Rus: Tea (Chai): Social, Medicinal & Family Beverage
By: Dr. Donald Houston
Tea is used as a beverage as well as a medicinal in the Rus. It is a social as well as a cuisinal offering to the palate and the psyche. "Nothing is as relaxing as a good glass of hot tea!" is a saying that is echoed by all the "babushkas" of the Rus.
In Russia, indeed all of the Rus, there is a beverage that is looked upon as a mainstay of society. The rich, the poor, the old aristocracy, the peasants, the boyars, the Cossacks and the clergy all enjoyed tea. Tea originally came to what is now southern Russia, Ukraine and the Trans-Caucasus area by way of the ancient Silk Road caravans out of China or as it was known then, Khitai, Chin or Sung.
Initially we need to know what tea truly is and how it is produced. The modern term "tea" derives from early Chinese dialect words, such as T'chai, Cha, T'uan ,Tay are used both to describe the beverage as well as the leaf. Chai is the word used in the Rus to designate and denote tea.
The Camellia sinensis is actually the plant from which, tea is derived. It is an evergreen plant of the Camellia family. It has smooth, shiny, pointed, leaves that look similar to the privet hedge leaf found in British gardens.
Tea history actually began in ancient China some 5,000 plus years ago. According to legend Shen Nung, an early emperor, was a great & skilled ruler, a creative scientist as well as patron of the arts. It was his far-sighted edicts that required, among other things, that all drinking water had to be boiled as a hygienic precaution. On a summer day while visiting a distant section of his realm, he and his court stopped to rest. By his ruling, servants began boiling water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from a near by bush fell into the boiling water, and a brownish colored liquid was infused into the water. Being a scientist, the Emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some and found it very refreshing. Thus, according to this legend, tea was created. Tea consumption spread throughout the Chinese culture reaching into every aspect of the society.
Supposedly tea was brought to Europe by the Portuguese Father Jasper de Cruz, SJ, in 1560. Portugal, with her superior navy, had been successful in gaining the first right of trade with China. They were many centuries behind however. Wherever the Mongols went they brought their tea with them. They too were behind the times in the history of tea. Caravan traders who traversed the Silk Road from China to ancient Rome, Egypt, India and points all along the Silk Road caravan routes brought tea with them both as a beverage as well as a medicinal. Tea was originally carried about in the form of dried leaves. Sometime around 2000 BC it was wet, pressed into a wooden form & dried in large brick tea-kilns. Common grades of China and Japan tea mixed with stalk and dust and molded into bricks under high pressure. Originally, these bricks were "bricks' were carried and even used in lieu of currency as a trade medium especially by caravan traders. The brick shape was altered sometime around 900 AD into what is still sold today in many parts of the world. It is a rectangular approx. 20 cm x 40 cm x 3 cm. The tea is simply broken off or cut off the plaque in small pieces and boiled in water.
Samovars are what the peoples of the Rus use to make & serve tea, better known as chai. These interesting utensils were also brought to the Rus by the Silk Road caravan traders & the Mongols. Tribal groups such as Khazars,Pechenegs Sarmites, Kazakhs,Bulgars, Magyars, Huns, Goths, Serbs, & other Europeans were drinking tea. Tea actually made it to England at the time of Elizabeth I.
Within the Rus, (Ukraine, Russiaa & Belorus), Georgia and other areas such as Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Armenia and other countries of Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, & the Middle East, tea is a social as well as a culinary beverage and as a medicina
Rus peoples enjoy sharing gossip, discussing politics, current events, swapping stories and generally relaxing with their families, friends and colleagues around a samovar or glasses of tea. Yes...glasses of tea. Tea is served in stekans, which are held in metal stekaniki. This keeps one from burning their hand on a hot glass of tea. Tea is usually served with small cakes, tortes, fresh fruit, cheeses, black bread and sweetened with beet-sugar, honey or birch syrup. It is a truly great way to relax, decompress, & allow stress to ebb away from you. Families always discussed family business and gossip over stekans of tea.
From a medical standpoint tea is an excellent medium to carry medicinal-herbal elements into your digestive system. A recent study has revealed that drinking tea daily may boost your natural immune response. Tea contains a substance, L-theanine, which appears to boost the body's defense against bacterial infections. Black, green and oolong teas all have the immune-boosting chemical in varying levels.
Compresses of boiled tea leaves, or now in modern times, freshly boiled tea bags, have been used for centuries for their astringent properties that help staunch bleeding. They have and still are often used to soothe burns and insect bites. Because the tea has been boiled the water and the tea is sterile and thus combined with the natural antibiotic agents found in the tea act to assist with healing wounds and burns.
Tea is a well-rounded social custom as well as a beverage in the Rus. Folk within the Rus look forward with a sense of joyful anticipation to their various tea breaks at work, at school or at home. In business tea is always offered to guests and visitors. in many commercial enterprises it is offered to customers as a normal part of the selling process. This is truly a something to be shared and experienced by anyone visiting the Rus.
