The confusing two-headed eagle — Russia soaring up in the sky
A tour of restaurants and tea-houses: sushi and Taiwanese tea at their peak
April 10, 2008. Special Report by Se Zingfan (The China Times)
Following the Russian economic growth, Russians got richer — they strive to purchase latest car-makes, the most expensive computers, the most fashionable garments, as well as to visit the best of restaurants; at the same time, they are keen on the latest in hip — the Taiwanese green tea and the Japanese sushi have become the most popular orders in the restaurants here.
Bigger and smaller Moscow restaurants alike are the places where the Japanese cuisine is most widespread. Queues are permanent here, and having placed no preliminary order you risk getting nothing for your pains. Ina downtown Japanese restaurant a two-sushi course costs 160 (about new Taiwanese $200) to 500 rubles — the prices are astronomical, and yet the visitors are coming in an uninterrupted flow. A big fan of the Japanese cuisine, writer Victor Yerofeyev says: 'in Moscow, the Japanese cuisine is increasingly spreading; if a young man is dating a girl, the best option to show your most sincere interest is to invite her to a Japanese restaurant'.
Russians started to drink tea long ago; earlier, they used to drink mainly black tea, now green tea is on the rise. 'Drinking green tea has become fashionable'. Sergey Khorolsky, purposefully importing tea from Taiwan only, says: 'Today around 70% of people like drinking tea, and about thirty prefer coffee'.
Within the last couple of years in Moscow clubs of the Chinese tea culture have been appearing and spreading. They are decorated with the deepest respect to the traditions. President of the Association of Taiwanese Businessmen in Russia Pang Motsiao notes that the Chinese tea culture clubs host scheduled lectures in tea mastering, as well as the courses on the Book of Change and feng shui. Resident visitors here are university professors and IT experts. Tea culture clubs are also turning into regular meeting and leisure places of many a Chinese culture lover. One of the oldest Moscow downtown tea culture club has a whole gallery of glass jars boasting the most diverse imported loose tea, prices skyrocketing: the price for a hundred grams of Don Ding Oolong is set at 3,980 rubles — approximately 5,200 new Taiwanese dollars.
The main actor to popularize the Taiwanese tea in Russia is Sergey Khorolsky. He used to be a teacher of French. In 2003, right after the outbreak of SARS, he came to Taiwan and following the advice of his friends headed for the mountains to see the tea plantations, where he got acquainted with a number of tea producers, and starting that time he fell in love with the tea of Taiwan and focused all his efforts on importing the Taiwanese tea to Russia. Combining tea with cheese, he promotes the concept of 'tea-and-chasers'. An order like that is priced at 1,000 rubles, and it basically transforms serving tea with chasers into top-class restaurant service.
'I just need a sip of it to tell if it's Taiwanese or Chinese mainland' S. Khorolsky says, 'The quality of the Taiwanese highland tea is at its top, but unfortunately, in recent years many Taiwanese businessmen have been re-exporting Chinese mainland or Vietnamese tea declaring it as Taiwanese, thus denigrating the reputation of the tea of Taiwan'. To sustain that reputation, S. Khorolsky only sells Taiwanese teas, and never deals with the Chinese mainland. As he jokes at times — 'I play on the Taiwanese side, you know, fight for its image'.
Photo caption: this young girl grows alongside the economy; Russians do follow the trends; a very popular Moscow tea culture club.
Translation from Chinese — Vera Mikhaylova. Translation to English — Denis Cooguy