Saturday, June 29, 2013

Germany and Tea


Don’t think of Germany as a major tea country?  You may want to think again. 
While Germans may not be known for being major tea drinkers[1], Germany is actually a power house in the tea community.  Indeed, Hamburg Germany is considered by some to be the tea trade capital of Europe because about 70% of all tea traded in continental Europe is handled in the city.[2]

How much tea do Germans drink?  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Netherlands reports that Germany is the third largest tea consumer in the European Union, with a market share of 10%.[3]  East Frisia is Germany’s top tea drinking region, drinking 12 times the national average.[4]   East Frisia, a region in northern Germany, has a robust “teatime” tradition dating back to the 17th century.  East Frisian tea is typically “a thick, dark, malty tea served in espresso-size porcelain cups” with “a piece of rock sugar in the bottom and heavy cream.”[5]

As noted by the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, Germans are known to “have a reputation for demanding the highest quality” in tea.[6] Indeed, the German Tea Association has adopted a Code of Practice for Quality Assurance.  The Code provides guidelines for tea sampling and issues requirements for pesticide examination.[7]

I visited the booths of a few Germany companies while attending the World Tea Expo 2013.
 
Halssen and Lyons impressed me with their innovative design in their new product tea to go, that is “Teatogo.”  Teatogo is a tea bag integrated into a disposable cups lid. 
When steeping is complete, the user simply pulls the tea bag into a pocket in the lid to remove it from the liguor without needing to remove it from the cup. Halssen and Lyons gave me a sample to try and I found getting rid of the tea bag was fast, clean and easy.  No wonder Halssen and Lyons patented their Teatogo system.

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Regards,
Sara and Andrea

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