The electric samovar on Soviet tables through the 80s, rebuilt from photos of a Tula one: three litres and a kilowatt in nickel-plated brass, with a cobalt net teapot warming on its crown (turn your sound on). Tap the samovar to plug it in and listen as it heats: it ticks and fizzes, then sings, loudest a few degrees short of the boil, and settles into a rolling boil as steam rises round the teapot. Tap the teapot to pour strong brew into the cup, then hold the tap to top it up from the samovar. Tap the cup to drink it, and the lid to refill the samovar. On a computer, Space plugs it in or out, B pours brew, hold T to run the tap, D drinks and R refills. It sings loudest before it boils because bubbles of steam collapse in the cooler water above the element; once all the water reaches 100 °C, they rise to the top instead.