21st September, 2007: How Russia Was Introduced to Tea – Part 2
It’s been estimated that Russians were receiving over 600 pounds of tea per camel and over 600 camel loads every year by 1700. That’s 360,000 pounds of tea!
Who was drinking all of that dark, delicious expensive brew?
Tea was an expensive drink. By 1735, tea cost 15 rubles per pound − that would put the value of a camel load at 18,000 rubles, and the value of the annual tea imports at 5,400,000 rubles. At those prices, only aristocrats could afford to buy tea.
Czarina Elizabeth, one such aristocrat, valued the brew enough that she established a regular private caravan trade. No one knows whether her purpose was to stock up on the drink or to take advantage on it’s profit potential. The end result of her interest was that tea became a well-known drink throughout Russia.
Read more about How Russia Was Introduced to Tea at Teamuse.com.
Posted by Elizabeth at 6:00 am |
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Come think of it they think that tea was really introduce by Peter the Great her grandfather yup infamous PEter the Great didn’t catch on until 50 year after his death
Tsarina Elizabeth really love her tea that they think she horde it LOL!
Comment by Kelly — September 21, 2007 @ 1:33 pm