Melitta Bentz, Inventor of the Pour-Over Brew Method

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,760 Before we get started, we just want to let you know about a few ways you can support our Grassroots 2 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:12,720 Indie Show. You can follow us on social media at No Bad Reviews Pod. We'd love it if you could go 3 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:20,160 to your favorite podcasting app and rate us and review us. Also, please tell a friend about our 4 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:28,480 podcast. And last, you can financially support us on patreon.com no bad reviews, buymeacoffee.com 5 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:34,720 slash No Bad Reviews Pod. And you can buy merch at our website, nobadreviewspodcast.com. 6 00:00:34,720 --> 00:01:02,960 Thank you and enjoy this episode. Hello everyone. Welcome to No Bad Reviews, 7 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:09,600 colon, a coffee podcast. This is a podcast where three friends, co-workers, and coffee industry 8 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:15,440 professionals get together every other week and tell you something about coffee. Or something about 9 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:22,400 business, alpha males, racism, history. America. 10 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:29,200 I'm Jenny. I run the operations at a coffee company, and that's what makes me a coffee expert. 11 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:39,760 And I'm Marcus. I'm the guy behind the girl. And I'm Stephanie. 12 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:49,600 And I'm the girl behind the guy behind the girl. And I'm behind you. It's all a circle jerk of 13 00:01:49,600 --> 00:02:00,480 coffee and podcasting. We are not a threeple for anybody who's wondering. We're just friends, 14 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:04,160 co-workers and coffee industry professionals. Some of us are just friends. 15 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:09,440 Right back. That was great. None of us are co-workers. 16 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,880 Wait, we're all co-workers. Yeah. But you said some of us are just friends. 17 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:19,280 You said we're just friends. And I wanted to clarify that you and Marcus are more than friends. 18 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:20,960 Right. Because you've been married for like 20 years. 19 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:23,840 I guess that's true. But you know what? Marcus is my friend first. 20 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:25,120 Aw. Yep. 21 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:31,280 I tell him if we get divorced, I hope we can still be friends. Because we're friends first. 22 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,080 We were not friends first, but we've become friends first. 23 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:40,640 Jenny is my best friend. And when we get divorced. 24 00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:48,880 I'm like, that's cool. As long as we can still be friends with benefits, 25 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:54,320 then we can make that work. Yeah. 26 00:02:54,320 --> 00:03:00,800 Yeah. So this is a topic I've been researching for a long time because I find it really interesting. 27 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:04,640 But it wasn't an episode until like two days ago when I was like, oh shit, 28 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:09,920 I didn't do the research for the episode we were going to do. And that one I have done none research 29 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:14,480 on. So we were like, let's turn it into an episode. Well, I think this is good. I think it's going to 30 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:19,840 be a good follow up for our horrible toxic male episode of last time. 31 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:26,800 It's kind of the episode of a toxic masculinity podcast episode. We are going to talk about the 32 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,800 Melita company. I love the Melita cone. I love it. 33 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:37,520 Yeah, it's great. So yeah. So I don't think that a lot of people, at least in the United States, 34 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:44,080 have a ton of respect for Melita, especially not in the coffee industry. You're never hearing people, 35 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,320 I mean, aside from their filters, I think most people are pretty familiar with their filters. 36 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:53,760 Their filters are kind of a like standard, like gold standard of filters. That's what you're going 37 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,640 to use if you're using a cone. Pretty much. 38 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,360 Yeah. Pour over. Like you're, that's what you're going to buy. 39 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,640 But it's the most commercially available product. 40 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:08,000 Well, that's true. But I feel like they are also just really good filters. Like you can buy knock 41 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:13,920 off filter cone filters for a pour over, but they're not as good as the Melita. But as far as like 42 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:19,200 their brewing equipment, you never hear anybody. I mean, I think probably the V 60 from Hario gets 43 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:25,840 the most buzz or like the Chemex. It's like you're a Chemex if you're like a beginning, like mainstream 44 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:32,880 coffee nerd. And then you're a V 60, I think if you want to be extra, yeah. If you want to be like 45 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:38,240 extra annoying about your coffee brewing. I don't even know what the V 60 is. 46 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:44,320 So that's, there you go. Like that's where you get like cred for being like a little bit higher. 47 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:50,160 Like, oh, you use a Chemex. Well, I use a V 60. It's all, you know, we'll have to do an episode on 48 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:54,640 Hario. Hario's a part of Hario, the Gooseneck kettle, right? Hello Kitty. 49 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:59,600 Hario. No, that's Sanrio. It is a Japanese company though, Hario. 50 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:04,240 I thought you were going to say gummy bears. Oh, no, it's Haribo. 51 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:11,120 That's a German company. I don't actually, yeah, I don't know what this is. Okay. So yeah, it's 52 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:16,080 like, it's basically like your, your levels of elitism, right? There's so many levels of elitism 53 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:21,280 in the coffee industry. And it's like Chemex is like introductory, then being a V 60 is like a 54 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:27,360 little bit, da da da. And then it's a rabbit, it's a rabbit hole. We can go down that. I mean, 55 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:31,440 like there's, I don't want to, I don't want to say anything bad about however people brew their coffee 56 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,960 or however they think it's best or whatever. So I'm not trying to like make a dig on people. 