A new era is beginning for us. Since January 1st, we coffee makers have been at home in the Haus des Kaffees in Basel. In over 700 square meters, we roast coffee, introduce the intricacies of coffee preparation, and test coffee machines and accessories.
The House of Coffee is our new headquarters and the platform on which we want to continue to develop as a company and simultaneously provide impetus to the coffee market. With this building, we are harking back to Güterstrasse's rich history. A roastery was located at number 140 as early as 1940. It was produced for the Berlin-based company Kaiser's Kaffee Geschäft , which by the early 19th century was already supplying 2,000 branches. The coffee was roasted in Viersen, Dülken, Spandau, Breslau, Heilbronn, and Basel. In 2001, Kaiser's Kaffee Geschäft merged with the Tengelmann Group and now operates under the name Kaiser's Tengelmann AG.
That, however, is music from the past. Most recently, the building on Güterstrasse was used as a studio, training space, and dance hall by jazz legend Othella Dallas. The grand old lady of jazz passed away in 2020 at the age of 95, but continued to work in Basel until her final years. From 2000 onward, the rear building on Güterstrasse, not far from the main train station, housed the Rudolf Steiner Secondary School for "School and Career," but has seen less and less use in recent years.
Coffee makers through time
As coffee makers, we have been committed to one goal since our founding as the "Coffee Academy" project: improving the taste of coffee in the cup. To this end, we offer training courses for the hospitality industry and private individuals and network the coffee cultivation process from cultivation to cup. We are convinced that better coffee contributes to coffee drinkers at the end of the chain being more willing to pay a higher price for coffee. This, in turn, benefits the producers in the coffee-growing countries if the funds flow as directly and transparently as possible. We are committed to this as a platform, training, and networking company.
Better quality in the cup is influenced by other factors. In particular, the sustainable and ecological orientation of coffee farms, as well as social interaction and secure workplaces, are essential factors for achieving quality from a holistic perspective.
Benjamin visiting our partners at 18 Conejo in Honduras. Together with Napo and Flhor, we've begun an experiment with organically grown Robusta.
In this spirit, our company has evolved. The Coffee Academy began as a project at unternehmen mitte in Basel. In 2013, we founded Café frühling , Switzerland's first café focused on specialty coffee and "slow coffee." From then on, the academy and coffee school were located in the small space next door to Café frühling. In 2015, the course frequency and usage outgrew the space, and we found a new base in Münchenstein, opposite Schaulager, at Emil-Frey-Strasse 77.
In 2017, we transferred the Café Frühling and Kaffee-Schule projects to the newly founded Kaffeemacher GmbH and separated from unternehmen mitte in Basel. Since then, development has accelerated and the momentum has become more concrete. We already stated in the statutes of the new social business that we want to integrate the coffee chain into the company as well. With the roasteries Spring Roasters and In the Name of, we started with two different roasting ventures, which were merged again under the Kaffeemacher brand at the beginning of 2019. Today, we distribute Kaffeemacher coffee in Switzerland and Germany and work behind the scenes as a contract roaster for many cafés and companies (in the name of).
In the summer of 2017, we came full circle and became co -owners of a coffee farm in Nicaragua . Santa Rita is located in northern Nicaragua in Tablazon, Dipilto, about 30 km from Ocotal.
House of Coffee as a platform for the transformation of the coffee market
The House of Coffee is our launching pad for making a difference in the coffee market. For us, Güterstrasse 140 isn't just the place where we've arrived with our company. It's also intended as a platform to bring together people from the coffee industry who want to work toward making the coffee chain fairer, more socially responsible, more ecologically sustainable, and more sustainable.
Our perspectives range from sensory to chemical, from economic to social to political issues . We take a stand and share our perspectives on our blog , on YouTube , and in our podcast .
The roastery back then (above) was still in the basement and today (below).
Back then, the roastery had an advantage: The train could drive up. The old chimney, seen here, is now in use again. Thanks to its height, the smell and smoke are carried far beyond the residential buildings after being catalyzed with the Reicat purification technology .
Photomontage showing the front view of Güterstrasse. Source: State Archives of Basel
