Whence
Ostfriesentee (tea with rock sugar and a cream 'cloud')
Drink

Where does Ostfriesentee (tea with rock sugar and a cream 'cloud') come from?

Ostfriesentee comes from East Frisia, on Germany's North Sea coast. This strong, mostly Assam blend is poured over a lump of rock sugar and crowned with a little cloud of cream, and for around 300 years the region has been a land of tea drinkers.

Tea instead of beer

Before tea arrived, the region's main drink was locally brewed beer. Around 1610 ships of the Dutch East India Company brought the first tea to Europe, and East Frisian sailors on Dutch ships probably carried it home soon after. Around 1675 it was still taken only as medicine, but by about 1720 East Frisia had a large tea trade. Cheaper than beer and praised as a drink that did not intoxicate, tea spread across the whole region in the late 18th century.

The king who lost the tea war

Once East Frisia had come under King Frederick II, he tried from 1768 to wean his East Frisian subjects off tea, which sent money abroad. A decree of 1778 suggested lemon balm tea instead, and more beer made from home-grown ingredients. East Frisians answered with smuggling and secret tea drinking. In 1779 their assembly of estates wrote that tea and coffee were so deeply rooted that human nature itself would have to be changed to give them up. Within a few years the king abandoned his plan.

Why people think of England

Strong black tea with sugar and cream sounds English, but the East Frisian ceremony is its own. Hot tea is poured over a Kluntje, a lump of rock sugar that crackles as it meets the tea. Cream is laid gently at the edge of the cup; it sinks, then rises into a little cloud, the Wulkje. Nobody stirs, so each sip tastes different: first mild cream, then strong tea, then sweetness. Three cups are the polite minimum.

Sources: de.wikipedia.org ↗ · unesco.de ↗ · niedersachsen-tourism.com ↗

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