57 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:41,200 I'm just trying to say, like, if you were on say Reddit, the most annoying, like these are the levels 58 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:49,200 of people who get a little too intense about coffee. But what I'm saying is that nobody's ever like 59 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:57,120 goes hard on Melitta. It's ubiquitous. They're everywhere. And I think that that's why, right? 60 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:02,080 It's like, once something is, it's sort of standard, it's lost, you know, it's, it's not, it's, 61 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:06,640 it's no longer like the shiny new, you know, flavor of the month. Well, you know, those filter, 62 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:13,760 those cones are plastic and they're like two, I paid $2 and 99 cents for mine. So it's hard to be 63 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:19,760 like super cool when you're buying the cheapest thing on the market. But I'm a huge fan. 64 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:24,400 There's a lot of people who are going to be like, don't use a plastic filter cone either. 65 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:32,000 Because like this goes into the whole like, like a little bit of elitism, right? Like, oh, well, 66 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,360 you got to use glass, you got to use ceramic because these are going to hold the heat while 67 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:41,040 it's dripping through and da da da da. And it's like, just brew your coffee, right? Like that's 68 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:48,400 where I come from. If to me, the most important piece in your coffee brewing is going to be your 69 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,400 coffee. Like if you're not buying high quality coffee, it doesn't matter what you're brewing it 70 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:57,920 on. It's going to be garbage. Second most is going to be a grinder. That's my second, like you got to 71 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:03,920 have a good grinder. So you have even particle size. I would argue that weighing your coffee is 72 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:10,480 more important than grind. So getting the right ratio to me is more important than, than grind. 73 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,320 I guess that's true. That's true. If you're going to make any investment, weigh your coffee before 74 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:19,120 you scoop your coffee. That's true. I think that's a little bit more cheaper. First introductory 75 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:24,480 upgrade, then grind. Yeah, I think you're probably right because you can buy like a cheap $10 scale. 76 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:28,560 As long as it measures in grams, you're all good. Yeah. And you'll be, you'll be significantly 77 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:35,120 better than without a grinder. So that's true. If I had to have a, if I had to have my grinder in a 78 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:42,800 tablespoon or a blade grinder and my scale, I would probably choose a blade grinder and a scale. 79 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:48,720 You're right. All right. So all I'm saying is that there are the elements that are much more important 80 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:54,560 before you even get to brewing equipment. Once you get to brewing equipment, like you, you'll find a 81 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:59,040 way to work with whatever piece of equipment that you have. It's going to produce good coffee as 82 00:07:59,040 --> 00:08:04,480 long as those other things are taken care of. And it does come down to personal preference. And so 83 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:10,160 I, I'll be like the scientific voice here is that I've done a lot of research in the, in the 84 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:15,360 extraction of brewing and it's been scientifically proven. There's a box of acceptable extraction 85 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:23,280 ratios that people will find appealing. So that's why I think that extraction method just comes down 86 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:27,840 to like personal choice. It's all going to be good after a certain point. Well, one thing too, 87 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:32,240 I'd want to, you just made me think of is one thing I don't agree with with the Melida company 88 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:39,280 is that they recommend a finer grind and using less coffee. I personally believe you should have a 89 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:47,600 slightly like not, I don't want to say course, but not a fine grind, like a nice medium grind 90 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:55,920 and maybe use more coffee. So that goes into that Venn diagram of personal preference, right? Like 91 00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:00,800 if you have a finer grind, you're going to need to use less coffee. My fear is that the filter gets 92 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:06,800 clogged and it takes too long. So like whatever, this might not even make it in. This is getting 93 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:10,960 too in the weeds. The interesting thing though about that, right? Since you bring that up about 94 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:16,640 them saying to use less coffee, right? My understanding of Melida is that it's always 95 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:22,320 been sort of a budget friendly company to begin with. Like her philosophy of in creating it was 96 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:29,760 sort of at a time where, where DIY and doing it yourself and being thrifty, wasn't it kind of 97 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:36,880 like around the depression that she started? Okay. So good way to segue back into the episode. Good 98 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:41,760 job, Marcus. So yeah, so if you haven't been able to tell by now, we're doing the history of the 99 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:50,080 Melida company. And so Melida is more than just like a paper filter company. They're more than just 100 00:09:50,080 --> 00:10:00,400 like a pour over brew method. They are the inventors of the pour over method entirely. Wow. 101 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:10,960 Yeah. Really? So the woman who invented it, her name is Amelie Auguste Melida Bents. Nice. Yeah. So 102 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:19,040 she just went by Melida Bents. She was born in 1873 in Germany, Dresden, Germany is where she was born. 103 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:26,240 Really? Yeah. So this is a German company. So she came from a family of entrepreneurs. Her grandparents 104 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:32,400 owned a pub, her dad owned a bookstore and publishing company. And so then she met and then 105 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:36,640 her husband, he was an entrepreneur. He was a manager at a department store. So he had sales 106 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:43,280 and retail experience. This is like the perfect family, a bar, a bookstore and coffee. I know. 107 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:50,080 It's like everything you could possibly need. And publishing paper. Yeah. And paper, right. Oh, 108 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:57,600 for the filters. Well, she's familiar with paper. Yes. Right. It is a thing. So yeah. So she grew up 109 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:03,120 with paper. It doesn't have a direct link, but you know, it could have something in the back of her 110 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:09,440 mind. Being familiar with paper helped her like have that light bulb moment. So she marries Hugo 111 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:16,000 in 1899. They have a lot of names in Germany at this time. Johannes, Anil, Hugo Bents. But he just 112 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:22,880 went by Hugo. They had their first son around the same time. First Willy was born in 1899 and 113 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:30,000 hoarse in 1904. So you know, you got Hugo, he's off at the department store doing his job. She's 114 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,880 doing the stay at home mom thing. We all know how it is with a stay at home mom. Your friends come 115 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:42,080 over, you guys have play dates, the kids all play together. And at the time, early 1900s, the biggest 116 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,760 ways that you would drink coffee, there was still, you know, there was like Turkish coffee, which we 117 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:51,760 talked about before. Also the percolator is the main thing that everyone's using in Germany. Oh, 118 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:59,040 man. Jenny's shaking her ass now. Anyways. Is it time for the percolator? It is. Let's do it. 119 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:06,960 So the percolator, like it's like a tall pot with a spout and on the inside there's a tube. So like 120 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:11,360 on top of the spout fits a basket. It's got like holes in it and that's where you put your coffee 121 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:16,880 grounds. And so as the water boils, it's forced up from the bottom up through the tube. It falls into 122 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:22,000 this basket, gets all the coffee grounds wet and then those all drip through. So there's some 123 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:30,800 problems with this design. One, it's using boiling water and so it's super hot. It's going to be like 124 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:36,320 that's not ideal temperature for brewing coffee. Also like you might have some coffee that's brewed 125 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:41,200 and then re-brewed. So it kind of cycles through, even though like ideally you're not trying to 126 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:45,200 cycle it through, but some is going to cycle through. So it's just going to be overall uneven 127 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:53,360 extraction, over brewing, burnt. Then your coffee grounds are also coming out of this filter basket 128 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:58,320 and getting into the bottom as well, as much as you try not to. So like the coffee is basically 129 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:05,440 garbage and Melita was like, this is like horrible. I love coffee. I am a fucking new mom, so I'm 130 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:10,640 exhausted and I need it. So I got to figure out a better way to do this. So she kind of became a 131 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:16,160 little bit obsessed with figuring out a better way to make coffee. So she tried doing it like 132 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:22,720 tea style and that wasn't really what she was looking for. She experimented with some fabric 133 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:28,880 or something. Anyways, one day she had that light bulb moment and she was like, hmm. So she 134 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:36,400 took a piece of tin can or like a pot or whatever, like a small metal vessel and she poked some holes 135 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:41,600 in the bottom of it with a hammer and a nail. And then she took a piece of her son's blotting paper 136 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:48,480 and I don't... Because you'd use an ink pen. Right. And then you would have to kind of blot. Yeah. 137 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:54,640 So you wouldn't get ink all over the place. I know this because the early 1900s was my time. 138 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,360 So yeah, so she takes a piece of this blotting paper. It's kind of meant to 139 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:07,520 absorb liquids, right? So it's not quite as smooth as a regular piece of paper. It's a little bit 140 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:14,960 textured or whatever, looser weave. So she cuts a piece of that, puts that in the bottom and then 141 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,960 brews her coffee that way. So she's kind of taking the idea of a percolator where you have your 142 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:24,880 grounds and you're pouring the hot water over it and then it drips through and she tried it. Amazing. 143 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:32,560 Genius. So good. And she's like, well, shit, I have a fucking idea. And so she immediately goes 144 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:38,800 and patents it. Awesome. 1908. She's a fucking bad bitch. For real. She's like, I am going to do this. 145 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:46,320 I mean, we're in the early 1900s. She's like 35. She's got two young kids and she's just like, 146 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:50,160 I'm going to do it. That's awesome. Like what could women do back then? Not as much, you know? 147 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:55,680 And she's like, fuck it. And so she goes and she's like in it. So they patent the idea. 148 00:14:55,680 --> 00:15:02,400 Her husband quits his job. They start just making, they finally a metal manufacturer to manufacture 149 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:07,600 her prototype in her, then what becomes her very first pour over device. That's dope. Yeah. So it's 150 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:16,320 kind of similar to, it almost, the Vietnamese coffee thin, which like basically like you figure 151 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:21,840 a cylindrical shape with the bottom kind of like a can might be. And so, but hers was like short, 152 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:27,280 like say like an inch taller or something. And so it's kind of flat and then it sits over a cup 153 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:31,760 and you put a paper filter in the bottom, similar, like a flat paper filter, kind of like an arrow 154 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:36,720 press. And then you put your coffee in and then you drip the water over it. It's meant to make like 155 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:41,360 an eight ounce cup. It's small. Amazing. Yeah. She finds a metal worker who's going to make these. 156 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:46,400 They were made out of brass. Ooh, fancy. I know, right? Right. Really nice. And so they're making 157 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:50,800 these filters and packaging them in their apartment. And they're just doing this all 158 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:55,040 from their apartment and her husband quits his job so they can market this during the day. 159 00:15:55,040 --> 00:16:01,520 Their sons are making deliveries after school, but the cart hooked up to the back of their bike. 160 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:07,600 So fricking cute. Adorable. The whole family is in on this. And so she's like out there, 161 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:13,680 they're doing trade shows. Wow. Like they, 1911, so just a few years later, they won an award, 162 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:18,640 like their very first award. The best new invention. Basically. Yeah. It was at like some hygiene 163 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:24,480 show. I don't know what, I don't really know what happened at the hygiene show back in the day, but 164 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:29,600 it was more cleanly as well. It's easier to clean than the percolators were because it's like, 165 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:33,680 what do you do? All these fucking grounds get everywhere. You just take this filter, 166 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:38,320 knock it in the garbage. We all know how that goes. Clean. That's why I hate the French press. 167 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:42,640 Yeah. So yeah, exactly. Clean up. I like French press coffee, but man, cleaning up, 168 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:48,640 I am a lazy guy. Fucking grounds everywhere. Fucking A. Yeah. So she wins her first awards. 169 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:53,360 Pretty cool. So they're just in it. And so then her husband was working in the department store 170 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,920 before he quit. And what they used to have in the department stores was like demonstration ladies, 171 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:06,880 is what they were called. I mean, it's a glorified Costco. Costco demo lady. Booth babes. Yes. Booth 172 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:13,440 babes. So they, it's like he took that idea and he would go stand and shop windows and just make 173 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:19,680 coffee. So people walking by would be like, what is this? And they would come into the store or 174 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:24,320 people shopping in the store would be like, what is this? And you know, they're letting people try. 175 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:29,120 I mean, they were out there really working hard. And of course it's so novel. People are like, 176 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:36,640 whoa. So it just took off. I mean, it took off in like a crazy way. And so they basically did this 177 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:42,800 with like, and no money. There was like very little startup costs. It was like 73 German pennies. 178 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:48,640 Okay. I don't know what that, I tried so hard to figure out a conversion. The best I could figure. 179 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:53,440 A hundred years ago, it was probably like four bucks. More. Well, so like my best conversion 180 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:58,720 would was the furthest I could get back was 1938. It would have been the equivalent of like 25 US 181 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:04,480 dollars in 1938. So let's just say a little bit more, obviously more than that in 1908, but yeah, 182 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:09,680 so they like, they really did it. Like they worked hard. They reinvested all of their money back into 183 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:15,120 the business. Things were going great. By the time they were winning these awards or like this whole 184 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:22,400 business was taking over their apartment. Unfortunately, 1914, World War I. But you know 185 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:28,240 what? Remember she's a bad bitch. She didn't let that stop her. Her husband's gets drafted into the 186 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:34,560 war in World War I. And she's like, fuck it. I'm going to keep going. Was not able to make coffee 187 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:39,120 paper filters because there was all sorts of like restrictions on things. So she just started making 188 00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:43,840 paper cartons. She like used what they had and made paper cartons. I don't know what they were 189 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:48,880 doing with them, but she made them and it made money. So then 1919, when the war ended, her 190 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:55,760 husband Hugo comes home and they get right back to it. By 1922, they were exporting. Oh, during this 191 00:18:55,760 --> 00:19:02,320 time too, during World War I, she like was so successful with just the packaging, the paper 192 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:08,080 carton business. She moved into out of the apartment and into a former locksmith space. 193 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:14,480 So she's like now moved into her first like kind of factory type space. Huh? Yeah. 1919, they're 194 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:20,160 now exporting to Czechoslovakia in Switzerland. And so then, you know, you know you're starting 195 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:27,520 to make it when people want to start imitating you. So 1925 knockoffs of their filters and 196 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:32,560 everything are showing up. So they're like, we got to be a little more creative. We need to stand out 197 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:38,400 and let our people, our customers know who is the real deal. You know, that's when they came up with 198 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:46,080 this bright red and green packaging. Oh my gosh. So like it's still today, a hundred years. They 199 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:51,360 still are using the same color scheme packaging so that it stands out on the shelves. Funny. And 200 00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:55,600 it's funny because it's so noticeable. I always assumed that Milita was like a Brazilian company. 201 00:19:55,600 --> 00:20:01,040 Oh yeah. It just seems it was so bright and green and red. And I'm like, yeah, I don't know why. No, 202 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:05,280 funny. They just picked those colors because they stood out and you know, they could, people could 203 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:10,000 easily identify them on the shelves. Crazy. Yeah, I know. So this is what, you know, we're like 15, 204 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:17,280 16 years on. 1929, they outgrew that locksmith's job. And they had 55 employees by this time. 205 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:23,600 Holy shit. Yeah. So they moved to an old chocolate factory and the, the city Minden, where they moved 206 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:28,560 their chocolate factory, they were like, look, we'll waive your taxes for five years. That shit 207 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:33,200 still happens today. People complain about it, but I guess it's all right. Which was fine because 208 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:38,000 there was like an economic downturn in Germany, which it's actually, you guys know that this 209 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:42,720 economic downturn in Germany is like what? But Hitler. Right, right. We're right before World 210 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:47,840 War II. After World War I, Treaty of Versailles really fucked the German people. So yeah, because 211 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:53,040 they wanted to stick them with the bill for World War I. Yeah. So anyways, that's kind of what 212 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:57,920 happened. That's how, that's how World War II got started. Yeah. Well, she doesn't, it does not 213 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:03,600 bother her. She like can't stop, won't stop. She's like, fuck it. Economic downturn, downturn, I'm 214 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:10,320 going to grow anyways. People still drink coffee. Well, that's the thing. Coffee never, it's like 215 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:15,280 the thing that people always want. So yeah, so the business just keeps growing and eventually 216 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:20,960 Melita's like, you know what, I'm tired. So she's like 1930, she decides to retire. She's been doing 217 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:27,840 it for what now? 22 years. She's in her fifties. She's still young. She's like, I'm going to retire. 218 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:33,600 People didn't live as long. She lived for another 20 years. She had 20 years of just like enjoying 219 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:37,760 this thing that she built. That's great. It's really great. I'm really happy for her. So she 220 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:44,000 transferred the operations to Hugo and her son Horst. Yeah. Well, he didn't do it for too much 221 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:50,800 longer. So they named it Benson's son, which is cute. And then February, 1932, Hugo is, I guess, 222 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:58,400 feeling a little jealous. He's like, I would like to retire too. So he left it to Willie and Horst. 223 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,840 And so they're just running the business. It's the thirties, but you know, they're young. They're in 224 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:07,280 their twenties. They're energetic. They're about to get drafted into world war II. Well, they didn't. 225 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,640 They luckily did not get drafted. Well, they had to run the company. Well, they're in their thirties 226 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:16,240 by now, I guess, actually. Yeah. They did actually have to run the company. Yeah. Yeah. So like we're 227 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:21,520 in the 1930s. I mean, these kids were raised in the business. They were doing this since they were 228 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:27,600 like five and eight years old pulling the wagon with their bike. Yeah. So like they, I guess, 229 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:33,040 have been involved in every step, every step of the way, every step of the growth. So they're 230 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:38,400 totally ready for it and they do a great job. So, um, I mean, I mean, I think Hugo and Melita 231 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:43,840 probably stayed connected. I know Melita really cared about her employees a lot. She, uh, this is, 232 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:48,880 it's funny because this is pretty standard now, but it was pretty, yeah, go ahead, Marcus. I'm almost 233 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:54,720 afraid to ask though, what side were they on in the war? Did they try to remain neutral? Well, 234 00:22:54,720 --> 00:23:01,360 we'll get to it. Um, I mean, it's not bad. I think that they tried, I think that they tried to remain 235 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:06,080 neutral, but they were in Germany and what are you going to do when Hitler tells you to do something? 236 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:10,880 Well, I mean, it's like Senka, you know, Senka was like, well, you know, they benefited from the Nazi 237 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:16,880 German power, you know, the, the, the DKF company, but they had so many Jewish customers that they 238 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:22,800 were like, they took an ad out saying, Hey, we're that that's not us. Right. So I was just curious. 239 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:27,840 Well, so they were, um, they did not like willingly, they did, I don't think as far as I 240 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:32,640 could tell, like, I don't think they wanted to be involved in this Hitler shit at all. But when 241 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:38,400 Hitler comes to you and says, Hey, your business has the manufacturing capabilities that we need. 242 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:43,040 Because what the sons were doing was they were like, okay, well, we've got this business going, 243 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:47,360 like, let's expand into some other products. We're already doing coffee filters, like, let's do some 244 00:23:47,360 --> 00:23:53,280 aluminum foil. Let's do paper wrap. Let's do saran wrap. Yeah. So they started kind of consumer goods. 245 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:58,160 Exactly. So they started expanding into some other kitchen areas. So they had this aluminum 246 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:03,280 foil division. They had all this paper. They had bought a paper factory. Hitler's like, Hey, 247 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:08,720 we need your aluminum factory to start manufacturing shit for the war effort. 