Hallo: A Look at Coffee in Germany

While it can be argued that Italy is the European leader in terms of having a very strict coffee culture that must be adhered to, other nations in the continent have their own traditions as well- some of which are vastly different. Today, I am exploring Germany.

 The Germans have a more relaxed take on the drink. They have it whenever they want, and however they like it- in fact, 86% of German adults drink coffee on a regular basis, with most drinking it daily.

They are also one of the countries that imports the most coffee, following America. Surprisingly, they import twice as much as Italy does, even though Italy is the country typically associated with coffee.

Germany invented drip coffee making, which was coined by Melitta Bentz. Drip coffee making is the method typically used by home-brewing coffee pots, in which a filter is used to sieve out the coffee grinds. Although it isn’t a fancy method of making coffee, it’s effective, clean, and works for an optimal quick caffeine fix.

The lack of fanciful methods to creating coffee is one of the reasons why Germans coffee culture isn’t really well known throughout Europe- they prefer to keep their drip-coffee production method to grant them their caffeine intake. Instead, Germany is best known for experimenting with their beer more so than their coffee.

In Italy you’ll see baristas making grand concoctions with incredible effort, whereas in Germany it’s more common to see a barista simply use a coffee machine to produce whatever drink you want.

In many ways, it’s clear that the United States culture mirrors Germany. We like our coffee quick, on the go, and we’re satisfied with lower quality coffee as long as we’re getting our regular caffeine intake to get us through our Mondays.

Additionally, a lot of Americans don’t seem to care about the performance that goes into making their coffee- no one really sits at a Starbucks to watch the barista decorate a cappuccino, or waits in line at a Dunkin’ Donuts to be served an elaborate espresso.

A coffee from a coffee house in Hamburg, Germany

Although in the United States we can go to these cafes for our fancy cappuccinos if we wanted them, for the most part, we are an on-the-go culture. It appears as though we would rather have our coffee given to us quickly rather than elegantly- a parallel that seems to align with the culture of Germany, leaving behind the luxuries of the Italian coffee culture.

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