East Frisian Tea: The German Tea Culture You’ve Never Heard Of

[@GreyPhoenix117]

I am not east Frisian. I am from west Germany. I had a Frisian pen pal. On a visit I got my first Frisian tea. My pen pals mother explained the three sips like that: with everything in life, when you begin something, it is nice (and creamy). Then I gets hard and bitter, but only after the bitter part, you get the sweetness. That really stuck with me!

[@nosiswutecke9710]

East Frisian is located in West Germany. I should know it, because i am very close too the city of Leer. Hamburg, Hannover, Berlin, München can considert to be east from the point of East Frisian. East Frisian is located near the Netherlands Border. West Frisian is located in the Netherlands.

[@patrickodonnell4109]

Your pen pal’s mother is a very wise woman.

[@nilseden7921]

@@nosiswutecke9710 Oh, a fellow 😄 I myself come from Westoverledingen and moved to Oldenburg last year

[@hammurabii.3173]

There is so many similarities between Frisians and Westphalians. As a Westphalian I always feel right at home when I visit the northern neighbors.

[@VainoOtsonen]

I'm a French exchange student who has been in Spiekeroog, an Island in East Frisia, for half a year, and the thing I miss the most from there is the tea. Everytime I go in Ostfriesland again, I buy true East Frisian tea and kluntje.

[@hablin1]

@@VainoOtsonen that’s a couple of islands up from me it hasn’t changed much still a very small community whereas Norderney is totally ruined and centered on tourism unfortunately 😢

[@f.1395]

And the sadesst is: you can get easily Friesentee or at least Black tea, but not the right cream for a Wulkje. The cream have to be very fatty.

[@hablin1]

@@f.1395 yes but a lot of people here use condensd milk with a high fat content

[@VainoOtsonen]

@@hablin1 I've also been on Norderney for a few days, I believe you when you say it's touristic ! It's something completely different from Spiekeroog...

[@hablin1]

@ I know, when I came here first it was a sleepy tourist town where everything closed for the winter and we where on own now 🤦🏼‍♀️ it’s all year round every weekend is full of stag weekend revelers it’s bad 😢

[@Frisiansorg]

So happy to see that there is more attention for the Frisian cultures. I myself come from Friesland (the Dutch Friesland) and am and feel a true Frisian. Our culture is one of the oldest (Germanic) cultures in Europe, even during the era of the Romans and the Vikings we already made ourselves heard, even though we were a small but respected region. And you can only be proud of that. I have enormous respect for our East Frisian friends and I hope that they can continue to exist forever in their norms and values. Leaver dea as slaef (rather dead than slave).

[@telebubba5527]

What do you mean 'small' Frisia once ranged from the Zwin in Belgium all the way up to the Weser! Which is why East Frisia even exists. Friesland and East Frisia are the only parts left of a much larger entity.

[@Frisiansorg]

​@@telebubba5527 It was quite small compared to other countries at that time, and that's fine, even though we were small, we still had a lot of influence in Europe :)

[@ronanbakker]

Ik spreek Nederlands en Fries (of allebei door elkaar gemengd) vanwege mijn vader en waar ik nu woon spreekt men Aalsmeers dus ik zou me ook in oost Friesland thuisvoelen. Ik kan me helemaal herkennen in hun cultuur, dat is twee generaties terug alweer. Ik wil het graag een keer bezoeken met een gids. Ik bin sa grutsk op East Fryslân foar it trochsette úse tradysjes ! Meitsj fierder sa ! Ik hoopje dat se it no better op 'e kaart sette kinne.

[@andreas7937]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHOaanpmgp2SgZY

[@shakiMiki]

Call it culture is a real stretch. They're drinking cups of teal Like everyone else. I was expecting more.

[@cuxietube]

Moin moin aus Texas. I grew up in Ostfriesland and the daily tea times always brightened up my days no matter how lousy the weather, school, or work. Left Germany over 40 years ago and gave up a lot in terms of food, traditions, customs, etc. but what I will never give up is my Ostfriesentee, even in the blistering 45 degree C (115F) desert heat. There have been times when it was a little difficult to find a source for my ‘elixir of life and happiness’ here in the USA but, fortunately, throughout the years I’ve always managed to fulfill my annual 300 liter quota😊

[@margritpiepes8242]

Na Mensch olle Berliner hier . Friesland ist toll . War als Kind oft da , auch auf Sylt .

[@Sword_and_Crown]

Gruß aus Bremerhaven!🫖🍪

[@GreedyOrange]

schön zu hören,beste grüße zurück!^^

[@drstihl2007]

Moin moin? Sabbelkopp.

[@raraavis7782]

Wohl bekommt's ☕

[@rogerwilco2]

I wish she would speak more in the local dialect. As a Dutch person, it was fun when she spoke words that were very familiar to me.

[@andzzz2]

Elführtje and kloentje made me laugh.

[@Alan_Jozua]

luister eens naar liedjes van Hannes Wader of Otto Groote. Ostfriesisch Plattdeutsch is een mooi dialect.

[@andzzz2]

@@Alan_Jozua Bedankt voor de tip!

[@drstihl2007]

I am a citizen from the region of Hannover (aka where the "purest" German is spoken), when i visited the region of Ostfriesland that sits between the Ems river and Dollart (and thus close to the Dutch border) it was always funny that Germans and Dutch among the border could communicate in the local dialect of Plattdeutsch (low German). Plattdeutsch essentially is a language with its regional dialects (for example the Hannover Platt is definitely different than the one in the R(h)eiderland).

[@lofwyr5063]

high german was manufactured specifically to try and unite Germany under one dialect, yeah. Without it, we'd still have low german, and low German and Dutch are quite close, especially near the border. There is not much difference, ethnically either... it's one of those 'almost' pointless borders.

[@TheZzzleep...]

Glad to see Frisian culture and language are alive and well.

[@dyslexictunes248]

in east frisia they only speak platt, the real frisian language of east frisia has been lost;)

[@andreasrademacher5715]

They are not...

