“You can tell when you have crossed the frontier into Germany because of the badness of the coffee.”
– Edward VII (1841-1910, son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert)*
I’m a devoted coffee drinker. I drink it wherever I am, especially in Europe. I’ve had coffee in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and even Slovenia. The Germans always rave about their coffee, but I think German coffee is highly overrated. There, I’ve said it. Now here’s why I say it.
First, there is no such thing as “German coffee.” Coffee trees don’t really flourish in northern Europe. All that Dallmayr, Hag, Jacobs and Tchibo coffee gets to Germany via Bremen, Hamburg and other European ports. That’s no different than the rest of Europe. Other than the type of bean, the main difference is the roast. (The brewing methods are pretty similar all across Europe.) The beans are usually Arabica, so that leaves the roast. And I think the roast is the problem.
| A German Coffee A “German coffee” is a type of cocktail made with Kirschwasser, coffee and whipped cream. That’s definitely not what we’re talking about here! |
Germans generally like milder flavors. They really aren’t into spicy or pungent. That’s why “Mexican” food in Germany is not even close to Mexican. Foreign foods (Chinese, Indian, even Italian) get toned down for German taste buds.
I like what is generally called a “regular” cup of coffee, what the Italians and Mexicans call an “americano” – not a fancy espresso, cappuccino, macchiato or mocha (although I also enjoy those once in a while). I just want a good steaming, aromatic cup of coffee. With a little cream, no sugar. The problem I have in Germany is the mild roast that is so common there. I really prefer a darker roast, at least a Vienna or French roast. Often a little stronger Italian roast. The German roasts are too mild for me. I need something with a bit more punch.
I’m not sure where the “German” roast falls, but it is definitely milder than a French, Austrian (Vienna) or Italian roast. Here are the roast levels (with German names for some):
195 °C (383 °F) Cinnamon/Light Roast (Zimt-Röstung)
205 °C (401 °F) New England Roast
210 °C (410 °F) American/Moderate Roast (amerikanische Röstung, Frühstücksröstung)
220 °C (428 °F) City Roast (German Roast?)
225 °C (437 °F) Full City Roast
230 °C (446 °F) Strong/Vienna Roast (helle französische Röstung, Wiener Röstung)
240 °C (464 °F) Double/French Roast (Continental-Röstung, französische Röstung)
245 °C (473 °F) Italian/Espresso Roast (Espresso-Röstung)**
250 °C (482 °F) Spanish Roast (Dark French, Neapolitan; some call it “burnt”)
251+ °C > Any roast above this temperature means beans that are mostly carbon.
A lot of northern Germans are tea drinkers. I enjoy a good cup of tea from time to time (usually when I’m eating Asian), but I much prefer coffee. When I was living in Berlin I made many attempts to find a decent brand of coffee that I could turn into a tasty home brew. I tried all the German brands: Dallmayr, EduScho, Hag, Jacobs, Nescafé, Tchibo, etc., but never really found one that said, “I’m the one!”
Partly, that’s due to the German coffee oligopoly, in which six firms control 85 percent of the coffee market. All the major coffee roasters and distributors are concentrated in Bremen and Hamburg – where all the imported green coffee beans arrive. Coffee that isn’t roasted and packaged there is then sent to Berlin and other cities with roasting facilities. And the roast they sell is usually the mild German one.
A McCafé in Germany. PHOTO © Hyde Flippo
Other than going to a Starbucks, a McCafé (over 800 in Germany, almost five times the number of Starbucks!) or a good Greek or Italian restaurant in Germany, the best cup of coffee I had in Berlin was from a friend who brews his coffee one cup at a time using the Turkish (he called it Russian) method. It can’t be simpler. Put ground coffee in a coffee cup and pour in water that is close to boiling temperature. Let it brew while the grounds settle to the bottom of the cup. Drink. (Wimps filter the grounds out first. Real men just drink it, grounds and all.) It’s sort of like French-press coffee without the press.
I had a French press when I was living in Berlin. I also had a normal German drip-brew coffee machine that uses the coffee filters invented by Melitta Bentz (a German Hausfrau from Dresden) in 1908. Yes, any serious coffee drinker knows that it’s almost impossible to reproduce the kind of coffee that comes out of a $7500 professional pressure-brewer or even the typical $800 machine that some Germans have in the kitchen, but I just wanted a good cup of coffee that equaled what I could make back in the USA.
There was a time when it was almost impossible to get a good cup of coffee in the United States until Starbucks dramatically changed the coffee landscape – and Americans finally realized what they had been missing. But the same thing has now happened in Germany! Today you can find a Starbucks on almost any corner in any larger German city. Starbucks opened its first German stores in Berlin in 2002. As of 2016, there were 158 Starbucks all across Germany, employing nearly 130,000 people. (Austria has 18 Starbucks, mostly in Vienna; Switzerland has 55, almost half of which are in Zurich; 791 in the UK.) Starbucks is now located in over 60 countries around the globe. But the coffee found on German grocery store shelves is still the same wimpy stuff it’s always been. I have tried and tried to find a package of coffee in Germany that had a roast level beyond “mild.” Ground or whole bean. Nichts. Zip.
When I was in Berlin (2007/2008), I just missed the new single-cup espresso-like coffee-machine revolution that really began to catch on around 2010. In the US, my wife and I first had a Tassimo machine (by Bosch) that made wonderful coffee of all kinds before it became difficult to find the Tassimo pods. We had to switch to Keurig. (Other brands include Nespresso and Starbucks’ own Verismo.) For about $100 and up, you can get one of these single-cup pod brewers that make coffee that comes closer to that brewed by the much more expensive pro machines. But I’ve only tried the American coffee discs for these machines, not the German ones.
