However, that does not mean to say that the Germans do not drink tea. Here are some points I've observed during my time in the Land of the Sausage (as I like to call Germany).
1. THE GOOD
What never fails to tickle me is the fact that the Germans are much more concerned with the quality of tea than the British, who are supposed to be serious tea drinkers. This German town has slightly more people in it than the whole of North Wales and has at least three tea shops that I can think of off the top of my head. (There may be more, but I don't know every corner of this town.) And yet there isn't one specialist tea shop for loose-leaf tea and accoutrements in all of North Wales. (Not when I last looked, anyway.)
When I tell the Germans that the British make tea with teabags, their faces fall. So disappointed are they. They still believe that the English in particular drink "four o'clock tea". Even in this day and age.
The Brits make tea so strong you can stand a spoon up in it. Brick-red it has to be. And it's rumoured that what goes into the teabag is what they sweep up from the floor in the tea factory. The good stuff, it seems, is put into bags and sold in Germany: real loose-leaf tea of various blends and single origin teas. One accoutrement that I've only seen in Germany so far is the famous "Teeei" or "tea egg". They're like a perforated egg that you can unscrew, fill with tea, screw together again and thrown in a hot cup of water. Personally, I prefer "tea tongs" - no screwing involved!
2. THE BAD
Well, it's not so much bad as damned annoying.
As I said before, the Germans seem to think that just because you're British, you drink lots of tea - and only tea. Many are surprised when I order coffee and when I tell them that I drink more coffee than tea. And when it comes to presents at Christmas or "Mitbringsel" (little gifts you bring when invited to someone's home), I often get tea. HOWEVER, in the UK, when we say "tea" there is only one option we have in mind: so-called black tea.
The Germans, however, think that any dried leaves constitutes "tea" and that the Brits will drink that, too. Sure, we have some herbal tea in the UK, but it's drunk by "cranks" or "health-food freaks" - well, that's the reputation such teas had. I hear that younger people are now turning to herbal infusions, but generally we do not normally drink "Christmas tea" or stuff like that. Tea that smells of all sorts of plants and aromas but isn't black. Basically, if you can't add a dash of milk into it, it ain't tea.
I can't tell you how many times I've passed on herbal tea to, say, the local library. Chamomile or peppermint - fine. Anything else... not tea.
3. THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE
So, since the Germans have good-quality tea available, I often order a cup of tea when out and about. My theory is that it's harder to muck up a cup of tea than a cup of coffee. (With coffee, it depends how much coffee they put into the filter and how long the coffee pot has been standing.)
However, when I order a cup or even a pot of tea, I get a cup and saucer, a spoon, milk and sugar and a cup of hot water and a teabag in a small paper case.
WHY????? How can you not pour the hot water straight onto the teabag when the water is boiling? You are supposed to pour freshly boiled water onto the tea. Not pour the water into a cup or pot and then maybe wait a while before taking it to the customer and then making them put the bag into the water themselves. Sure, you might say that if you do that yourself, you can calculate how long it's been brewing, but you can see that yourself from the colour of the water.
On the whole, however, Germans take tea seriously and the quality is superior to what you get in the UK, so I'll suppose I shall just have to put up with this idiosyncracy. Now..where's the kettle?
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