[@Mairtn-dt3kk]

@@dyslexictunes248 still spoken in Saterland, does it seem

[@abhishekdatta4194]

Very informative video. I'm from India, and I must confess that I had no idea that a certain German province has such a unique Tea culture. However, I'm very much surprised by the graphics at 3:29 that India doesn't feature among the top tea drinking nations. Apart from parts of Peninsular India where Coffee may be more popular, Tea is an integral part of Indian culinary culture. Serving Tea to any guest who comes to your house is almost a universal practice in India. Whichever part of India one may visit, you will never be far from a Tea shop. That's how prevalent Tea drinking is over here. We have 3 prominent Tea growing regions in Darjeeling, Assam and the Nilgiris, and each region produces Tea with unique attributes. Anyways, feels good to know that there exists such a passionate tea drinking population in mainland Europe also..!!

[@jayjayn007]

Nightmares, thought you'd invaded already.

[@sandie157]

​@@jayjayn007 How rude... No it's the Germanic tribes who have a historical record of wrecking havoc in the world and destroying healthy thriving cultures. From Ancient Rome to Catholic Europe to the destruction of colonialism in Africa to two world wars. The German people should be using their brilliance and ingenuity for good , but too often their cultural arrogance and blind stupidity leads them down dark paths . Either that or God himself has cursed them .

[@adaadena7291]

I researched that, the per Capita (per person) consumption is relatively modest, due to the large population base and high poverty levels according to wikipedia. India is leading in consumption over all.

[@bustedkeaton]

It goes to show how much more and more often tea drinkers in these countries are drinking tea, to outrank India even with this all being true.

[@OptimusWombat]

I'd also be curious to see what the statistic is for Germany as a whole, rather than just East Frisia. I saw another stat that had Germany ranked 18th overall. I think also, that the unit of measurement matters. Here, we're seeing it ranked by volume of tea consumed, whereas the same rank table I looked at based it upon weight of tea leaves consumed per capita, which makes a difference depending on whether the culture likes their tea weaker or stronger relative to liquid volume.

[@Sheila-ph6js]

One per person and one for the pot is exactly what we say in England! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@Sheila-ph6js]

During the War in propaganda films they said not to include one for the pot, as tea was strictly rationed.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

There is some connection between East Frisia and England, historically speaking - the Low German dialect spoken by East Frisians is linguistically very close to English, much more so than High German by far! Like, the English sentence "The door is open" would be "Die Türe ist offen" in High German", but in East Frisian dialect it is "De Door is open".

[@EsterHorbach-it9tb]

And after WW II Eastern Frisia was within the British zone. My mom, born in 1921, told me that they got tea from the British soldiers and were immensely grateful.

[@julianshepherd2038]

We don't put cream in tea, like a bunch of psychos. Milk goes in tea or you suppress the flavour.

[@julianshepherd2038]

​@@gozerthegozarian9500also probably that east England and Frisia shared a culture and probably DNA before, during and after Roman occupation.

[@Intrepid_Insomniac]

I am in the USA but the elders in my family spoke low German when I was growing up. They are all passed away now. It was very nice to hear the language again. 🥰❤️

[@tictacterminator]

Plattdeutsch?

[@eastfrisian_88]

My homeland!! These days I mostly drink coffee, but as a child, I spent two years at my grandmother's house during the day, and there we had tea at least four times a day. As a child, I drank a lot of tea because of this, always with rock sugar (Kluntje), though over time the cream was replaced with milk (except when we had visitors!). Until recently, I even had an East Frisian tea set for six people and donated it to charity, because it wasn't used for a long time. My mother has lived in deepest Bavaria for many years, almost at the Austrian border, and every year I send her Bünting tea by package. Now even her neighbor (who once borrowed tea from my mother) asks about it, and her best friend in Linz/Austria asked if I could send my mother Bünting-Tea for her. She tried the tea at my mother's house and was thrilled. Important: The common tea found in almost every German supermarket labeled "Ostfriesenmischung" (East Frisian Blend) is not the best - it must be tea from Bünting, Thiele, or Onno Behrends, which are from this region. Only these are genuine East Frisian tea with its strong character! I always have Bünting tea at home; in winter or when sick, brewed strong, it's a delight, although unfortunately, for health reasons, I have to use sweetener instead of rock sugar.

[@christopherstein2024]

The struggle wich drinking tea outside of Eastfrisland is getting good water.

[@hablin1]

@@christopherstein2024 True

[@hablin1]

@@eastfrisian_88 we usually use condensed milk instead of cream now 🥰

[@hetedeleambacht6608]

o no. cream is the best in tea. nothing else and im not from uk, india or east frisia! it just tastes the best 😋

[@ReyOfLight]

I'm Swedish, it's 03:30 as I'm watching this and am about to go to sleep. Now I want to make a cup of tea!

[@CoreDump451]

I wouldn't do that right before bed because of the caffeine. Instead, try camomile, mint, anise, lavender or sage tea. They are all very calming

[@freagle123]

North German here, I live in Emsland in a town right on the "border" of East Frisia, we speak Low German just like the East Frisians and also drink tea. I'm happy to see how our culture is being given attention. Thanks for the video.

[@checkcommentsfirst3335]

Emsland mentioned!!!!

[@DennisRenken]

That's also the case in the Ammerland, bordering East Frisia from the sout-east. Successful cultural imperialism ;-)

[@alfonsorodriguez7713]

Emsländer können kein Auto fahren

[@peterhannemann570]

I worked almost 25 years in the Emsland, and we had always a Tea break instead of a coffee break.

[@DerPijO]

East Frisians are soo chill for some reason. Not really hasty and impulsive like other German cultures. The east frisian jokes are just an misinterpretation imO :D

[@athmaid]

As a half german half sri-lankan (aka where part of their tea mix is from) this is fascinating

[@trueordrue]

Isnt it from China

[@saba1030]

Moin 😊 East Frisian tea is made of minimum 50% Assam tea, and always a special mixture of up to 10 different sorts of tea. .but it's always a strong tea = Assam 😊

[@athmaid]

@@saba1030 you're right but it seems like there's always at least a bit of Ceylon tea in the mix in case of the major brands like Thiele, Bünting, etc. But I corrected it

[@honkhonk8009]

Bruh its so wierd as a sinhalese. Cus Ceylon tea litterally came from Srilanka, but we dont even have any special tea ceremonies LOL. I dont think we really even look at tea like its special or anything. Same with Cinnamon. Like litterally try naming one dish that has cinnamon in it. Its lowkey kinda funny. Were massive tea fanatics but we dont have any special ceremonies with that stuff lol

[@athmaid]

@@honkhonk8009 my mum used cinnamon for some meat dishes she says, but yeah it's not in any way proportional to how much is exported lol Every time I was there I drowned my tea in milk and sugar like all my family members who live there, wouldn't exactly call that a celebration of the ingredient either lol

[@JSty-wi1ht]

Moooiiin, I moved to Marseille earlier this year to study there, safe to say that tea and my teapot were part of my luggage! One of my favorite moments since I arrived in the south of France (as backwards as it might sound) was a dim grey morning, with rain. I sat next to the open window in my appartment and had my Friesentee. It was beautiful!

