with a hint of smoky Lapsang Souchong or Tarry Souchong." Brewing A notable feature of Russian tea culture is the two-step brewing process. First, tea concentrate called zavarka (Russian: заварка) is prepared: a quantity of dry tea sufficient for several persons is brewed in a small teapot. Then, each person pours some quantity of this concentrate into the cup and mixes it with hot water; thus, one can make one's tea as strong as one wants, according to one's taste. Sugar, lemon, honey or jam can then be added freely. Tea culture According to William Pokhlyobkin, tea in Russia was not regarded as a self-dependent beverage; thus, even the affluent classes adorned it with a jam, syrup, cakes, cookies, candies, lemon and other sweets. This is similar to the archaic idiom "чай да сахар" (tea and sugar, translit. ). The Russian language utilizes some memes pertaining to tea consumption, including "чайку-с?" ("some tea?" in an archaic manner, translit. ), used by the pre-Revolutionary attendants. The others are "гонять чаи" (chase the teas, i.e. drinking the tea for overly prolonged periods; translit. ) and "побаловаться чайком" (indulging in tea, translit. ). Tea was made a significant element of cultural life by the literati of the Karamzinian circle. By the mid-19th century tea had won over the town class, the merchants and the petty bourgeoisie. This is reflected in the dramas of Alexander Ostrovsky. Since Ostrovsky's time, the duration of time and the amount of tea consumed have appreciated. Alexander Pushkin in Eugene Onegin displayed the role of tea in establishing romantic relations: Of single boredom, right away They speak–but in a cunning way. They call him to their samovar– None but Dunya will pour the tea; They whisper to her: "Dunya, see!" And then produce her sweet guitar. O Christ! She then begins to cheep: "Come see me in my golden keep!" In the Soviet period, tea-drinking was extremely popular in the daily life of office workers (female secretaries, laboratory assistants, etc.). Tea brands of the time were nicknamed "the brooms" (Georgian) and "the tea with an elephant" (Indian). Tea was an immutable element of kitchen life among the intelligentsia in 1960s-'70s. In pre-Revolutionary Russia there was a joke "что после чаю следует?" ('what follows after tea?', translit. chto poslye chayu slyeduyet) with the correct answer being "the resurrection of the dead" from the Nicene Creed. This is based on the