RussiaHoney quality is everything here — the drink has so few ingredients that each one is exposed. Buckwheat honey gives the deepest, most traditional flavor: dark, malty, almost molasses-like. Wildflower honey works well too. Avoid cheap blended honey — it tastes like sugar water with spices. If your sbiten tastes flat, the honey is the first thing to upgrade.
The old Moscow tavern version uses a spoonful of thick berry jam (varenye) — raspberry or cherry — stirred into each mug. It adds fruity depth and a gorgeous ruby tint. Try it with a slice of dark rye bread on the side, the way it was served in the 1800s.
Sbiten (Russian Honey Spiced Drink)
By Sergei Martynov
Honey dissolved in hot water, simmered low and slow with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and bay leaf until the kitchen smells like a medieval apothecary. Sbiten is one of the oldest Russian drinks — street vendors poured it from copper samovars centuries before tea ever reached Moscow. The flavor lands somewhere between spiced honey tea and mulled wine, minus the wine — warming, aromatic, and surprisingly complex for something built on pantry staples.
Key Ingredients
What you'll need
Ingredients
- 150 g
See recipes with honeyhoney (buckwheat or wildflower)
i - 1 l
- 1
See recipes with cinnamon stickcinnamon stick
i - 4
See recipes with whole cloveswhole cloves
i - 4
See recipes with allspice berriesallspice berries
i - 1 tsp
See recipes with fresh gingerfresh ginger, grated
i - 2
See recipes with bay leavesbay leaves
i - 1
See recipes with star anisestar anise (optional)
i - 0.5
See recipes with lemonlemon, zest and juice
i - 1 tsp
See recipes with dried thyme or st. john's wortdried thyme or St. John's wort (optional)
i
How to make it
Instructions
- 1
Build the spice infusion first. Pour the water into a medium saucepan and add the cinnamon stick, cloves, allspice berries, grated ginger, bay leaves, star anise, and dried thyme. Bringing spices up from cold water extracts more flavor than dropping them into boiling water — the gradual heat opens up the essential oils without making them bitter.
- 2
Bring to a gentle boil, then immediately reduce to a low simmer. Let the spices steep for 12–15 minutes, uncovered. The liquid should turn golden and fragrant — you'll know it's ready when you can smell the ginger and cinnamon from across the room. Don't rush this; a hard boil drives off the delicate aromatics.
- 3
Remove the saucepan from heat and let it cool for 2–3 minutes — the water should drop below 80°C. This matters because honey loses its enzymes and subtle floral notes above that temperature. Stir in the honey until completely dissolved. The liquid will turn a deep amber. Add the lemon zest and juice, which brightens everything and cuts through the sweetness.
- 4
Cover the pot and let the sbiten steep for another 5–7 minutes. This final rest marries the honey with the spice infusion. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot or directly into mugs, pressing gently on the spices to extract the last bit of flavor. Discard the solids.
- 5
Serve immediately, as hot as you can comfortably drink it. Sbiten is traditionally a winter street drink — meant to warm you from the inside out. Pour into thick-walled mugs or heatproof glasses. If you want a richer version, stir a teaspoon of butter into each mug — this is how it was served in 18th-century Moscow taverns.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between sbiten and mulled wine — can I serve sbiten instead at a winter party?
Sbiten is built on honey and water, not wine — there's zero alcohol unless you add it deliberately. The spice profiles overlap (cinnamon, cloves, ginger appear in both), but sbiten has a cleaner, brighter sweetness from the honey and a lighter body. It's an excellent alternative at winter gatherings where you want everyone to be able to drink, including kids and designated drivers. Serve it in the same thick mugs you'd use for Glühwein and most guests won't miss the alcohol at all.
What is the best honey for homemade sbiten — does the type of honey really change the taste?
It changes everything. Buckwheat honey is the traditional choice and the gold standard — dark, intensely aromatic, with malty and molasses-like undertones that stand up to the spices. Wildflower and linden honey both work well, giving a lighter, more floral result. Acacia honey is too mild and gets buried. The one thing to avoid is cheap blended supermarket honey, which is often cut with sugar syrup and contributes nothing but sweetness. For 150 g of honey driving an entire liter of drink, quality matters more than in almost any other recipe.
Can you drink sbiten cold in summer — how to make iced sbiten at home?
Absolutely — cold sbiten was a common summer street drink in pre-revolutionary Russia. Make it exactly the same way, then let it cool to room temperature and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve over ice with a squeeze of fresh lemon and a sprig of mint. The spices taste slightly different cold — the ginger and lemon come forward while the cinnamon recedes — so you may want to add an extra cinnamon stick during simmering if you're planning to chill it. Cold sbiten keeps well in the fridge for 3–4 days.
How to make alcoholic sbiten with wine or vodka — what is the traditional proportion?
There are two historical versions. The tavern sbiten (сбитень заварной) uses dry red wine: replace half the water with wine, simmer the spices in water first, then add wine at the end and warm gently without boiling (boiling kills the wine aromatics). The stronger version adds 50–80 ml of vodka per serving right before drinking — pour the hot sbiten, stir in the vodka, and serve immediately. In both cases, add the honey after removing from heat, the same way as the non-alcoholic version. The wine version is closer to mulled wine; the vodka version is more like a hot toddy.
How long does homemade sbiten keep and can you reheat it the next day?
Strained sbiten stores in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in a sealed jar or bottle. Reheat gently on the stove over low heat — bring it to steaming but not boiling, since boiling degrades the honey and drives off the spice aromatics you worked to extract. Microwave reheating works in a pinch but tends to heat unevenly. If the flavor seems muted after a day or two, stir in a teaspoon of fresh honey and a squeeze of lemon to brighten it back up. Do not store with the spices still in — they'll keep extracting and the drink will turn bitter.
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Comments (1)
I discovered that adding the honey at exactly 75°C instead of 80°C makes a noticeable difference — you get more of the floral aromatics from buckwheat honey. I tested this with a thermometer across 5 batches. The 80°C version was good; the 75°C version had a depth that surprised even me. Worth the extra minute of cooling.