[@veronica_._._._]

These moments stay with us forever ...

[@XxKamaelxX]

I am from Frisia / Friesland (Dutch part) myself and I'm delighted to hear and see other Frisian cultures speak and do their thing ❤ Fun to hear this algamation of Dutch and German language.

[@SuzanneU]

It's so true that the water strongly influences the flavour of the tea!

[@agengsatya96]

only if your tea is not bitter enough 😂

[@S3RPiROYAL]

Me as an eastfrisian myself, just have to give you a lot of credits for this short documentary about our tea! it's on the point accurate and i realy have to admit that you drink at least 3 times a day your three cups of tea, some days you drink up to 5 times a day your three cups, haha :D but what matters the most is the social aspect about drinking your tea with friends and family... i everytime think about my gone grandparents while drinking and i think thats so beatiful! :) thank you for this !

[@BBeeblebrox]

Finally saw a German talk about "social" aspect😅

[@Robin_The_SkyrimLord_NLD]

I am West Friesland from North Holland in the Netherlands 🇳🇱.

[@hablin1]

I am from Ireland but for the past 45 years I have lived on Norderney an East Frisian island it’s a big thing here tea bags are a big no no 🤣🤣🤣🤣 on the island 15.30 is tea time without fail it’s 11 utje is mostly on Sunday that’s to say it’s usually tea and Schnaps 🥰

[@andreasarnoalthofsobottka2928]

They forgot to mention the 'Kluntjeknieper', a pair of pincers used to split pieces of rock suggar which are too big.

[@pestoriusj]

So cool to hear the Friesian dialect. It's not much more difficult to understand for an English speaker than some dialects of English are.

[@fuckinantipope5511]

We in east frisia don't speak a dialect. We speak Plattdeutsch, which is its own language. There is a frisian language too, but that one died out in eastern frisia. In the Saterland the frisians still speak frisian and I think in the dutch frisia

[@davedevosbaarle]

I'd say it's pretty much Dutch, from what I heard in the video.

[@jrgptr935]

Friesisch ist KEIN Dialekt, es gilt als eigenständige Sprache, wie Polnisch oder Katalanisch. Gruß aus dem Saarland! Frisian is NOT a dialect, it is considered a language in its own right, like Polish or Catalan. Greetings from the Saarland!

[@davedevosbaarle]

@@jrgptr935 Yes, but Frisian is hardly spoken anymore outside the Dutch province of Friesland. I think East Frisians don't actually speak Frisian anymore. The local dialect you hear in some parts of the video is probably Plattdeutsch/Low German, which is closer to (Eastern) Dutch than to Frisian or High German.

[@isaiahsmith7123]

Frisian is one of the closest languages to English, which is why it is somewhat intelligible to you if you speak English. Also if you're familiar with old English, Frisian is even easier to grasp, though it will not map 1:1

[@dianabriggs1032]

A friend from East Frisia introduced us to this custom when we were living in Amsterdam a decade ago! She brought back the tea and sugar from home to share with us. I thought it was delightful.

[@LettersFromAFriend]

At last some Germany-related content that is NOT about Bavarian or Baden-Württemberg. If you haven’t had East Frisian tea, you haven’t had tea at all😂

[@Stiegelzeine]

and thats a good thing, why would you want to drink a drink that is responsible for world hunger? its all the teas fault, tea is a drug that caused the poor british to force poor african,american and asian countries to work for them as slaves

[@lessecho6704]

And for once its not about the beer drinking culture.

[@younggod5230]

Right I live in BadenWürttemberg and I had no idea about this. So cool

[@willow9526]

​@@younggod5230 I live in Bavaria and know this teastory since many years. 😆😆😆 And have each winter frisian tea with Kluntje and half whipped cream. But: don' t stir the tea!! 😉😀

[@younggod5230]

@willow9526 You mist know more than me then 😀. Its a cool thing to know Im glad I learned

[@missdenisebee]

I’m not usually a tea drinker, but this makes me want to go digging through my cabinets for some tea😅

[@lenrichardson7349]

Please get some fresh tea.

[@adrianseanheidmann4559]

Seriously, try to get some "Ostfriesen Mischung", get proper cream, and Kandiszucker, it's a divine experience, But as they say in the video, with tea you seriously notice the difference of water quality from region to region. I'm from Bremen, N. Germany and the water is pretty good, but when you go to the country city the water really does get softer and tea taste more "elegant".

[@ebeneZr]

I already started the teapot 😂

[@mellimon7239]

my grandmother is east frisian and let us enjoy this since early childhood :D Still drink it today but gotten more difficult to get the kluntje in stores. I remember her telling me not to stir. "Never stir. We don't stir."

[@assi7961]

I live in Aurich, east frisia. I can't live without our tea times during the day. For refreshing, for calm down, everything.Thiele silver broken.

[@ornleifs]

My kind of people - nothing beats a nice cup of tea - and plenty of them.

[@dirkakkermann4510]

I am from East Frisia. Happy to see our culture here❤

[@jeylaiskender8500]

In Lenkaran region of Azerbaijan, we first rinse tea leaves with cold water. Then fill the pot half-way with boiling hot water, put on the stove and half-way through the process, add the rest of water to fill the pot. We never bring tea to boil, when it starts to steam, we turn off gas. What is in the pot is the dark part of the tea, mixed with kettle water in the cup. We love tea and drink it all day long, brew couple time a day, always fresh. Tea bags are not preferred method at all. We would leave restaurants if we find out the tea is not brewed. Sadly living in the UK now, finding brewed tea in just any place is difficult.

[@alexejvonyserne4744]

Is it true that in Azerbaijani tea culture you have to add jam/syrup to the tea but you don`t mix it? First you eat a spoon of the syrup, then you drink the tea on it. When I was there (in Lahij) the waiter served me the tea and a jar of honey with rose hip he told me to do so. But I am not sure if I understand him correctly and maybe did it wrong... 😅

[@jeylaiskender8500]

@@alexejvonyserne4744 Hmm, I don't know of this tradition to be honest but it can very much be Lahici tradition. As we are locals there, maybe when we visited Lahic waiters skipped this part :D We drink tea with jam/fruits in syrup, but we mainly eat the fruity part and syrup part is by preference. What some regions do and I love is adding special rose water to the tea, it makes it more fragrant and taste great! Next time you visit, try to sea if you can find it, must be common in Gabala region. We are glad we made it possible to bring our 'samovar' tea to the UK and make tea often here using woods. But every time we go back, we still try to visit different regions and find out more traditional foods/drinks/sweets.

[@alexejvonyserne4744]

Thank you, I will definitely look for it when I come back 😊 I heard about rose water in tea in Iran but I didn't know that it's also common in Azerbaijan. It might be a remain of the long cultural influence by these two regions there.

[@jeylaiskender8500]

@@alexejvonyserne4744 Absolutely, whole region shares culinary traits in some form. There are approx. 12-20 mln Azerbaijanis living in Iran. Just over the weekend I went to Tajrish restaurant in London, all staff was speaking Azerbaijani which was extra nice for us :)

[@onhi1]

@@alexejvonyserne4744 I experienced what you say in the Svanetia region of Georgia with various forrest berry jams. I liked it, but as an East Frisian myself (who lives in Switzerland) I always gravitate back to our traditional tea ceremony :)

[@enemdisk6628]

I had a cup from a Brand called Thiele. Best cup of tea i’ve ever had. seriously. I order it regularly now. thank god they ship

[@careottjuice]

Good choice!!

[@tommysara]

Great! It’s from the city Emden 😊 Bünting Tea is very good as well! It’s the other original brand from East Frisia. This one is from the city Leer. I switch them - both are great in their own way!

[@missymoppel]

@@tommysara Yep, I prefer Bünting to Thiele. But both are good.

[@Gartenrocker]

Thiele... Beste! 🙂

[@Harzer-Roller]

@@careottjuice Thiele Gold

[@mr.trueno6022]

Visited East Frisia last year, staying in Leer (Ostfriesland). I myself am from southern Germany, but always felt a connection to the sea. I was only there 5 days during off-season, but I loved my time there. Calm, friendly people and definetly slower lifestyle than I'm used to. During those five days I walked around Leer, visited Emden and even took the ferry to Norderney. Also bought some local tea (Bünting, Thiele) and thoroughly learned the tea ceremony. After returning back home I introduced other people to this rather unkown culture of Germany. I love tea, the north sea and East Frisia! Won't be my last visit up there.

[@juleeeeee16]

Es freut mich das es dir bei uns in Leer gefallen hat :)

[@mr.trueno6022]

​@@juleeeeee16 Ich habe meine Zeit dort wirklich genossen. Ich war die paar Tage Ende Februar vor Ort, hatte sich spontan ergeben weil ich noch eine Woche Urlaub übrig hatte. Der Jahreszeit entsprechend war sehr wenig los, aber das hatte auch etwas. Im Herzen bin ich Norddeutscher und werde evtl. zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt im Leben (22 Jahre alt) in den Norden ziehen. Die Teezeremonie zelebriere ich aber seitdem regelmäßig auch hier im Süden, mir fehlt nur noch die stilechte Keramik! :)

[@mohhamedofthefirstworldjer7488]

I had some tea with the mayor then on my language exchange

[@Slad1989]

​@@mr.trueno6022 mach mal einen abstecher in emsland papenburg ist auch sehr schön ^^ durch die ganze stadt ziehen sich kanäle wo führ der torf bewegt wurde. die tour bei der mayer werft ist auch nice

[@silviaalberts9783]

Hi! Ich bin gerade über dieses Video 'gestolpert', freut mich sehr, dass es Ihnen bei uns gefallen hat 😊

[@Jane-gt6ef]

Interesting, thanks! As a tea lover, I appreciate this video a lot. Keep on tea drinking!

[@suev3339]

Same here… I’m the oddity in my family … tea totally!

[@trex70]

I am from germany and my ancestors come from the North (Niedersachsen. I live in the West). I drink about 2 Liter Tea a Day (every Day. Mostly Darjeeling First Flush) . Thats double the amount of an Ostfriesen. Tea is the best.Thank you for sharing and Thank you to the Netherlands for the tea.

[@de_anubis]

I'm from the south of germany, but my grandma always had Ostfriesentee. This and dark english blends are my favorite.

[@turpasauna]

How fascianating and beautiful! I had no idea of this unique culture. 😊 Greetings from Finland, from a tea lover.

[@Green-xw5hb]

As a son of an eastfriesian, I love our tea traditions!

[@Jeekheang]

I drink 7g (700-800ml) worth of tea daily and on weekend 21g (2100-2400mL) of tea. Easily over 400 L of tea per year for me. I'm inflating the US yearly tea consumption.

[@jrgptr935]

That's not really much, 1 litre corresponds to a little more than 3 cups... But could it be that you have forgotten the decimal point after the first digit in the weekend quantity, because that would be more than two cubic metres (i.e. over 2 tonnes of water), which is probably much more than is humanly possible? Best wishes from the Saarland! Das ist nicht wirklich viel, 1 Liter entspricht etwas mehr als 3 Tassen... Aber, kann es sein, daß Du bei der Wochenendmengenangabe nach der ersten Stelle das Komma vergessen hast, denn das wären mehr als zwei Kubikmeter (mithin über 2 Tonnen Wasser), was das menschenmögliche deutlich übersteigen dürfte? Liebe Grüße aus dem Saarland!

[@Jeekheang]

@@jrgptr935 You're right, i forgot the decimal point. Thanks for pointing it out.

[@katella]

​@@jrgptr935😂👍🏽

[@R3tr0humppa]

I come from near Hamburg, and I love my tea as a mixture of East Frisian, a bit of Earl Grey, spoonful of honey and a dash of cream. ^^

[@ColonelBummleigh]

Always something interesting from DW.

[@born2fren]

Lovely people, hope their tea legacy continues for generations to come!

[@intheengineroom]

They are a lovely and welcoming people. I enjoyed my visits to Friesland more than those I made to any other place in Europe. I was able to understand some Frisian much faster than I was able to understand either German or Dutch. Even after having studied German for five years in high school. If you are interested, the Upton Tea Company in the U.S. imports a wonderful "East Frisian Blend" that tastes just like the tea I remember from Friesland.

[@born2fren]

@@intheengineroom Thank you for sharing, will try to find it.

[@intheengineroom]

@@born2fren Upton has a website and great mail order service.

[@ShizoPrimmSlimm]

i never knew i needed a video that much

[@IamMaria3169]

Never thought that Germans took the top spot for tea drinkers in Europe. Always knew it was English. Such refreshing facts ☕️😊

[@serebii666]

That's because most Europeans have switched to primarily drinking coffee (especially the stereotypical tea drinkers of the UK), or soft drinks (especially Southern Europe). Having been throughout Germany, I can say their coffee culture is awful, even in big cities like Berlin and Munich. But I live in Prague, and the roastery and boutique café culture here is highly developed, so it might not be a fair comparison.

[@odinfromcentr2]

I thought it was the Russians.

[@dresden_slowjog]

Note, not (all) the Germans, only the (few) East-Frisians. Regarding the per capita tea consumption for *all Germans* we'd take only the 18th spot I read. I love both coffee and tea but come nowhere close to 300 litres per year. The majority of Germans prefers coffee.

[@adrianseanheidmann4559]

@@serebii666 " Having been throughout Germany, I can say their coffee culture is awful, even in big cities like Berlin and Munich." Yeah, we are quantity and ·"effect" drinker by and large not quality drinker. The classical German coffee always was "Filterkaffee",

[@serebii666]

@@adrianseanheidmann4559 Czechia's roasteries also make great coffee beans for filter too - local Prague companies like Candycane, La Boheme, Doubleshot have good selections for it, and lots of cafes collaborate with international roasteries like Round Hill or Climpson and sons from the UK or Stooker from NL. Cafés here likewise have filters on standby - they're part of the culture too, especially from the "turek" (where the lógr or kaffeesatz settles at the bottom of the cup) variant's historic popularity. Germany really has no excuse.

[@joshuamichael2421]

Love these documentaries so much!

[@jrgptr935]

Deutsche Welle. Ein angenehmer, freundlicher, sachlicher Rundfunk- und Fernsehsender (nur ohne Fernsehen) der bundesdeutschen Regierung (Staatsfernsehen, aber, soviel ich weiß, ziemlich frei von politischen Inhalten). Deutsche Welle. A pleasant, friendly, factual radio and television station (only without television) of the German federal government (state television, but, as far as I know, quite free of political content).

[@Lucy-uq9jy]

This was great to watch. Will add this area as a place I would like to visit when in Europe someday. Our local tea company in my area of the US is Harney & Sons, and they carry a blend called East Frisian which is the first I had heard of the region. It is one blend I like a lot. We have very hard well water here, so we filter it out to be softer, which now I appreciate more.

[@aryakafashi6443]

My best friend is from East Frisian. I don’t really get to drink a 2nd cup before she finishes the whole pot by herself.

[@christopherstein2024]

The cups are small thin and wide for fast drinking. If you wait to long it gets cold.

[@Mast3rOfBanana]

I grew up in East Frisia and always loved drinking Frisian tea at my aunt's house! So cool to see this!

[@sethtzizik5906]

Yes, as a American i had 3 full years of enjoyment living around OstFriesland, hooooaaaah !!! This was back around 1987 - 1990.

[@jenniferh1416]

I learned Dutch as an exchange student and had German classes in an English speaking country. Haven't traveled to East Frisia, only briefly through Friesland. It's fascinating hearing them speak their language and understanding most of it.

[@terryl.9302]

My mother made tea in the pot exactly as they do. Austro-Hungarian, but maybe some Frisian got mixed in there somehow ... lol. Always w/ milk & sugar.

[@DhananjayaBandara-z4c]

As a Sri Lankan studying in Germany, a good cup of tea is a rare find at cafes. Next time when I travel to the Netherlands, I will definitely make a stop at Leer or Emden

[@Linnivee]

A tip from a local: you should stop in both towns if you can. In Leer, ‘Bünting Tee’ is more popular, Emden is the home of ‘Thiele Tee’. Both types of tea are classic East Frisian, but (slightly) different in flavour. There is usually a split opinion as to which is the better flavour, so I think it would be interesting to try both.

[@DhananjayaBandara-z4c]

@Linnivee thank you for the insights. 😀 can you suggest me some authentic local cafes and tea shops? I love to have the real local experience whenever I travel

[@Linnivee]

​@@DhananjayaBandara-z4c Unfortunately I can't give you any tips for Emden, I'm rarely there. But the tea museum mentioned in the video is in Norden, not far from Emden and quite close to the railway station in Norden. In Leer, my home town, I can recommend the ‘Bünting Teehaus’ in the historic old town centre. A beautiful building that sells pretty much any kind of tea your heart desires, along with a small café where you can get a classic East Frisian cup of tea (and everything else, of course). Right next door is also a small tea museum that I can recommend.

[@arnoldzilban8274]

Really wonderful revelation of tea tradition in a surprising part of Europe!

[@susanne5803]

We've been to the Tea Museum in Norden a decade or more ago! Very worth visiting. Thank you very much!

[@OptimusWombat]

3:29 I'd be curious to see what the statistic is for Germany as a whole, rather than just East Frisia. I saw another stat that had Germany ranked 18th overall. I think also, that the unit of measurement matters. Here, we're seeing it ranked by volume of tea consumed, whereas the same rank table I looked at based it upon weight of tea leaves consumed per capita, which makes a difference depending on whether the culture likes their tea weaker or stronger relative to liquid volume.

[@malevolentia28]

i don't know why they had to cherry pick the data to prove Frisians were number one. Their way of drinking the tea is awesome, and doesn't need an artificial boost on the data. If you chose a what I'd call "tea hotspot" in a country, and not the entire country full of people who are outside this region, then took this hotspot's average but compared this data with the other countries and not those countries' own tea hotspots, you get this... weird result.

[@svens.2876]

My Grandfather is from East Frisia so through my mothers side we drink Thiele Tee since i can remember. Gotta admit I'm more the coffee type, but I still like the stuff and the history behind it.

[@LetMeThink007]

Never knew this… absolutely fascinating, and agree regarding the water issues. In U.K. and especially London, the water is very hard 😢

[@Lp-ze1tg]

First time seeing this. Interesting.

[@shirohanakurohana]

East Frisian here and happy to see this. ♡ Maybe make a video about our language, too! We speak low german, a mix of Dutch, German and English. ♡

[@AlgebraicAnalysis]

To be fair, if we're gonna be more geographically specific than whole countries in narrowing this down, you could probably find some Chinese village or town whose residents drink boatloads per head on average.

[@elizabethtoews7866]

My husband is Mennonite, Friesland origins, loves tea. Now ,I know why,!

[@Julaeable]

I'm East Frisian and it's really cool that our tea craze is getting known outside Germany 😊

[@mikepetersen7319]

And the East Frisian tea ceremony has become part of the World cultural heritage.

[@olafloder9262]

It's always so interesting how even in germany there are so big differences. I lived for some time in North Frisia. Not that much tea to find there but much more Pharisäer, Tote Tante and Grog, which I suppose is also common in East frisia.

[@firelunamoon]

It's interesting to hear how some of their dialect sounds closer to English than does the standard German.

[@barbarossarotbart]

That's because both Frisian and Low-German are not dialects of German but Germanic languages of their own.

[@censusgary]

Friesian is the modern language most closely related to English. High German (Hochdeutsch) is more distantly related to English.

[@spitalhelles3380]

Yes! I grew up in a Lower German speaking family. When I first learned English in school this became apparent to me with certain words. bottle - Buddel (Standard German Flasche) pot - Pott (Standard German Topf)

[@sarahmichael270244]

as a standard german, I don't understand any person who starts to talk "platt".

[@barbarossarotbart]

@@sarahmichael270244 It is not a German dialect, it is a completely different language.

[@Strictly_Jake]

Colonization was so awesome

[@randomcommenter7170]

I can't unhear it but they sound like British northerners speaking German especially the old guy bring interviewed

[@hgzhhghj1275]

That region "roughly" is where your ancestors came from, namely the Angles and the Saxons.. The local language they speak/ used to speak there is called "low German" which is different from standard German and more related to Dutch than standard German..

[@jueue2964]

​@hgzhhghj1275 I've heard Frisian was the closest to English in that regard. Is the German used there, low German, similar? I thought it was only or at least mostly used in the Netherlands. Can someone who speaks Frisian understand and communicate with someone from Germany speaking low German?

[@hgzhhghj1275]

@@jueue2964 The Frisians from what I know are some of the oldest tribes in Europe. They were scattered around the Netherlands, North of Germany and even some parts of Denmark I believe. Also in German some sort of Frisian exists I believe. Low German is more what they speak/used to speak in most parts of Northern Germany, not only Eastern Frisia. I'm not from there btw, I'm just a German dude who loves languages/foreign cultures, who lived in the Netherlands, speak some Dutch and decent English..

[@jueue2964]

@hgzhhghj1275 interesting. Was curious what you andnothers thought, seems like there's a good mix of folks leaving comments about it all. When I was in Germany I met a guy from somewhere around there and when he spoke, it literally sounded like English to me. Like someone speaking English but using a put on German accent, you know like the movies we have.. Ve vill go und zen eat ze dinna. Lol like one of those typical things. Literally sounded like a German speaker speaking English. I mean, some of it was literally words we use in English, it was amazing. So interesting.

[@jueue2964]

@hgzhhghj1275 left a comment but disappeared if it shows up ignore this I guess.. Interesting. All the connections and how the people moved and tribe interactions.. I met a guy when I was in Germany that was from around that way and when he spoke his language it literally sounded like a German person speaking English, just with a German accent.. sort of like the typical movie thing we have.. Ve vill eat ze dinna und zen play ze game. Literally sounded like he was just speaking English with an accent. It's amazing, it's all really interesting.

[@ZerosWolf]

I'm a proud east frisian and whenever I meet someone who never had our te before, I make them taste it. Most fall in love with it like me. I became kind of a tea broker for my world wide friends 😁

[@papa_pt]

Lol my first thought were the Chinese with all the tea legends and history they have

[@Eleolune696]

I think this statistic is skewed - It's contrasting a small part of germany, where tea is popular, with whole countries; China in particular is very large (and I mean, HUGE) and tea consumption propably varies greatly between different regions, as well as big cities and rural areas. If you were to focus on traditional tea producing areas like Yunnan, things would be looking different. But if you include a metropolis like Hong Kong, which on it's own has many many more people living in it than east frisia and where tea culturally does not play as big a role as in other parts of china, you are more likely to get a result like this.

[@katella]

​@@Eleolune696of course it is skewed. German television is always like that. Must be some deep rooted inferiority complex that makes them always need to draw attention to themselves in a way that puts them on top. They like to think that the rest of the world looks up to them, is inferior to them or at least less admired(😂). They play with statistics to say that they are on top in the most absurd ways. Like this tea drinking example. They also like to promote the idea that the rest of the world thinks about Germany more often than they do. For example, if you write a novel, include some mention of Germany, or a character that is German and the book will be promoted in Germany, you will be invited to appear on German talk shows and you will sell a lot of books there. Funny, isn't it? Maybe other countries do this as well, but I noticed this during my many years of living in Germany and lifelong association with Germans. Watch German television with this in mind and you will see it too.

[@Simonsvids]

Interestingly, the teas used for this tea are from plantations first established and owned by the British, i.e. Assam and Ceylon, and not the Dutch East India company. The Assam variety of the tea plant (and the only one native variety outside China) was discovered by a Scotsman, and Assam was under UK rule at the time, as well as Ceylon. It appears therefore that these Frisian Germans owe as much to the British, as well as to the Dutch, for their tea drinking habit.

[@Flan67]

Now I am really curious to see how Frisia is.

[@miskatonic6210]

Wide, plain, monotonous, many channels and more friesian cows than people.

[@TrinityProcessing]

Very flat, it has a certain rough beauty too it that you can learn to love... windy as heck aswell haha

[@Mast3rOfBanana]

Flat. Windy. Maritime. And lots of cows. I remember missing classes because I had to wait for cows to cross the road for so long lol.

[@rowanstarling3816]

I'm an American who absolutely loves tea and drink it all day long in many different forms and blends. That being said, when I did my ancestry, I was surprised to find that I have dozens and dozens of German ancestors, from the Baden-Wurttemberg area, so West Germany. My son and I would love to go to Germany someday. I love this video.

[@LETMino85]

In that region people also start to sound more English. Like that lady saying "Stop" (exactly like in English) and not "Schtop" like everywhere else in Germany, pretty much.

