About the teapot, candy and the silance

A little journey through East Frisian tea history!

We East Frisians are not only record holders when it comes to drinking tea, we also enjoy preparing it in our own way. For most of us it is not only part of our everyday life but also our way of life.
Tea has been drunk in East Friesland since the 17th century.Our “black gold” came from China into our kitchens via the early trade routes.With the large merchant ships it went across the wide seas to the other side of the world through wind and weather. A dangerous journey, because the sea often showed its rough side. But neither the meter-high waves nor stories about the sea monsters lurking in the depths could keep the sailors from their voyage. It was only important that the valuable goods arrived safely at their home port. The crew was always relieved when the seagulls greeted them again on the East Frisian coast. So the East Frisian tea culture was born and became an indispensable companion to our daily structure.

How closely we were connected with this was already evident under the rule of the Prussians, from 1744-1806. The "old Fritz", as King Frederick II was popularly called, wanted to prohibit the coastal inhabitants from drinking tea.He probably saw beer sales at risk due to the high tea consumption and wanted to counteract this. But the East Frisian people were not ready to do without it and so a lively smuggling of the valuable goods began. The king had to realize that he couldn't stop the people by the sea from drinking their beloved tea. So he then allowed his subjects to enjoy the dried leaves from the Middle Kingdom.In the two world wars, from which East Friesland was not spared, there were "tea-emergency  times" again. However, the monthly rations issued on food stamps during World War II were not enough to cover tea consumption. So the East Frisians drove to the Ruhr area. There they exchanged food for the “heavyworkers allowances” that the miners received in tea rations. But also the women of the mining worker, which were called "Teewievkes" in eastfrisian, traveled to the coast to exchange the black leaves for eggs and bacon. After the tea tax sung around 1955, the people at the sea could again afford as much tea as they needed.

Since it has been an integral part of the East Frisian way of life to this day, it was accepted as an intangible cultural heritage by the UNESCO Commission in 2016.