the hotter the better

It's been exactly a year since I took my mother to Vienna. Was surprised at the variety of tea options there were in this coffee-centric city, and here's what I had to say about Wiens Teehandlung Schönbichler

It wasn't the date that reminded me but the warmer weather. It was actually really quite hot then, and I got to thinking about all the iced tea drinking I read about at this time of year.

I'm not an iced tea drinker. I really don't get it. All I taste is ice. Sure, I've had iced tea. And there were certainly times, when I was much younger, that I dumped a ton of sugar into a glass of iced tea and stirred to no avail...all the sugar sank to the bottom anyway.

Have no idea if this is scientifically accurate, but I've heard that it actually takes more energy for your body to convert the ice cold liquid to your body's temperature than to simply drink hot or even room temperature liquid. So, no matter how hot it gets, I still happily drink very hot tea. Happily.

pondering tea trends

Found an interesting article in the local paper about trends in tea drinking, and wanted to bring them up here. Maybe you've already heard about these. The title of the article is Teerapie, which is a mix of the German words for tea and therapy.

One thing I like is that the author reports on a thriving tea culture in Vienna, which I was surprised to find last year. He introduces us to Bubble tea, which although I've read plenty about, I have yet to try. According to the article, there are hordes of teenagers drinking wild shades of these tea-based concoctions in the epicenter of coffee culture.

Not just for youngsters, there's also a more traditionalist streak in tea shops. Not just in Vienna but in Munich, as well. The German speaking world is trying Matcha not just as a beverage, but sprinkled on ice cream and as a spice in a variety of rice dishes.

The biggest trend that the writer supports is that tea is growing in popularity while the demand for specialty coffee is actually decreasing. He specifically cites the example of American tea drinking and quotes Wired magazines pronouncement that 'Tea is the New Coffee'.

There's already quite a substantial business in Germany. 18,000 tons of tea annually and growing.

The article ends in the shadow of the Stephansdom back in Vienna. Hass und Haas is a wonderful place I took my mother for tea. If you asked me to list the stereotypical trappings of a traditional afternoon tea, this place had all of them. No matter where the trends take us, there's still plenty of room for a bit of tradition.

Wiens Teehandlung Schönbichler

From the Stephansdom (Vienna's cathedral), you round the block and see a tea shop which is clearly from an earlier era. There are teas displayed in the show window that prove this shop has some of the rarest Darjeelings. They were not shy promoting what the Germans call Flugtee (the newest First Flush brought in by plane).




You step inside, and you're transported back at least a century. There are huge canisters that the tea-seller will pull off the shelves and let you both admire and smell the leaves.





After a few minutes of admiring the tea sets and paraphernalia, you notice that there's a little loft above the showroom with comfortable seats and pillows. You climb the short flight of stairs and can look out over the shop to watch the customers flow in and out to ask questions and peruse the tea. There are books about tea, as well as Vienna , that you can peruse while you wait for your tea, but once it arrives, all you can do is sit quietly and let the world outside bustle by.

What's the point of fruit tea?

You'll have to excuse me for being a bit down this evening, and that's partly why I'm mailing it in. Have done my best to not write too much about the football here over the last several weeks, and tonight I'll simply say that Spain was a far better team than anyone Germany had seen thus far in the tournament. The better team definitely won tonight, and I hope the Final is as exciting as this Semi-final was.

You're going to have to excuse this blogpost tonight. I just don't have it in me to be inventive or entertaining after the emotions that've been spilled on my floor while watching that match.

My mother's been in Germany for a week, and spent the last few days in Oberammergau where she saw the Passion Play (Yes, the one that's caused so much controversy about Anti-Semitism over the years). She returned to Munich today with some fruit tea from Upper Bavaria. I was happy to prepare it for her, but had no intention of drinking the stuff.

I did look at the *tea* though. Poured it out on the counter and looked at the leaves, even though they're not really leaves per se. I've dealt with the what is/isn't tea on this blog before. I know fruit tea isn't considered real tea by purists, but I use the term infusion when I talk about multiple steepings. Even though I prefer tea from the Camellia sinensis plant, I don't have any qualms about calling other things tea. Within reason. I'm not going to go into what I don't consider tea. Just thinking about that topic makes me sleepier than I already was.

Here's my thing about fruit tea, though. The un-steeped tea looked delicious...really fresh, delicious fruit. But then I steeped it, served it to my mom, and had a cup so I could tell you about it. No matter how good the quality of the dried Hibiscus leaves, various dried berries and unspecified aroma were, the fruit tea really didn't taste any different from the most generic supermarket bagged tea. There was just no noticeable difference.

The more delicate my taste gets, the more excited I get when I can try something new and compare it. This was not worth the anticipation. Fruit tea. What the hell's the point?

Tomorrow, we're off to Vienna. You might only think of coffee when thinking of Vienna, but I assure you that there's a tea drinking culture there. I intend to write plenty about it the next several days. Something to look forward to, eh? Hope you stick around.