Coffee and cake Where the British have tea and biscuits, the Germans have Kaffee und Kuchen, coffee and cake. At 4pm, people will either go to a café or visit friends for coffee and cake. This social tradition makes getting to know your colleagues and your neighbours easier, and is made even more pleasant by the array of mouth-watering cakes, biscuits, sweets and baked delights on offer. You could try die Sachertorte, Austrian chocolate cake, Käsekuchen, cheesecake, or the amusingly named puffed pastry concoction der Windbeutel, literally 'wind bag'. And, of course, there is the world famous Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Black Forest Gateau. Coffee is a must on these occasions, and tends to be lighter in flavour than Italian or Spanish equivalents. However, if coffee is too watery, Germans will refer to it disparagingly as der Blümchenkaffee, small flower coffee. This derives from war time when coffee was scarce and real beans were substituted with the roasted roots of chicory, which has a small blue flower. Another explanation is that the coffee is so weak that you can see the flower pattern at the bottom of the cup. Tea lovers will be pleased to note that Germans enjoy der Tee, tea, almost as much as the British, and take it either mit Zitrone, with lemon, or mit Milch, with milk. You may also try some good Kräutertee, herbal tea, including Fencheltee, fennel tea, - a strong infusion that has a soothing effect. Links German meals - a short article on Kaffee und Kuchen. These links are included for educational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement by the BBC of the products or services featured. |