On the ground floor of the Pavlov house in Ryazan, there is a living room and a dining room. The whole big family gathered at a table for eight people. In the center of the dining table is an unusual metal vessel. This is a coffeepot-samovar, which Pyotr Dmitriyevich Pavlov bought for his wife, Varvara Ivanovna. The academician Pavlov’s mother liked coffee very much, in her own words, without it she “simply could not live.” Aware of his wife’s penchant for this drink, Pyotr Dmitriyevich always bought one pound of coffee for her. In the mid-19th century, coffee was a precious commodity.

The coffeepot-samovar is mounted on a ceramic stand. The pot is flanked by two ears with grooves that are inserted into a handle. In the middle of the side part of the coffeepot, a long narrow tap with a key and a figured bone handle is inserted into the stylized image of an animal. Inside the coffee pot is a screw rod with a small strainer, where ground coffee was put. Water was poured into the body of the coffeepot, and below, on the stand with the wooden handle, a solid fuel tablet was placed, which produced a colorless flame and did not spread. A device like this was convenient and safe to use.

There were various recipes for coffee, one of them is listed in Vera Filatova’s 1893 “A New Housewives’ Handbook”. Recipe No. 1022:

The book also has a recipe for vanilla cookies, traditionally served with tea or coffee. Recipe No. 1003: