page_title: East Frisia
section_title: Tea
hierarchical_section_title: East Frisia / Culture / Tea
context_page_description: East Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony. It is the section of Frisia in between West Frisia and Middle Frisia in the Netherlands and North Frisia in Schleswig-Holstein.
  Administratively Ostfriesland belongs to three districts, namely Aurich, Leer, Wittmund and to the city of Emden. There are 465,000 people living in an area of 3,144.26 square kilometres.
  There is a chain of islands off the coast, called the East Frisian Islands. These islands are Borkum, Juist, Norderney, Baltrum, Langeoog, Spiekeroog and Wangerooge.
context_section_description: In an otherwise coffee drinking country, East Frisia is noted for its consumption of tea and its tea culture. Per capita, the East Frisian people drink more tea than any other people group, about 300 litres per person every year. Strong black tea is served whenever there are visitors to an East Frisian home or other gathering, as well as with breakfast, in mid-afternoon and mid-evening. The tea is sweetened with kluntjes, a rock candy sugar that melts slowly, allowing multiple cups to be sweetened. Heavy cream is also used to flavour the tea. The tea is generally served in traditional small cups, with little cookies during the week and cake during special occasions or on weekends as a special treat. Brown rum, mixed with kluntjes and left for several months, is also added to black tea in the winter. The tea is alleged to cure headaches, stomach problems, and stress, among many other ailments.
  The tea is not only a kind of beverage for the population, but also part of its cultural tradition. Over the years the region developed a unique tea ceremony that can be strictly observed in older households. As a part of these rules, the oldest woman in the round has to serve the other guests with tea, starting with the second oldest and then going down in age regardless of gender. The "kluntje" must be placed inside the teacup before the tea is poured right on top of it. After that some heavy cream is added carefully just as a top layer so it can make "clouds" (wulkjes) that swim on the tea itself. It's then forbidden to stir the tea, so the layers stay mild, strong and then sweet from top to bottom. Depending on the area of East Frisia, the tea can also be poured out of the cup into its saucer and drunk from there. If you don't want any more tea, you have to put your spoon into the cup or else the host will refill your cup immediately after everyone in the round finished their current cup of tea.
caption: A cup of East Frisian tea with cream
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