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Chapter 1: What should you know about ice cream culture in German-speaking countries?
Hello and welcome back to Coffee Break German. My name is Thomas and here in Scotland, summer is at its best just now. And for me personally, summer always means ice cream. However, it's only since I left here that I realized how different ice cream cultures can be and that there are quite a few things I miss and you should know about Eis und Eisdielen.
be the different flavors, how to order or of course the famous Eisbecher. Also, heute dreht sich bei uns alles ums Eis und ums Eisessen. Musik Now, the first decision you need to make when approaching an Eisdiele, an ice cream parlor, is of very, very great importance. It depends hugely on your personality, but also on how much time you have and more importantly, the people you are with.
And that is, are you sitting in or are you taken away? Because depending on that answer, the choices available to you are completely different. Let's start with sitting in or what I call the Eisbecher choice. Personally, I'm not much of a sit-in ice cream person. The few times I did were either with my grandparents or I would say other people over the age of 70.
However, I do have friends who do prefer, let's call it the full luxury deluxe package. You take a seat, you get a menu, a Kellner or Kellnerin will take your order. And most importantly, you get an artistic ice cream masterpiece called an Eisbecher. I would compare it with a sundae only that there are about 40 different choices on the menu. So you don't just have the one sundae.
You get the kiwi becher, the früchte becher, the nuss becher or even the pinocchio becher. And I want to put it out there. It's not just for the little ones. And of course, one of Germany's favorite choices is also the spaghetti ice, which you only get if you sit in. When confronted with so much choice, it really helps to understand what makes each Eisbecher different.
And to help you with that, I want to quickly show you some of the ingredients you will find on such a menu. You will see Gem or Gemischtes Eis, which is just various different flavors of ice cream, often in line with the theme of your Eisbecher. Lots of them have Die Sahne, which is the whipped cream. And also most of them will have some form of Soße.
Might that be Erdbeersoße or Schokoladensoße. If you're curious about why you see two different spellings here, you can use both in German. Both are correct, but they're actually pronounced the exact same way. Now often on top of your Eisbecher you have something called eine Waffel or die Waffel. And it means weaver, but in different contexts can also mean cone or of course waffle.
And then the last thing I want to mention here is frische Früchte, fresh fruit. Again, normally in line with the theme of your Eisbecher. Most menus will also tell you if something is vegan, lactose-free, and or gluten-free. Okay. If it doesn't have it on the menu, you can always ask. Just remember those three words, vegan, lactose-free, or gluten-free.
So now that you know what's in your Eisbecher, it's even more important to know how to change or tweak things to your personal taste. You could say, for example, einen Kiwibecher ohne Sahne bitte. A Kiwi sundae without the whipped cream, please. Or to give you another example, you could say, ich nehme das Spaghetti-Eis mit extra Erdbeersoße.
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Chapter 2: How do you decide between sitting in or taking away ice cream?
Can I have another spoon? If you're sharing a tub. Or also very useful, and I know that from many personal experience, Könnte ich ein paar Servietten haben? Could I have a few napkins? Könnte ich ein paar Servietten haben? Also, if you really want to embrace the German way, be maximum efficient and not annoy the impatient customers behind you, then keep your order short and sweet like this.
Hi, zwei Kugeln in der Waffel, bitte. Einmal Zitrone und dann noch Heidelbeere. Or if you're ordering in a tub, you could say, drei Kugeln Joghurt im Becher mit zwei Löffeln, bitte. Order like this and you will totally fit in. Good. We talked about how to eat ice cream, but not about the ice cream itself. Because the flavors I get in Germany are not the flavors of Scotland. That's for sure.
If there's one word for German ice cream flavors, it would be natural. Natürlich. While you get classics like Erdbeere, Walnuss or Banane in most countries, Germany will offer way more fruit choices like Wassermelone, Heidelbeere, Haselnuss, Kokos or also my personal all-time favorite Zitrone Basilicum. Sounds weird, but tastes amazing. Lemon and basil.
And the best thing is that those flavors don't just taste like what they say, they often actually contain those ingredients. I know, crazy concept. This is obviously only my personal opinion, but I much prefer those flavors over Fanta Lemon, Bubblegum, Oreo Explosion, or, I hate to break it to you Scots, even Tablet. Sorry.
And again, if you like these flavors, that's personal taste and that's totally okay. I just wanted to prepare you for the fact that German flavors might be a little different. And if you're not sure if you like them, then there's one amazing phrase you can always use. Kann ich das Zitronen-Basilikum-Eis bitte probieren? Can I please try the lemon basil ice cream?
Kann ich bitte das Zitronen-Basilikum-Eis probieren? I promise you won't regret it.
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Chapter 3: What is an Eisbecher and how do you order one?
And that's your German ice cream survival guide. So next time you find yourself standing in front of an ice tiller, hopefully you will know exactly what to do, whether to order an ice becher or take your ice cream to go, how to ask for what you want, and perhaps most importantly, how to sound confident while doing it.
If you'd like to see the visual version of today's episode, including pictures of some of the different Eisbecher we talked about, you can find the YouTube version linked in the notes for this episode. And if you'd like more free German learning content, you can sign up for our free weekly newsletter at coffeebreaklanguages.com slash German. Danke fürs Zuhören und genieß dein nächstes Eis.
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