248 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:15,200 And they're like, all right, well, I guess we got to, but after the war was over, they did contribute, 249 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:21,680 there were funds set up for, um, people who were put into forced labor by the Nazi regime. And they 250 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:26,880 were contributing money to these funds to help these people who are affected by the war. So I 251 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:31,280 don't think they were Nazis. I don't think there are Nazi sympathizers. They were definitely not, 252 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:37,840 what was it? Dunkin donuts who fucking employed Nazi or employed. You're talking about the other 253 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:44,800 one, Krispy Kreme, Krispy Kreme. Yeah. They were not Krispy Kreme who like used forced labor to 254 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:52,240 produce their products. After the war was over, the allied forces did take over their factories 255 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:56,880 for 12 years. It took them to get it back. So in those 12 years, they were kind of just operating 256 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:03,200 where they could. So I'm not sure what that means. They have so much, the Melita company has so much 257 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,960 information, so many details. And then like world war two hits and they're kind of like, 258 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:13,040 I mean, it's pretty typical of companies that were involved, you know, in the, 259 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,840 on the wrong side of history. Right. But there's just, yeah, not a lot of information, I think, 260 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:21,760 because Melita kind of flies under the radar a little bit, right? Right. But you would think, 261 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:25,920 and they're not proud of that part of their history too, I'm sure. It's like, hey, and this is, 262 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:32,640 you know, this is our history. We were such fine aluminum manufacturers for the, for the, 263 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:38,160 the, you know, the third Reich, exactly. Our shipment into airplanes, you know, it's like, 264 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:43,520 maybe no, you know, here's us in front of a Nazi plane, you know, the swastika plane, that's ours. 265 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:48,000 You know, you don't, you probably don't want to put that on your history. So it makes sense. And 266 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:56,800 then, you know, they're, you know, it sounds like they are trying to make good on the history. So, 267 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:02,640 you know. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I can't really say it's, I, they're a pretty huge company 268 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:08,080 in Europe. If they were really strong Nazi sympathizers, maybe there would have been 269 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:12,400 more information that I could have dug up. I don't know. Like, but I didn't go looking at like 270 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:20,000 German newspapers or anything. I looked at like English resources. So who knows what's out there? 271 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:26,560 I did my best, could not find the dirt except for, they were big enough to be, to, to, to have their 272 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:32,160 factories appropriated for the war effort. Yes, exactly. Whether they wanted that to be or not. 273 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:36,720 I mean, to me, they seem like fucking capitalists. So I think that if they, and they held out as long 274 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:42,400 as they could, like the German government didn't come in and like force them to manufacture stuff 275 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:48,080 till like 1942. So they were like, they were going, they were like trying to mind their own business 276 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:53,680 as much as they could and just be capitalists as long as they could. It doesn't seem like they 277 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:59,120 were on the Nazi bandwagon. They were not like there from the get-go the whole time. Like they're 278 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:03,920 already kind of moving outside. They're selling to Switzerland. They're selling to Czechoslovakia. 279 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:10,640 They're already reaching out outside of Germany. So to me that kind of says that, you know. Yeah, 280 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:15,040 it's a global company. Right. They're already trying to, it sounds like they're just trying to 281 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:20,000 do their business thing. They would not be politically involved. You started to say something 282 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:25,120 about how Melita was concerned about her employees. Oh, how did I, I don't know how I got to, maybe 283 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:30,960 it was Germany. Nazis. Nazis got me distracted. Yeah. So Melita was super concerned about her 284 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:36,400 employees. She did things that were really innovative at the time, like giving holiday bonuses. 285 00:27:37,360 --> 00:27:44,640 She, like, I guess the standard vacation time was six days per year. She increased that to 15 days. 286 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:51,920 Hot damn. Holiday. She also like reduced the work week to five days. I don't know what the standard 287 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:58,080 was at the time, but. Seven? Probably. Probably only six because. Oh yeah, you need the day of rest. 288 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:04,320 Six. Yeah, the seventh. You need the day for God. Yes. So that's, yeah. So she was always concerned 289 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:10,160 that her employees were treated well. That's actually something that, like I looked up, 290 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:15,040 like Glassdoor and like what people think of the company. People love the company. People work at 291 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:20,880 the company forever. They have like a, like really strong, I don't want to say, they don't have like 292 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:26,800 one of those fake corporate cultures. I think they have just a, like a respectful corporate culture 293 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:32,880 that just respects people, respects their time. I guess they pay well. They have some benefits, 294 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:39,200 like paid vacations, 401k standard stuff, but. 15 days of vacation, even by today's standards, 295 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:44,400 is like not a common thing. Right? Right. Who's giving