Andrey Kolbasinov is one of many tea professionals working really hard to promote the growth and renaissance of speciality tea in Russia, a country with a long story in traditional tea culture, but one which has also embraced the modern coffee culture. There is now the beginnings of a speciality tea culture, promoting and stimulating interest at home and in the retail sector, led by people such as Andrey, Dimitry Sobolev, Sergey Khorolsky, and others.

Reflecting the view that many of the early adopters of the speciality tea community will come from speciality coffee, Andrey previously owned eight coffee shops in Tula, two hours south of Moscow before selling up and moving to Moscow where he is now a consultant to coffee shops, specialising in tea menus and design. He has also recently opened his own tea shop, Nitka, in Moscow, and his motto is ‘your next cup of coffee will be tea’! he does also serve coffee, and in fact has an impressive Astoria Hybrid machine, but uses it more for tea as it is designed and programmed for brewing tea as well as coffee.

The space he is in is lovely, part of an 1850’s building, recently restored. As well the Astoria he brews with Tiano and Brewista equipment and serves in mid 20th century tea glasses from St. Petersburg. He is about to restore his coal fired samovar, and a 1978 record player completes the modern retro feel.

Andrey, who is a former Russian Tea Mixology Champion, is one of those who feels that, although most consumption in Russia is of a low quality, nevertheless the recent renaissance means that Russia is probably leading the rest of Europe in terms of speciality tea innovation. He sources his tea directly from China, and his traditional Russian Caravan really does hit the spot, full and rounded with the smooth underlying smokiness which characterises that tea.

Andrey is about to join European Tea society as one of our first members in Russia, and plans are already underway to form a chapter there. Many in the community have been looking to set up a Russian speciality tea association, but with the formation of European Tea Society feel that alignment with other Europeans will benefit the Russian community much better. Our presence at the Russian Coffee, Tea and Cacao Expo in Moscow recently helped to establish links, we met some of the players in the market, attended the Russian Tea Masters Cup and were able to introduce and promote European Tea Society to the Russian speciality tea community. We are optimistic that this is just the beginning.