Tea in Hamburg 1: Tea in Lübeck

Going to a conference and adding a few days for myself gives oppurtunities for teatourisme in places that I might otherwise not have visited. This time I had a conference in Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg. And though the city was on my optional list and a previous trip to this city was cancelled I would probably not have visited it on my own.

Hamburg is a big city and I had a couple of days, so there is more to tell than fits into one post. This first part will not be about Hamburg, but about another German Hanseatic city. This city has this old gate as a kind of trademark:

Like with any good conference there were excursions and quess where one of them went on a day that a lot of Hamburgers started their holiday and decided to travel in the same direction?

Hansestadt Lübeck

In 819 the first burg system was build a few km from the current city center as part of a Slavic settlement. After this Old Lübeck was destroyed in 1138 a new German Lübeck city was founded by Graf Adolf II of Schauenburg at the current location.

Over time the city develops in a powerful commercial city gaining one privilege after another. In 1226 it becomes the Imperial free city of Lübeck and during the 14th century it becomes the Queen of the Hanseatic cities and one of the three biggest cities of the empire.

During the 16th century the power of the city declined because of conflicts, war and changes in European trade routes. After the Hanseatic league practically ended in 1669 Lübeck remained a member until the leagues final days in 1862. And even today the Hanseatic past is kept alive. Since 1980 there is a new Hansa league, with its haedquarters in Lübeck.

After 711 years Lübeck lost its status as a free city in 1937 in the “Greater Hamburg Act”. Partly due to refusing a certain politician to campaign in the city in 1932. A large part of the historic city was destroyed by the Royal Air force with the first carpet bombing of a German city.

The (renovated) historic city is a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1987.

Where were we?

The tour, that was part of the excursion, went through the gate and past these salt warehouses. The salt was transported from places deeper in Germany to Lübeck. This transport was done mostly by women, because the men went fishing. These warehouses were once the place where count Dracula “lived”. That was in the movie Nosferatu.

As you all know it was once normal to put salt in tea instead of sugar and some still do. However I have some timing and distance reasons to strongly doubt that that was Lübecker salt.

Past the highest water marker to the Theaterfigurenmuseum, to the St. Petri and then the market.

Then to and into St Marien, the largest church of Lübeck. The two towers are 125 meters high and the nave 38.5 meters and the building started around 1200 A.D..

After church the tour ended outside the “Buddenbrookhause”. This house was once model for Thomas Mann’s book “Buddenbrooks”.

On my own
After the tour ended I had a couple of hours to waste in the city. After a short visit to the Buddenbrooks museum shop, where I bought my first German tea of this season, I walked around a bit through the old city.

and then I came to:

The Teapot tea salon claims to be the first teesalon in Lübeck and have teeerfahrung since 1978, although it is not clear to me whether that is as a teatrader or as a teesalon.

It is a nice salon with several tables, some old teaware to create an atmosphere and a small teashop. They sell a pretty nice collection of tea and teaware. Most of my Lübecker tealoot came from this shop.

Going on with my random walks through the city I stumbled on a Teagschwender with on the opposite side of the street another Teapot. This teapot is only a small shop with many interesting items and teas. At Teagschwender I got their catalog and a teafilter. There was no doubt in my mind that I would find one or more Teagschwenders back in Hamburg, so I left the teas for what they were.

Then back to the group. On the way there I doubted whether I would go to the right and see what was at the back of the market, but I went straight to Niederegger. Later I would regret not following my intuition again.

Niederegger is a Marzipan “factory”. Marzipan is one of Lübeecks main treats. The shop is full of Marzipan and there are beautifull works of Marzipan art. On the first floor there is a big Marzipan-Salon and on the second floor a Marzipan museum. Unfortunately I did not find the entrance in time to make a quick walkthrough. Of course in hindsight I did have some more time than I thought at the moment. Maybe I should learn to be less brave and not to try to be on time all the time.

Due to the arrangement of the tour and the short time left our choices were limited. Luckily it was a nice quality Darjeeling and a great Marzipan cake. There were however some other interesting teas on the menu. So if I ever go there again… If only to remember their names…

When we were waiting outside I was notified of another teashop. Yes in that part of the street to the right. And though I did not think I had the time at that moment again in hindsight I had. So only a photo of this teashop. A teashop which I also found in my bookmarks from a search a couple of weeks before the trip….

Lübeck

The trip to Lübeck was a nice one and there are at least a few places to get and drink some good tea. There is probably much more tea in Lübeck, but that would have taken more time than the few hours I had.

Sources
* The tour guide
* Kleine Chronik von Lübeck
* Several wikipedia pages about Lübeck and the Hanseatic league in English and German.