The espresso machine is an Italian invention. Beginning in 1884, various Italians, from Moriondo to Bezzera to Pavoni, tinkered with these machines on into the early 1900s. Espresso spread all over the globe, even to coffee wastelands like the UK and the US. But in the US, lattes and cappuccinos were still a bit exotic, with a hippy air about them – and you couldn’t make it at home. Regular coffee didn’t seem to benefit until the Starbucks revolution in the 1990s. Before that, most Americans had never even heard of a macchiato (pronounced MAK-ee-ah-toe), much less tasted one.
The Italians also brought their good coffee to Germany, but for normal coffee (not espresso) Germans still seem to prefer a lighter roast than the dark roast preferred in southern Italy. Coffee in Italy, no problem. Coffee in Germany, that’s a problem.
To end on a lighter (milder) note, I turn to Bach:
„Ei! wie schmeckt der Coffee*** süße, lieblicher als tausend Küsse, milder als Muskatenwein.”
“Ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, milder than muscatel wine!”
– A line from Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” (“Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht” [BWV 211], ca. 1735)
– HF
NOTE: This post was last updated on 31 August 2017.
*Edward VII also said: “I believe the emperor of Germany hates me” (regarding his nephew, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany)
**Technically, “espresso” is not a roast, but many people refer to this level as “espresso roast” anyway. There is no “official” roast scale, so scales can differ, but the steps and temperature increments are the key. Roasting is more of an art than a science.
***”Coffee” was the common German spelling until “Kaffee” later in the 1800s.
Also see this interesting coffee roasting site with photos.
I never even drink coffee. But it’s ridiculous trying to rival the Austrian Kaffeehauskultur. We’re world class at Brot, Brötchen and Wurst, but most likely not at coffee.
Never drink coffee?! Can’t imagine that! – But you’ll note that I was referring to coffee in Germany, not Austria. The Austrian roast is darker and they know how to do coffee. A Café Konditorei is a marvel! Plus, you also can get decent coffee in Germany if you know where to go. But buying coffee off the shelf is the problem.
The Aldi free trade coffee is pretty good. We bought whole beans and had our own grinder, and brewed it in a simple (Braun) filter machine. Freshly-ground coffee is one key to a good cup. 🙂
Since I only drink black coffee, I’m pretty picky. I agree that most restaurants and cafe’s there don’t have very good regular coffee. They don’t in Canada either…
Interesting observations. To the point about a comparison to non-Starbucks American Coffee. German Coffee is far better precisely because they do not burn the beans, like the American brands do! I have always considered German coffee good. I have had it home brewed and in restaurants in Germany. I do occasionally splurge on German brands here in the states. True the Italians are the masters of espresso and the Austrians brew wonderful cups in their Kaffeehäuser, but if for a fair comparison, you should compare the beans for home brewing. Maxwell house, and Folgers can’t hold a candle to Jacobs or Dallmayr. Oh and the water is also a factor in the flavor.
I think most people missed my point about the roast. I like a bold, French roast, not the too mild typical German roast. In my post I made it clear that the main problem I have with German coffee is the mild roast. You say burnt, but I say bold. And the beans for home brewing in Germany are not a dark roast — ever. I never saw a dark roast for sale in a German grocery store or even in a coffee store (not Starbucks!). I mentioned Austria, but that was not the focus. Coffee in Germany: too mild a roast. If I go to McCafe or Starbucks in Germany (or the US), I can get a darker roast coffee, but I was talking about home brewing. It’s the roast!
I think to be fair, one should consider what Henry Ford one said,
“You can have any color you would like, as long as it is black!”
You can now own any color of auto you choose!
So, that said, if people like burnt coffee, that is their taste.
If people like mild coffee, let them enjoy it.
If Indian people like curry, OK.
If Americans choose to buy Folgers, Hills, Maxwell House, it’s OK, too.
Let people like other things than you do. It’s OK… question, are you?
Tschüß!
I agree with you. People should enjoy what they like. The problem in Germany is that it is very difficult – using your analogy – to find any cars that aren’t black. I found it almost impossible to get a coffee roast that was not mild. I was able to find Indian cuisine (with curry), but not a dark roast coffee.
in the old days….BYOB…. or BYOC…. but in 2016 it’s AMAZON or Italian owned restaurants…. they always seemed to have the good robust brews. I worked in Bonn, in a multi-national office, went to Luxembourg on most weekends. Friends brought in what others needed, I’d return to the US and stock up the Reese’s PB cups, and would be a hero for some… we had Italian’s, and Austrian’s bringing items back, for trade…. we truly had the BEST of ALL worlds… I could never figure ANY European desiring ANY American chocolate…. but seems Reese’s were the ticket! (???). To that… German CARS, France and Italy for coffee, coastline, and someone to share them with.
You are so right, I experienced the same nightmare with German coffee brands. But IMO Starbucks beans are too burnt. There a few speciality roasters that offer a full city roast but most prefer a light roast that have lots of acidity and no “roast taste” and they don’t give me the “push” I expect from a good coffee.
It’s hard not for me to be partial because I am in love with Germany. What I did miss there though, were all the free refills on coffee, if you’re out somewhere. And with my husband being an AVID coffee drinker, we could easily spend mucho Euro on his coffee alone. One thing I absolutely adore in Germany is the respect of quiet! None of the motorcycles/cars/trucks revving all around. People are much more aware and considerate of others around them and the environment. Ich vermiss mein Deutschland!
Thanks for this post. Love the quotes; I certainly feel validated now, since this issue seems to be historical. Continuing the search for good coffee in Germany, even if it’s an Austrian brand or whatnot. Been importing Peet’s french roast whole bean from the US since I tried a few of the nicer looking German brands that were disappointingly weak and wimpy!