Austrian tea culture and Demmers Teehaus’ Sacher Blend.

I have recently traveled to Salzburg and Vienna in Austria. Austria is well known for their traditional coffee houses where locals spend a lot of their time reading the newspaper, meet friends or just chill while enjoying cake. I usually ordered coffee but one time while getting coffee and cake at the well known Café Sacher in Salzburg a friend of mine, ordered tea instead of coffee, and I was very curious about the blend since it was their own. I didn’t think much about tea culture in Austria, assuming most people are coffee drinkers over there, seeing how seriously they take it.
When I was on my way back to the U.S I quickly bought a Sacher Tea Original Blend at the airport just to try it out once I am home. I am usually not a huge fan of blends, and like single origin teas. But being a huge fan of Bergamot, I enjoyed it right away.

Original Sacher Tea
Original Sacher Tea

I started doing some historical research about Austria, this tea blend, the Sacher Hotel, their tea house culture etc. There is so much history in Europe, even the most mondain thing has a connection to a historical figure or historical event like for example the dish « Kaiserschmarrn » and I can spend hours re-searching about the craziest thing.
Usually, it happens if I am able to connect to something I lived or experience in real life. For example, if I have been to a museum and seen a specific Art Piece, I will look it up later and do extensive research. Since it’s a tea blog, I am not going to be too extensive on history etc., I have Quora for that.

Anyway, while doing research I stumbled upon the Demmers Teehaus and reached out to them. The lovely Nadja, from their online team replied to me very quickly and gave me a bit of a background on their tea and in particular the Sacher Blend they deliver exclusively to the Hotel Sacher.

« This tea blend was originally created by Mrs. Mizzi Thum for Anna Sacher and since Andrew Demmer has founded his Teahouse in Vienna in 1981 he is blending this tea for the Hotel. Both houses are traditional viennese companies who started business in the past but today they are working together in a close friendship. The Sacher blend is a mixture of Black Tea from Darjeeling, bergamot oil and White cornflower blossoms. The Darjeeling tea must be from the second flush, which creates a full bodied and aromatic Cup and this harmonises perfectly with the sweet Sacher cake. »

She also sent me a sample of the Sacher Blend. It actually tasted more fresh than the original I got at the airpot, the bergamot and the darjeeling blend nicely! I am still not so familiar with the white cornflower blossoms and where they come from but it’s not overpowering (see the pictures below)

 Viennese blend, created last century by Ms Mizzi Thum for the famous Hotel Sacher.
Viennese blend, created last century by Ms Mizzi Thum for the famous Hotel Sacher.

Tea Set

Indian black tea, ceylon black tea, chinese black tea, bergamot, white cornflower blossom
Indian black tea, ceylon black tea, chinese black tea, bergamot, white cornflower blossom
Preperation recommendation 4-5/L100°C2-4 Min
Preperation recommendation 4-5/L100°C2-4 Min

I will also try the 4 other samples I got which are « Bastel Mischung », « Sunny Island », « Obstgarten » and « Hawaii Cocktail ». They seem to be fruity blends which is something I had quite a lot when I spent time in Bavaria. It’s not usually my favorite kind of tea, feels a bit like being at Grandma, but it pairs well with cakes, if you’re into that kind of thing.

The Demmers Teehaus flagship store is located in Vienna in Molker Bastei. They also have locations in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Rumania, and even Japan and Finland.

https://vine.co/v/inF9qu0lwIL/embed/simple?audio=1

 

Disclaimer: I don’t get monetary compensation to review products in this blog. I received free samples from the Demmers Teehaus in the mail after I planned to write about the Sacher blend. I thank them for being responsive and supportive of the tea blogging community.

5 Comments

  1. Excellent stuff glad to see you back. Had Rooibos Tea from Finland this evening at a friend’s dinner party, only after the meal did they tell me it is caffeine free!

    1. Thank you Yep! I have a couple posts to prepare, hope you’ll like them too. Yes, Rooibos is caffeine free, it’s very nice, I like to blend it with Hibiscus tea. Perfect in winter days 🙂

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