Fit for a tsar

On the Thursday just gone, I attended a preview of "The Last Station", which detailed the final days of writer/humanitarian Leo Tolstoy. What struck me most about the film - besides the captivating performance of Helen Mirren as the noble-yet-needy Countess Sofya, the great woman behind the great man - was...promise you won't laugh?...the Russian habit of sweetening tea with jam.

Empirical fellow that I am, I resolved to try it - and this evening, armed with a box of Twinings Russian Caravan and jar of St Dalfour Strawberry, I did so. Stirring a fruity blob into my first cup yielded a far milder brew than I'd have gotten from the equivalent amount of honey or sugar, though it was pleasant enough. However, there was a second method demonstrated in the movie.

Rather than directly sweeten cup no. 2, I alternated, as characters in "T/L/S" had done, between mouthfuls of tea and spoonfuls of jam. It was then that I understood the combo's appeal...and congratulated myself on authentically recreating an aristocratic ritual. Well, apart from my Japanese tea caddy. And the plastic kettle and plain teapot standing in for a priceless silver samovar.