamber with air supply at their bottom from which a tube with a replaceable extension leads the hot exhaust fumes up. The tube is situated at the centre/center of a kettle (with a spigot to supply the tea drinkers with hot water), in which water can be heated and kept just below boiling temperature. First, a tea concentrate is prepared by adding some of the hot water from the kettle to tea leaves in a warm teapot (8 teaspoons black tea of a special samovar blend with moderate tannic acid proportion if available, for one pint of water). Let draw for 2-5 minutes (like "normal" tea, depending on whether you want stimulating or soothing tea) and sieve it. Meanwhile the tube extension is replaced by the "komfort", a rosette-shaped extension to hold the teapot which then is warmed by the exhaust fumes too. If you or any of your guests want to have a cup of tea, pour some of the concentrate from the teapot into a tea glass or cup and dilute with hot water from the samovar according to taste; usually it's 2-3 times the volume of the concentrate. History of the samovar and of the Russian tea drinking tradition In the year 1638, Russian Tsar Michael Fyodorovitch sent valuable sable furs to the Mongolian khan Altyn and got 4 pud (about 33 pounds) of tea in return. At the Tsar's court, nobody knew what to do with those weird leaves, and the Tsar felt somewhat offended. The khan sent one of his cooks to the Tsar and so enabled the Russians to learn how to prepare tea. Tea was soon getting rather fashionable, but during a long period only the nobility and rich citizens could afford to buy it. One of the reasons for the high price was the long, hard and exhausting route camel caravans had to cope with transporting tea from China through mountains and deserts to Moscow. The "Caravan Blend" with its smoky taste still makes us dream of those times. "Sbiten" was a well-liked hot drink in those times, hot water mixed with honey and gingerbread spices. The sbiten street sellers used a device called "sbitennik" to keep the sbiten warm, a kettle with an integrated tube for hot coal or wood pieces. Tsar Peter The Great had given the privilege to mine ores and process them to some Ural towns. That's why the sbitenniks are originally from the Ural region. One of those privileged towns, Suksun, was situated on the (tea) trading route from China to Moscow. Of course tea was consumed there and Suksun traders and inn keepers encouraged the workers from the local factory to construct a device to keep tea warm. The workers and engineers made structural alterations to the sbitennik changing the size, adding a spigot and optimizing the heating system. The samovar (in Russian: "Self Boiler") was born. It has original spigot key.