three weeks paid vacation now? Yeah. And 296 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:49,840 she's doing that in like 1910 or whatever. Yeah. I mean, I guess Europe does it, but in the US. 297 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:53,280 I mean, it sounds like they weren't even doing that in Europe at the time. It sounds like that 298 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,120 was pretty innovative for the time then. Very cool. But yeah, they definitely don't necessarily 299 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:03,680 do that in the US, especially for people maybe in manufacturing, you know? But yeah, even nowadays, 300 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:10,240 like I was looking at, at Melitta North America, they have, there was a guy who was interviewed 301 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:16,960 in 2014. So I don't know if he's still at the company now. I've been at the company for 47 302 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:23,760 years. His entire life, he was like 20. Wow. Isn't that crazy? It is crazy. Yeah. That's awesome. 303 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:30,640 Yeah. A good employer. Yeah. Right there. Yeah. That's my plan with modest coffee. 47 years? 304 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:36,640 Oh. We're holding you to it. Four down, 43 to go. There you go. Amazing. Steph is going to be such 305 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:44,400 a cute old lady. Oh my God. The nice thing is that maybe you'll like be like old lady stooped over 306 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:49,040 enough that it won't be a trouble to put the bag under the bag. The bagging machine is finally 307 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,840 going to be the right height. Once my osteoporosis really kicks in. Right. That's great. Thanks for 308 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:58,720 not fixing that, Marcus. That's planning ahead. That's it. We don't want you having to like reach up. 309 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:04,160 Yeah. You don't, you don't go where the puck is. You go where the puck is going. Okay. 310 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,520 I'm the puck in this situation? Or you're back in. 311 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:19,840 Okay. Anyway, so yeah, so the, so yeah, Melita was super into it. So 1939, the brothers they bought, 312 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:24,640 they had bought a paper factory to expand their paper making. Are they still a family business? 313 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:29,280 Yeah. They're still a family business. Fourth generation now. Fucking dope. Cool. Melita's 314 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:34,640 great grandson is running the company. Love that. They didn't even get their first like chief 315 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:41,920 person into the company until 2011. It was just family until 2011. At the top. Yeah. It was all 316 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:48,400 family until 2011, at least for the Melita group, like the main Melita group in Europe. Like family 317 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:52,960 dynasty. It's like you're born. Here's what you will be doing. Yes. You were born into this. This 318 00:30:53,760 --> 00:31:00,560 this is like Simba. All of the land that you see is yours. Well, yeah. So they were, the brothers 319 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:05,120 were working together as Willie and horse. They were like took over the company in 1932 together. 320 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:11,280 Eventually. So after they bought that paper factory, they decided to split up. But that wasn't 321 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:18,320 until 1954. So after the war, things are really taking off. The Willie goes, he takes the paper 322 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:23,760 company and kind of manages the paper division. Horse takes Melita. Horse is a little bit though 323 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:29,200 of like a crazy guy. He's like, I want to fucking do it all. He's like, I want to be in every aspect. 324 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:33,760 And he goes kind of like he goes a little wild with the businesses. Amazing. He's like, I want 325 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:38,400 to be in every aspect of people's homes. So they got the saran wrap style, like the plastic film. 326 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:45,280 They've got that. They got the paper. They got the aluminum foil. They add vacuum bags. Oh, that 327 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:51,040 makes sense. Yeah. Toilet paper. Not as far as I could tell, but probably. I didn't look into all 328 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:55,520 of them. There's so many. He like, they also started doing like some housewares. He's like, 329 00:31:55,520 --> 00:32:00,560 I want to be making plates and shit. So like, he's like looking around, buying up these small 330 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:05,760 companies and putting them under the Melita name. Eventually it like got to be a little like wild. 331 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:11,920 So it was like a little bit much. So in the eighties, he ended up kind of just like making 332 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:16,560 each thing like its own thing. So they had like Melita for the coffee. There's another one called 333 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:20,960 Toppets. That was like the food wrapping shit. Like they've got like Ziploc style bags and things 334 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:25,360 like that. These are still companies that are, you can go to a German or like a European grocery 335 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:30,960 store. These are the brands you're going to find. Yeah. Yeah. And they also have like, it's called 336 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:36,560 Swirl. That's our vacuum bags. There's another one, Celia for tea. Aclimat was like home goods, 337 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:41,120 like air purifiers and shit. It was basically like, if it goes in your house, Horst wanted a 338 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:45,200 piece of that pie. He did let some things go because he got a little wild. He was like trying 339 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:52,000 to get into food and like jelly and shit. Like it was too much. Smuckers. Yeah. Right. They had like 340 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:57,600 one division like merged with Dow Chemical. I can't remember which one that was, but you know, 341 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:03,680 like they just were like into all of it. They've got their, but like coffee has always kind of been 342 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:08,160 the main thing. It's been like the bread and butter. They had like their, they've had various 343 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:14,640 different, you know, manual pour over system. They also were one of the first people to invent 344 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:22,720 a automatic coffee brewer. So like in the 1950s, the first one, it was a company called Wigomat. 