Autumn teas: hot for cuddly feel-good moments

To make a tea? Of course, goes fast: tea bags in the cup, pour boiling water over it, let it draw for a short time and ready. A real tea connoisseur will not be tempted behind the warmer, but what's the point? Quite eager contemporaries save even the use of kettle or whistling kettle and use the microwave to heat the tea water in the cup right away. But this is basically completely okay so, with the cheap teabags from the discounter one tastes anyway no difference anymore. Phew - I can literally hear how the tea lovers from Ostfriesland to China quietly crackle up the hackles. But do not worry, my dear pitcher preheater, water temperature meter and brew time second counter? you too should come at your expense here and today, I promise.

Tea during the seasons

As I sit and write here, thick raindrops splash against the windowpanes. The outdoor thermometer reports chilly 9 degrees (did not we just have a seemingly endless heat wave?) And gusts of wind sweep dry leaves over the cobblestones. The fall can no longer be denied and Berlin sinks in the old familiar wet gray. As a soothing counterpart to the gloomy view from the window, a cup of golden orange pekoe tea steams next to me. Not that my tea consumption depends on the weather? I drink tea all year round, only the varieties change with the seasons. While in the spring and summer months rather fresh and light green teas are announced, it may be in autumn and winter also strong-aromatic black teas.

I usually drink herbal tea only for medical reasons, but then I like to do something good with the nice feeling. For a delicious cup of tea, I let each coffee light hearted and even in the morning, when many people without their usual caffeine kick at all, not in the corridors. But what makes a good tea? The variety? The price? Or is it only a question of the right preparation after all?


Teabag versus loose tea

And now we have arrived at the most controversial of all tea-related questions: What tastes better, tea bags or loose tea? Since the (rather accidental) invention of the teabag at the beginning of the 20th century, the ghosts are divorcing on this question. Let's see what actually says the statistics on the subject? The result is quite clear: In Germany, about 80 percent of all tea drinkers use the practical tea bags and only 20 percent prepare their tea from loose tea leaves. The reasons for this are likely to be the time savings and the significantly lower labor and material costs.

Contrary to a widespread rumor, teabags are by no means used to process the waste produced during tea production. The main difference lies solely in the size of the plant material used: Loose tea often consists of whole or at least larger parts of the tea leaf, which still expand vigorously when brewing. Since there is simply no room for this process in a tea bag, the tea makers fill their bags with small leaf fragments, the so-called fannings and tea dust, which is called Dust. The quality of teas used in teabags is therefore at least theoretically equal to the quality of loose teas, since both products are made from the same crops.

So far the theory? My own, totally subjective tea experience looks like this: The more attention I pay to tea preparation, the happier I am with the result. Teabags quickly reach their limits. For loose tea, I have felt much more ways to positively influence the final result. But, as I said, that is subjective and certainly also due to my slightly pedantic nature. To put it in a nutshell: In some ways, it can not be complicated enough for me.


The favorite teas of the Germans

Although green teas have been steadily gaining in popularity for several years, black tea, with a consumption share of 72 percent, is still clearly in the lead. Each German drinks about 28 liters of one of these two varieties per year. Really every German? No! With 300 liters of black tea per capita, the Ostfriesen are not only the absolute top consumers in Germany, but also hold the world record with this impressive amount. Are there among you readers perhaps one or the other inhabitants of East Frisia, who can confirm this enormous consumption? In any case, I find this number remarkable.

Even better than green or black teas, most Germans, however, seem to taste herbal and fruit teas: with around 70 liters per capita, consumption here is more than twice as high. Peppermint tea is the undisputed leader with 13.9 percent, followed by fennel tea (10.9 percent) and chamomile tea (10.3 percent).

Tea - more than just a drink

Regardless of variety, ranking or preparation, a cup of hot tea in the fall is first and foremost one thing: Soul Balm.If it storms outside, raining or snowing, there is nothing more comfortable for me than switching off tea on the sofa with a good book and a pot of tea. The whole thing can only be topped if a pack of my favorite personal cookies comes into play. In this sense: What is your best tea feel-good moment? Is there a ritual that turns every pot of tea you cook into a small tea ceremony? Let us participate in the comments!

"One drinks tea to forget the noise of the world."

T'ien Yi-heng, Chinese scholar

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