Tea for Two

When I first came to Russia years ago I was intimidated by the social requirement of inviting people for tea.  What to serve?  How to serve it?

In the U.S. you can invite someone over for a cup of coffee and simply serve a cup of coffee.  When you invite someone for tea in Russia you prepare a mini-meal with several dishes.

The tea table pictured here is adequate but not special.  The teapot has delicate loose tea rather than the powdered grunge found in tea bags.  There’s a nice bowl of fresh fruit on the table.  The tea service is our finest.  Unfortunately, there’s no varenye on the table, and the sweets are store bought.

Varenye translates into “jam,” but varenye is supposed to be home-made from berries grown at your own dacha.  It is served in tiny bowls and eaten with a spoon.  Varenye has no added pectin, and I swear that in winter it has the taste of summer. 

Accompanying tea can be a wide assortment of things – open face sandwiches, small pizzas, homemade torte, cookies.  Once I learned that using your imagination is fine, I experimented with serving cinnamon toast, strips of French toast, and whatever suited my fancy.

I had tea twice today.  In the morning a Russian friend came over for the table you see above.  In the afternoon I was served a hearty tea table after I gave a lecture at a local agricultural college where a friend of Slava's is vice rector.  I had hoped to talk about something I know, however the assembled group wanted me to inform them about how agriculture classes are taught in the United States. I spoke for an hour and said nothing.  The unfortunate translator didn't have much to work with.

When I got back to our flat it took me less than five minutes to open the door.  I had a bouquet of white roses from the agricultural college to grace the dining table, and a container of fresh honey from the school to offer Slava with his evening tea.

When I’m back in the U.S. I think I’ll try making varenye from grocery-store berries.  I wonder if it will have the taste of summer.