The unroasted coffee beans usually arrive in Germany by ship. Here, they are cleaned again and the quality is carefully inspected. For our Melitta^® coffees, coffees from various countries in South and Central America are mixed with one another, in order to achieve consistent quality.

The final flavour is given to the coffee by the roasting here at Melitta^® Kaffee in Bremen. Through the roasting, the volume of the beans is double through water evaporation. The colour of the coffee bean also changes from light beige to the familiar dark brown. The roasting ensures the discharge of oils and formation of aroma. For example, the beans for our BellaCrema^® are roasted particularly slowly and gently, so that the aroma is less acidic, thereby producing a rounder flavour. The hotter the beans are “burnt”, the more aromatic and stronger the coffee tastes.

Coffee beans are not always roasted  the same – a distinction is made between various degrees of roasting. With a light roast, the expert refers to a cinnamon roast, while a medium roast is described as an American roast. The darkest roast is called the espresso roast or also “Italian roast”.

After roasting our coffee is packed air-tight. For BellaCrema^®, for example, whole beans are put into bags that are fitted with an aroma protection valve. The trick of this: The valve allows excess air to escape from the packaging and prevents air penetrating from outside. This way the full aroma retains.