[@checkcommentsfirst3335]

No. That's the former Northern German dialect of "Plattdeutsch". The real Frisian is rarely spoken (mainly only in Saterland). There may be some minor influences though.

[@graup1309]

@@checkcommentsfirst3335 well, I mean technically there are three Frisian languages currently recognised as regional or minority languages in Europe: Frisian (in the Dutch part of Frisia), Saterfrisian (in a few villages in East Frisia) and North Frisian (in Schleswig-Holstein). But of them Saterfrisian is certainly doing the worst, whereas speaker numbers especially in the Netherlands are relatively solid. Saterfrisian is not likely to make it through this century and Speaker numbers of North Frisian are also dwindling, bc German minority language politics do leave quite a bit to be desired and the social climate surrounding the topic is also not great. That being said Frisian would also not have the st -> 'sht' development. That is a feature of Upper German dialects, which Standard German is a part of. Other members of the West Germanic language family generally do not do this (apparently East Low German is the odd one out here). This includes the other continental West Germanic languages (Low German, Dutch and Afrikaans) but also the Anglofrisian languages (The Frisian languages, English and Scots) (no promises made for Pidgins and Creoles that draw from these languages but placing these within language families is difficult anyways. Also the term in general is a little controversial but that really doesn't matter here)

[@pinky6758]

The Anglo-Saxons immigrated to the british isles from northern Germany. You will find many words in the english language and pronounciation that go back to the north-german dialect. For example "zwo" turned into "two" and "reep" turned into "rope".

[@weisthor0815]

without the norman victory and invasion after the battle of hastings in 1066 the english would still speak old english today and would be very capable of understanding frisian, because frisian is the closest to old english still spoken today.

[@stephanieiv1163]

My father grew up in Spiekeroog and his English was more or less the Frisian he grew up speaking on the island. We visited Belgium and he managed to hold conversations in his dialect with the Flemish.

[@linabrink2718]

I’m east Frisian and I approve this message 👍🏻

[@psammiad]

Frisian is the language most closely related to English. Anglo-Saxons and Frisians share a common ancestry, so it's not surprising we both like tea!

[@davedevosbaarle]

What I heard in the video from the local dialect in Ostfriesland sounded more like Dutch than like Frisian to me. I think Frisian is hardly spoken anymore outside the Dutch province of Friesland, some 50 km west of Otsfriesland.

[@andreasrademacher5715]

For anyone wondering: No one in this video is speaking the local dialect (or rather language). You only might recognize a certain "twang" while speaking Standard German. The language spoken in East-Friesland is not Frisian any more, except for very few people, whose ancestors moved from the coast into the Rheiderland (just south of the territory) 1000 years ago, bacause of flooding. The language of the East Frisians is Low Saxon or Low German that overtook in the past centuries. Still very distinct and different from Standard High German, though. But unfortunately it is almost a dead language now, since real speakers, for whom it was their first language are almost all gone, like my father. When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s, almost everybody older then me spoke it, maybe except the cities. But for me and my peers, due to TV and uniformal education - Standard German was the first language, with a few exeptions.

[@ukwediaa.8661]

l lived in "Neufunnixsiel" for three years and I love the culture of Ostfriesentee!

[@simontinisensarma9399]

India should be at the top for tea consumption, period.

[@andorrasrevenge1683]

This is awesome! As a fellow tea drinker from southern USA!

[@xXxSkyViperxXx]

me drinking tea while watching this video

[@dravydra30]

To keep us warm during cold winter days, we also put some rum into the tea!

[@sandie157]

Certainly new to me. I would never associate tea with Germany. Hot chocolate, coffee , yes. Tea never. Thanks enjoyed this and also learning about a community of sub- Germanic cultural ethnic group. 🩷

[@FelicityUwU]

Tea drinking cultures such as this one must be very hydrated over all. I'm happy for them lol

[@wdolgae]

I have to say, I do like the LARGE variety of tea from China though. The different types, and the different locations that produce it... so much variety!

[@anthimatter]

The thought of adding sugar and cream to my tea isn't pleasing to me but I'm happy to see tea enjoyed so much. I just prefer my tea unadulterated.

[@margritpiepes8242]

Moin moin ! East Frisian Tea is good stuff a lot of east Frisian things are great ,Food 👍🏻Tea👍🏻 Korn( clear schnapps 70%, almost like vodka is good if you have a cold you put that in tea with kluntjes wich is candied sugar ) I love east Friesia .

[@fuckinantipope5511]

Moin Moin ist schon Gesabbel

[@thecalmcharismatic]

As an avid tea drinker..i am beyond fascinated. Hadn't heard of this ritual

[@censusgary]

Friesian is the modern language most closely related to English. It has a lot of commonality with neighboring languages, Low German (Plattdeutsch). Dutch (Nederlandisch) and Flemish.

[@leviturner3265]

I thought that the language Dutch was called Höllandisch, or is that a different language/dialect than what you call Nederlandisch?

[@censusgary]

@@leviturner3265 As far as I know, Hollandisch is the same language as Nederlandish. But properly speaking, Holland is only one area of the Netherlands, the country that also contains 10 other provinces (besides North Holland and South Holland).

[@VolkerWendt-vq8pi]

​@@leviturner3265it's not Frisian at all, though some words have remained. It's kind in between Low German and Dutch.

[@leviturner3265]

@@censusgary I did not know that. I assumed it was called Hollandisch because some regions of The Netherlands speak dialects of German, and Hollandisch would be a differential word, as closer to Holland it is more commonly spoken. I have never been to the Netherlands, so I am probably wrong. Maybe it is just the border regions where German is spoken. To be fair though Dutch is a language instead of a dialect for political reasons. From my limited knowledge it is very similar to northern German dialects.

[@censusgary]

@@leviturner3265 Linguists have a proverb: A language is a dialect with an army behind it. A dialect is a language that doesn’t have its own army.

[@Tipi_Dan]

A very rich, unique, and mature tea-drinking culture. Fascinating.

[@fabiandimaspratama]

I thought Frisian is in the Netherlands? 😂 Btw, Indonesia is also a country with strong tea drinking habit. It's the classic beverage to drink after eating, either in restaurant just for personal breakfast/lunch/dinner or in a big party, informal or formal, serving guests or just serving your own at home, served hot or iced. Plus, there are many variants & flavors of bottled tea beverage here.

[@glorialiedtke8931]

Frisia is kind of split in half. West Frisia is in the Netherlands and East Frisia is in Germany. The difference between is pretty just in the passport.

