A samovar looks like one vessel but it is really two, stacked. The lower body holds the water. A pipe runs up through its centre and carries the heat, and the teapot sits on top of that pipe. Water boils below, the rising heat keeps the pot warm, and the tea brews up there. You pour strong tea from the pot into the glass, then top it up with hot water from the tap. That is the whole system.
Charcoal or electric
In a charcoal samovar you drop a half handful of lump charcoal into the central pipe and light it from the bottom. Three litres come to the boil in fifteen to twenty minutes and stay hot until the embers die. The tea really does taste different. But this is a garden and balcony object; never burn charcoal in a closed room.
In an electric model the element sits inside the lower tank. Plug it in and three litres boil in about fifteen minutes; once the thermostat takes over, the water holds around 90 degrees for hours. Never switch it on empty. A dry element burns out in minutes, and that is not a warranty case.
What size to buy
The answer is given in glasses, not litres. Not all the water in the tank ends up in a glass; some of it goes into refreshing the pot.
- 1.5 to 2 litres: a household of two or three, everyday tea.
- 3 litres: a full house. Roughly 20 to 25 tulip glasses.
- 5 litres: evenings with guests, over 40 glasses.
- 7 to 10 litres: cafés, clubs, weddings and funerals. At this size the samovar is set up in one place, not carried around.
One thing people get wrong: the capacity on the label is that of the lower water tank, and the teapot is not counted in it. The pot on a three litre samovar usually holds between 0.7 and 1 litre. Do not fill the tank to the brim either; it will boil over. Leave two fingers of space under the lid.
The first time
Fill it once, bring it to the boil and throw that water away. Anything the polishing left on the surface goes with it. From the second fill it is ready for tea.
The tap washer
The tap is the only part of a samovar that wears out. Its washer sits in 90 degree water all day, hardens over time, and starts dripping even when the tap is shut. Replace it once a year; a washer costs next to nothing. Ignore the drip and limescale builds up around the spindle, and then a new washer alone will not fix it.
Descaling
With hard water the bottom of the tank takes on a white crust within a few months. Scale insulates, so the water boils slower and an electric element has to work harder. Boil three parts water to one part vinegar, switch it off, leave it an hour, then empty and rinse twice. Repeat if the crust is thick. Do not scrape it; you will score the tinned surface.
Stovetop models
There are also bodies without a pipe or charcoal chamber, heated straight on the hob. Gas and conventional electric rings are no problem. Induction is: copper is not magnetic, so the hob does not detect the samovar at all. Put a steel induction disc underneath and it works, though it heats more slowly.
One last thing. Do not park an empty teapot on the pipe. Dry heat rising from below will ruin the tin on the base of the pot.
