LL-L "Delectables" 2003.09.28 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 28.SEP.2003 (06) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Delectables

Dear Lowlanders,

As probably all of you know, Europe, its former colonies and these days
pretty much all of the world's countries, use tea and coffee as their
pick-me-up drinks of choice, even though neither tea nor coffee originated
in Europe.  In most countries, either coffee or tea predominates.  In some
cases, minorities' or regions' preferences differ from those of the rest of
the countries in which they happen to be located.

It is definitely no secret that Britain and Ireland, and in extension
Australia and New Zealand, are well known for their traditional preference
for tea and for what might be termed their "tea cultures," something that
sticks out in Americans' and Continental Europeans' mental images of the
inhabitants of Britain and British-influenced countries.  "Tea" having come
to denote an evening meal seems to be symptomatic (something Americans find
quite amusing, so I converted to saying "dinner" soon after my arrival in
the States).  (Note also the British tendency toward considering tea,
despite its caffeine content, a comforting and soothing drink, something
that strikes people in other countries as odd, for instance when in British
plays someone caring offers someone else a cup of tea after they have just
been a through traumatic experience and their nerves are frayed -- something
that does not seem to have a "coffee culture" counterpart, other than
offering something alcoholic.)

I suppose there are fairly well documented historical reasons for the
preference for tea in the said countries.  Coffee and "coffee cultures" are
definitely predominant in today's Continental Western Europe.  French _café_
breaks, Italian _caffè_ "cults," and German and Austrian afternoon _Kaffee_
and cake "institutions" with their _kaffe_, _kaffi_ and _kahvi_ counterparts
in Northern Europe are well known examples.  Farther east, tea predominates,
especially in Russia and its (former) colonies (mostly Turkic- and
Iranian-speaking ones), through some of which tea reached Russia from China
and India and in all of which tea predominates.  As far as I know, some "in
between" countries, such as Poland, can be viewed as more or less balanced
bridges between the eastern world of tea and the western world of coffee.

(Note, however, that "herbal" tea for medicinal purposes was used throughout
Eurasia, including Western Europe, and to a certain extent in Africa and in
the Americas as well, a long, long, long time before "modern" North American
culture discovered "alternative" medicine, a long, long, long time before
European colonization of the Americas, in fact.)

I am now (finally) getting to the point of discussion: Friesland.

Question: Why is it that Friesland (or parts thereof) has a "tea culture"
rather than a "coffee culture," even though Frisian culture is overshadowed
by Dutch, Lowlands Saxon (Low German) and German cultures (and in the past
also Jutish/Danish culture), all of which are now predominantly of the
coffee type?

Let me mention for the benefit of those of you who are not already aware of
this that tea culture has been developed into something of a fine art
especially in Eastern Friesland -- an area in Northwestern Germany in which
the Frisian language is extinct (replaced first by Lowlands Saxon and now by
German) but more or less noticeable Frisian cultural traits have survived
along with a fairly strong separate identity.  East Frisian tea meetings are
not unlike traditional English tea "ceremonies."  East Frisian tea is
traditionally drunk with lumps of rock sugar and a dollop of extra heavy
cream resting in the bottom of the cup, *resting*, never to be stirred, to
be enjoyed with the last sips of tea (something not unlike some traditional
Russian coffee practices in which rock sugar or cherry jam rests in the
bottom of the cup).

Is Frisian tea culture a separately developed entity?  Is it connected with
British tea culture?  Is it a remnant, an expression of conservatism,
perhaps a sign of rejection of the dominant cultures that had been converted
from tea to coffee (probably by way of following French fashions in the 18th
century)?  More specifically, did Frisian tea culture begin with the Dutch
spice trade?  Note that the tea sorts of choice in Eastern Friesland are
Indian by origin, not Chinese or specifically Indonesian.  Did this begin
with Dutch imports from Sri Lanka (formerly "Ceylon")?  Note also that,
however, Frisian tea services of choice are made of blue-and-white china,
designed pretty much in the tradition of Dutch-style _chinoiserie_ vessels
and tiles (i.e., those with Chinese-inspired designs).

Can anyone enlighten me/us further?

Thanks in anticipation.
Reinhard/Ron

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