---
title: 'Tea in Europe and Russia'
url: 'https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia'
markdown: 'https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia.md'
lang: en
date: '2026-11-03'
description: 'How Europe and Russia drink tea: the samovar and diluted zavarka, British tea with milk, East Frisian cream and rock candy, and the Dutch cargo of 1610.'
---

# Tea in Europe and Russia

Tea reached Europe by sea and Russia overland through Mongolia. Nearly everywhere people drink it black and seldom plain, adding milk, cream, sugar or jam.

 ![A tea glass in a holder, a cup of tea with milk and a white porcelain teapot](https://howtotea.me/images/c/o/v/e/r/cover-06520a59.webp) Illustration 

Tea came to [Russia](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/russian-tea) from Mongolia in 1616–1638 as a diplomatic gift and later through Kyakhta, but it became widely drunk only in the second half of the 19th century. Russians drink it in two steps: they pour a strong concentrate from a small pot into the bottom of the cup and top it up with boiling water from the samovar. On weekdays they bite off a piece of sugar rather than stirring it in. Since the 1880s Russia has had home-grown tea, from Georgia and the Krasnodar region.

[Britain](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/british-tea) first met tea in the London coffeehouses of the 1650s. While the duty stood at 119 %, legal tea went to those who could pay, and smugglers supplied everyone else. In 1784 the duty fell to 12.5 %, and tea became an everyday drink. Britons now get through about 100 million cups a day, nearly all from tea bags and nearly all with milk.

The Dutch East India Company landed the first cargo of tea in [continental Europe](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/european-tea) in 1610, and the Dutch spread the word too: *thee*, *Tee* and *thé* go back to Southern Min *te*, while Polish *herbata* comes from Latin *herba thea*. East Frisians in northwest Germany still keep a ritual of their own: about 10 g of Assam per liter, a lump of rock candy, cream and three cups in a row.

In this section

- [![](https://howtotea.me/images/c/o/v/e/r/cover-961e3d57.webp) Russian tea Russian tea drinking: tea from Mongolia and Kyakhta, zavarka diluted with hot water, the samovar, the glass in a holder, sugar in the teeth, Soviet tea. ](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/russian-tea)
- [![](https://howtotea.me/images/c/o/v/e/r/cover-a6881ece.webp) Britain and Ireland Tea in Britain: from the London coffeehouses of the 1650s to the mug and tea bag. Duties, Assam, afternoon tea and high tea, milk first or last, Irish tea. ](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/british-tea)
- [![](https://howtotea.me/images/c/o/v/e/r/cover-4e834fe1.webp) Continental Europe Tea in Europe: the Dutch from 1610, the East Frisian ceremony with rock candy and cream, Paris salons, Czech tea rooms and Swedish tea ships. ](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/european-tea)

---

## Navigation

- Parent: [Tea traditions](https://howtotea.me/traditions.md)
- Previous: [Tea traditions of Japan and Korea](https://howtotea.me/traditions/japan-and-korea.md)
- Next: [Tea in the Middle East and Central Asia](https://howtotea.me/traditions/middle-east-and-central-asia.md)
- Children:
  - [Russian tea drinking: zavarka, glass and sugar in the teeth](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/russian-tea.md)
  - [Tea in Britain and Ireland](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/british-tea.md)
  - [Tea in continental Europe](https://howtotea.me/traditions/europe-and-russia/european-tea.md)