[@christopherstein2024]

@@glorialiedtke8931 Frisians used to settle large parts of the coast between France and Denmark basically. The remaining people that speak Frisian are overwhelmingly In Westfrisland. In Germany they are a few in Saterland and some more in Northfrisland. East Frisians speak a German language that comes from the Saxon tribe and not from the Frisians. The Saterland Frisians are the only East Frisians by language coming from Frisian settlers that left the coast. We had different Germanic tribes in Europe with diverging languages that created the modern regions. From Austria to the Netherlands it's one single gradient and to me these are all Germans with regional differences. The people from Eastfrisland are more similar to the people in the Netherlands and the Bavarians are more similar to the people in Austria. Different Germans in different countries. Dutch is called dutch for a reason.

[@Game_Hero]

Frisia is a divided nation, at risk everywhere from assimilation.

[@walterbhode]

What a beautiful new thing to learn! Congratulations to all

[@baasmans]

Funny how most of those East Frisian words are more similar to Dutch or Northern Dutch Dialects than actual Frisian. “Klontje” with Dutch diminutive rather than Frisian “klontsje”

[@VolkerWendt-vq8pi]

It's because we don't speak Frisian anymore.

[@christopherstein2024]

They speak Saxon German not Frisian. And mostly the old people. It's not looking to well for Platt here.

[@ZambiblasianOgre]

​@@christopherstein2024That's such a shame.

[@alex-E7WHU]

What s lovely place, i would enjoy a break there for a nice cuppa or three..👍⚒️

[@DWFood]

You and me both!

[@upsidedownbagofflour697]

I wonder if East Frisians drink more tea than Tibetans. Tibetans practically use tea as a food source

[@danika9411]

When there was a food shortage after WWII, people had food stamps. The east frisians were famous for trading their meat stamps for tea stamps with others 😂 I think they would get along well 🤝

[@Linealo]

I'm one of the people from that region that causes it to be 300L per Person even though there's some that rarely drink any. From my 2-3L of drinks a day, 80% are tea. Not always black tea mind you, but a 1L a day black tea for sure, most likely more and the rest is herbal infusions or other blends like jasmine and green tea or Oolong variants. Growing up I drank tea, being in high school I jobbed in quality control and while going abroad for a while I actually imported my favourite teas simply because there's a familiar taste to the blends from home. And when there's company over or a gathering somewhere, you better be sure I rather have about 2L of tea over an afternoon than drink 4 bottles of beer of equal amounts.

[@jrgptr935]

Kommt wahrscheinlich darauf an, ob man danach schlafen können möchte... Probably depends on whether you want to be able to sleep afterwards...

[@NicholasHay1982]

The narration sounds like an AI bot.

[@ms_cartographer]

This sounds lovely! ❤

[@phthalobleue]

interesting that the video at the beginning does not mention China, where tea originated.

[@jckonstanz]

My favourite time of the day is tea time. I grew up near Bremen and my mother who has East Frisian roots drinks her tea in exactly this way and so do I now.

[@squaretriangle9208]

The wonderful aesthetic of it

[@benryhaskerville7690]

As an East Frisian inhabitant myself, I feel most delighted by seing that our great tea culture is now made known to the english speaking tea world as well! I can highly recommend anyone who has not tried east frisian tea so far, to give it a go, but mind the strength, it's able to keep you up at night, enjoyed too late in the evening ☕ Cheers to every fellow tea enjoyer :⁠-⁠)

[@katella]

It gave me a headache and made me dizzy.🤷🏽

[@ohmypaper]

5:08 the Russians use the word “Чай”, which is “Chai” for “tea”, sounds exactly like “Chai” in Turkish (simply because once upon a time Turkey started importing tea from Russia, hence the word, and the Turkish “Semaver” too, which derives from the Russian “Samovar”), now you know ❤

[@pqlasmdhryeiw8]

In the world, there are 2 main words for tea: "chai" and "te". The word people use depends on the method of transport.

[@serebii666]

@@pqlasmdhryeiw8 Not exactly. It also relates to nationalism. In Czechia and Slovenia, tea was first imported through north Germany (especially the port of Hamburg) in the latter half of the 18th century, and was introduced into these languages as "té" from the German "tee". However, due to the emerging National Revival of these cultures and a desire to purge and limit themselves of German influence and dominance, the neologism of "čaj" from Russian began to be used by novelists and the intelligentsia around the 1830-40s, as pan-Slavism afforded Russia a privileged position as the only independent and moreover great power Slavic state (before they were disillusioned by Russia putting down the Hungarian revolt for Austria in 1852). By the 1890s čaj had entered into daily language and began to push out "té". Today té still exists in regional dialects, but mostly to refer to strong medicinal brews of tea. Polish, Belarussian and Lithuanian likewise say a variation of "herbata" from neo-Latin "herba tea", again derived from German Baltic trade networks, but refer to tea pots as "czajnik", again derived from their history of domination under Russia.

[@obiwan88]

The origin of the word for tea in any culture is either based on "cha", which is the pronuniciation from Cantonese language of Guangzhou province, or "teh", which is the pronunciation from Hokkien language speaking region of Fujian. Feeling quite ridiculous I have to type this, Netizens are truly ignorant. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_tea

[@nineteenfortyeight]

True but​ get over yourself, @@obiwan88 You are not our only hope

[@ChrisRAHE-i6r]

تحياتنا لقناتكم،،، كثيرا من الأجانب لايعرفون عن شرب الشاي وهذه الثقافه الرائعه، ،،،وبهذه الطريقه،،،في المانيا، فعلا طريقة حضاريه جميله بشرب الشاي بهذه الطريقه واستعمال النوع الجيد من البورسلان الجيد والفناجين المخصصه لشرب الشاي وإضافة الكريمه والسكر الخاص لهذا الشاي ،عندما تسكب الشاي عليها يعطيك صوتا مريحا ،،،والى جانب الشاي تقدم قطعة من الكاتو الجميل . فعلا ...تعطيك راحة نفسيه كبيره والاستمتاع .... كان لي الحظ ان زرت إحدى العائلات في مناطق ثكناهم وتعرفت عل هذه الثقافة الرائعه..،.شكرا لقناتكم

[@katella]

You are so right. Wherever you are in the world and are served something with thought and humility it is something to be appreciated. A nice piece of homemade cake also makes you feel welcome.😊