NKG: the making of the coffee bean in Hamburg
Oct 05, 2017
Hamburg, overlooking the Elba River, is a marine city and its vocation as main harbor of Germany turned it into a cosmopolitan city. The biggest cargo ships stop in its harbor, along the loading and unloading jetties, like in the past, when precious goods from Asia or America, such as carpets, tea, spices and especially coffee, were unloaded and stocked in the warehouses.
Today, Germany is one of the biggest importers of green coffee in the world after the United States. Most of the coffee passes through, is processed in specialized warehouses and finally distributed to European customers and roasters.
During our Coffee and Talks in Hamburg, we visited NKG Kala, a big warehouse where coffee is stocked and processed, which is part of the Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, one of the world's leading green coffee service group.
From Hamburg, the coffee is then distributed to national and international customers such as global players, trading companies and coffee companies, which use their wide range of services.
But how does the storage process take place?
High quality is extremely important, that’s why coffees from all over the world are carefully inspected with core drillings, when are still in the container, to evaluate potential damages occurred during the journey. Samples are taken, too, to be analysed and tested in their laboratory.
Then, coffee is cleaned, weighed, mixed or specially processed, stored and finally loaded again into trucks, containers or railway wagons, to be delivered to its final destinations.
An itinerary that sees the “making of” of the coffee bean before it gets on the market.
An interesting place for all the coffee lovers.
