East Frisians love their tea with rock sugar and cream, and they can't seem to get enough. On average, every East Frisian downs a good 300 liters per year!
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00:00Who are these mysterious East Frisians?
00:07And how did they become such avid tea drinkers?
00:10How did they even acquire their leaves?
00:12And what does it have to do with the history of colonialism?
00:16This video aspires to provide answers.
00:22This windblown northwesternmost corner of Germany, East Frisia, is home to a small but
00:27stalwart population who have learned to live with the harsh weather.
00:32East Frisians are known for their even-headedness, dry humor, and the teapots they use to pour
00:38endless cups of their magic potion all day long.
00:48We have tea in the morning when we get up, and at nine o'clock, another cup.
00:54Elf-Uhr-Tier.
00:55That's tea and a shot.
00:56I remember that from home.
01:00At two or three in the afternoon, another cup of tea, and another in the evening.
01:07Teatide is the word for tea time in the regional northern Low German language.
01:12The ritual is observed several times a day.
01:17The mistress of ceremonies, Gerte Endelmann, keeps a close watch to make sure all the rules
01:22are followed.
01:23One teaspoon per person, and one extra for the teapot.
01:37She pours boiling hot water on the tea leaves and lets them steep.
01:42Three minutes for a stimulating effect, five minutes for a calming effect.
01:49First, each cup gets a Kluntje, a lump of rock sugar.
01:53The hot tea is poured over that.
01:57Doesn't that sound nice?
01:59That's the East Frisian's favorite sound.
02:01But only the first time.
02:03The second time, you don't hear anything.
02:08Then comes the cream in a specially designed spoon, drizzled in counterclockwise to symbolize
02:13stopping time, and to form Vulkies, little clouds in the cup.
02:22The cream rises from the bottom and forms a beautiful pattern.
02:27The tea is then imbibed in three sips without stirring.
02:30The first one's creamy, the second one bitter, and the third sweet.
02:34But one cup is not enough.
02:38Was it this three-cup etiquette that earned East Frisians their top tea drinker status?
02:44If they had their own country, they would leave all the others in the dust.
02:52Tea has been East Frisia's hot beverage of choice since the 18th century.
02:57In 2016, UNESCO declared East Frisian an intangible cultural heritage.
03:03It's always made with black tea, but the exact blend is a well-kept secret.
03:10The East Frisian Tea Museum in Norden chronicles the hot beverage's history.
03:15Tea was first brewed 4,000 years ago in China.
03:19Traders began importing to Europe in the 16th century.
03:25The Dutch were actually the ones who first brought tea to us in East Frisia, beginning
03:29in the 17th century.
03:32In 1602, the VOC was founded in Amsterdam, the Dutch East India Company.
03:38And that was the company that had direct trade with China and brought porcelain and then
03:42tea to East Frisia.
03:47The British, Portuguese, and Dutch had tea planted in their colonies, today's India,
03:53Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.
03:55They established vast plantations and exploited the local population as cheap labor.
04:01This opened the way for tea to go from a luxury item to a product the masses could
04:05afford.
04:08Various cultural practices formed around tea.
04:15England's afternoon tea, Russian samovar tea, and Turkish chai.
04:21Some East Frisians believe it's the water that's the secret of their favorite beverage's
04:25success.
04:28We've had it really bad before, so when we go on vacation to the Harz Mountains or wherever,
04:33we take along a canister of water and our tea.
04:35But it really all depends on the water.
04:38When I go on vacation, I really miss my tea.
04:41I have to say that.
04:43In Cologne or wherever, you just can't drink the tea.
04:46I think tea expresses a kind of love of your home region.
04:50It's a requirement to being an East Frisian.
04:52You might say tea flows in our blood.
04:55But in East Frisia itself, the rule is always Drei ist Ostfriesenrecht.
05:00Roughly translated, it means you can't have fewer than three cups.
05:04So the East Frisians rest assured that nobody anywhere can seriously challenge their top
05:09tea drinking title.