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While I tried many teas during my stay in Germany, there are few I know enough about to write about here. I would like to note that tea is far more popular in Germany than here in the US. And the kind of tea that is drunken is far more variable than what you would find in the UK. It seems that people really enjoy herbals of all kinds. In fact, they like to drink them for the healing properties, such as fennel tea for digestion. There’s also a large demand for rooibos and fruit teas. And I’m not the hugest expert on German tea drinking, but even green tea seems more popular than black. Maybe it’s just the people I know. In short, Germany is a great place for tea lovers. They seem to take tea with lemon juice and rock sugar. When I added a bit of milk to mine, everyone was like “oo, so British.” hah!

I also looked into getting some German rock sugar that I hear so much about. Funnily enough, when I went into a local supermarket, the rock sugar was being marketed as British. I’m a bit confused. I bought some other dark sugar instead. I don’t know if I got rock sugar. I’m confused. I need to do some research.

While visiting with my husband’s family in Germany, I spent a bit of time in Chemnitz. It’s a small city with a nice down town shopping center area. I spotted this coffee/tea shop next to a place selling regional hand carved Christmas decorations. I just saw the word “tee” and I ran straight for it with my husband and brother-in-law following reluctantly. There’s a decent selection of tea here and the lady working there was really serious and knowledgeable about tea. I ordered a cup of Kukicha to go and I was really impressed with the care she took to brew it properly. Usually, even at upscale tea places, they just add some leaves and hot water and hand you the cup, leaving you to wonder at the temperature and how long the tea had been in there already. She took her time and let the water cool, added the leaves, timed the steeping, then took out the leaves at the appropriate time. The resulting tea was perfectly brewed and delicious.

The BIL ordered a 125 gram bag of this tea. (Yes, I’m finally getting to the tea). He had meant it as a present for someone, but then found out that he didn’t need to give this gift after all. I received this tea instead. Score! I had no idea what a maracuja was and no one was able to explain it to me. Apparently, it’s a passion fruit, but it seems that that yellow variety is more common in Germany (or so I’m told). It’s got other tropical fruit flavors in it also. I think the leaves are large and lovely but the flavor is so crazy! It’s really fruity but it tastes so odd and candy-like. It doesn’t really taste like passionfruit. I’m not really liking the flavoring but the tea itself is a good quality. I think I’ll give it back next time we’re in Germany. He seemed interested in trying some himself.