Sounds infinitely more complicated than the gongfu brewing we do.

How far south does this practice extend? What I'm saying is, how far
into Siberia do I have to go to see this done?

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

Alex Chaihorsky wrote:
> I was reminded by my Russian friends that I never mentioned on this forum a
> very unusual tea brewing method that is used by field geologists, hunters,
> reindeer herders and other old-timers in Siberian taiga. Its called
> "Zherebchik" tea (zhe-'reb-chik with emphasis on -reb-) or "Colt tea". In
> Russian "zherebchik" is a diminutive from "zherebets", which means -
> stallion and in its diminutive form sounds very homely, playful and tender.
>
> This is how you do it: every self-respecting "taiezhnik" ("taiga man" -
> similar to what would be a "mountain man" in American West) keeps with him
> or knows how to find the good ones on the banks of Siberian rivers, a bunch
> of thumbnail sized washed stones". These are heated on the campfire coals
> usually inside an old burned tin can. You need two of such cans usually. Tea
> (almost always black, brick or loose) is put into a large (1- 2 liters)
> ceramic teapot (usually this would be an old beat-up medium thick walled
> ceramic or mass-produced white clay variety similar to what is used here in
> cheap Chinese restaurants). Then it is filled to 1/3 or 1/2 with COLD spring
> or clean stream water. Some people wait a bit to allow tea leaves get
> thoroughly wet, some do not wait at all.
> After that the first batch of almost red-hot stones goes in and the art of
> making a good zherebchik is to watch closely how water behaves and do not
> allow boiling by stopping adding stones at the right moment. The sound of
> that operation reminds one of the sounds colts and horses make, and this is
> how (I am guessing here) the tea got its name.
> I short time later more COLD water is added and the second batch of hot
> stones goes in. Some people allow quite some boiling, some just a touch,
> some not at all. The tea is covered and after a minute of two is served.
> This is a rough style tea ceremony - the teapot is usually look like it
> outlived Hiroshima attack, the tea is served into beat-up, rough, ugly metal
> mugs, the uglier the better, etc. Usually people keep silence while an older
> guy makes the Zherebchik, but this is not a rule - just comes as a natural
> reaction to the whole process after a long, hard day's work or long
> exhausting walk along treacherous banks of Siberian rivers.
> I always asked locals if and where a wild variety of thyme can be found and
> add fresh thyme to zherebchik (just add several long twigs after its
> completely done for 1 minute with their talks sticking out into the teapot
> and take them out), which makes usually cheap rough black tea much finer.
> Actually fresh thyme makes even fine black teas very interesting, especially
> after heavy meal - and this is from me, who hates all "aromatized" teas.
>
> Choosing stones for zherebchik is not as simple as it may sound - the stones
> has to be able to withstand many cycles of heat and fast cooling without
> breaking, which requires some geological knowledge (plus you do not want
> stones that may have even specs of auripigment or cinnabar in it, let alone
> uranium, which are much more common that one may think! White "sugar" quartz
> (not clear, transparent variety) fine-grained diorites, olivinites and other
> sturdy rocks are good. Granite, sienite, gabbros or any rock that is non
> monomineral will be cracking, bursting, falling apart due to the difference
> in heat expansion coefficients of neighboring mineral grains.
> If you decide to make the zherebchik tea at home - do not heat the stones on
> gas - the tea will smell foul. You can heat them on an electric stove or, if
> gas is your only option, put them first in a previously burned to the
> brown-blue color tin can. I actually use such a can when I heat the stones
> on an electrical stove too because they are easier to handle that way.
> Zherebchik has lots of variables - to wait or not to wait for tea leaves to
> get wet, to allow first batch to boil the tea or not, to boil or not and
> for how long, etc. So zherebchik tea allows for you to show off your art.
> I am trying to convince some of my Russian friends to develop it into a true
> restaurant tea presentation keeping the rough nature of the zherebchik, its
> Siberian spirit and campfire nature.
>
> Anyway - I hope you guys try this one day.
>
> Sasha.