For as long as I can remember, the golden samovar — a Russian teapot of sorts — has rested somewhere high in our home. In our first house, it sat imposingly on a shelf above the staircase. In our ...

A samovar, a tall metal container that heats water to make tea, is well-known in Russia but often is confusing to browsing customers at an antique show. The anatomy of the samovar, first made in ...

There are two drinks most people associate with Russia — vodka and tea, prepared in a giant hot-water urn known as a samovar. Yet while vodka may have actually originated in Russia (Poland is another ...