345 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:32,080 Vigomat. That's probably how you pronounce it. By a guy named Gottlob Wiedvon. And he was like the 346 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:35,680 one who invented this whole thing, the automatic brewer with the filter. You said that really well, 347 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:41,440 by the way. I was trying, I was like channeling all the Waldorf. But so then like early 1960s, 348 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:46,240 Melita actually partnered with the guy who invented the automatic brewer. And they came out with 349 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:51,840 their own called the MA 120. I'd love to get my hands on one of those. It's really cool looking. 350 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:57,280 It kind of looks like a technoborm actually, how the technoborm has that thin metal that comes out. 351 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:04,000 I actually put a picture, I should show you guys. It's pretty cool. This is the very first one from 352 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:10,480 Melita. While Steph finds her glasses. Sorry. See it? How it kind of looks like a technoborm. 353 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:17,440 Yeah, it does look like that. Like super simplistic. Very like slim, very like simple looking. 354 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:23,760 Yeah, totally. But yeah, basically, it just looks like a regular Melita cone on top. 355 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:29,360 But it even has a little handle on it. So that's cool. But yeah, it's like, it's so crazy to me 356 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:36,080 that here's this company and this woman and her sons who invented the pour over that everybody 357 00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:41,120 knows and loves all traces back to this woman, automatic coffee brewer, they were the first ones 358 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:46,000 to make it widely marketable. I mean, Mr. Coffee gets all the all the glory, but that didn't even 359 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:52,720 come along till the 70s. Whoa, 20 years. Well, like 10. And this was like the 60s. Yeah. So the 360 00:34:52,720 --> 00:35:00,000 very first automatic brewer was late 50s or like 1954. And then this one came out 1962. And then 361 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:06,720 yeah, 10 years later before Mr. Coffee even came along. So yeah, it all we can trace this all back 362 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:13,360 to Melita. And then you had me get the which which is amazing. You had me get actual Melita 363 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:18,640 branded coffee. Yeah. So we're going to get into that next now. Oh, crazy. Really? Yeah. So Melita, 364 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:23,040 you know, they're kind of like so horse. Like I said, he's like a mad businessman. He's like, 365 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:29,680 like, like, I'm going to take over the world. So they went along and in in 19, 366 00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:38,800 the 1960s. Yeah. So the 1960s, they went ahead and expanded into South America because they wanted 367 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,240 to they started roasting. Well, they started roasting coffee in Germany. Well, they wanted 368 00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:47,200 to expand the coffee roasting. So they went to Brazil because that's where you're growing coffee. 369 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:53,040 So they opened up South American division in South America and Brazil. They also opened up in the 370 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:59,040 United States at the same time, Melita North America. So Melita North America operates a 371 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:04,880 little bit independently. It's almost seems like a franchise where they license all of the Melita 372 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:11,840 name and the all the branding. But they work super closely with the Melita group in Europe. 373 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:16,080 But Melita North America kind of runs independently, like they have their own CEO and 374 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:22,160 like American people and everything. Sounds like a Tex shell game thing. I don't think so. I don't 375 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:26,320 think it is. I think it's I think that they are actually doing things above board. And it's just 376 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:31,120 like it's just another division. And that's actually when I worked at Lush, that's how Lush 377 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:38,240 is too. So Lush in the UK is like its own thing. Lush North America, completely different company, 378 00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:43,360 but they just license everything from Lush in the UK. Yeah. And if you're the leadership at the top, 379 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:50,080 like just love to love to get those checks. Like the parent company. Yeah, they're just going to 380 00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:54,080 but they still work closely together because they want to protect the brand and everything. 381 00:36:55,760 --> 00:37:01,120 But yeah, so then, yeah, like I said, 80s, everything got out of control. Melita USA, 382 00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:04,400 that's kind of like the next thing that we'll focus on. Because like I said, it's kind of its 383 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:10,080 own company. It's been around for quite a while. They've got a headquarters in Clearwater, Florida. 384 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:14,960 That's where they make all of the filters that you find in the United States. And I was like, oh, 385 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:19,360 they're manufacturing them here stateside. Yeah, that's great. They manufacture them all 386 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:24,640 in Florida. So the ones in Europe, I think are now manufactured in China. They first moved to 387 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:29,200 Portugal. Now I think they're in China. As far as I can tell. Yeah, the ones in the United States, 388 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,160 Clearwater, Florida. That's where they also have all their corporate offices. 389 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:39,360 All the finance people are there. Then for this episode, I was like, surely Melita is probably 390 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:45,600 not roasting their own coffee. Right. So for this episode, it's yesterday, I'm like, oh shit, 391 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:49,440 we got to get coffee for this episode. And I was like, okay, well, let me first find out really 392 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:54,240 quick who's roasting Melita's coffee. Because then we could just go maybe buy one of their bags. 393 00:37:54,240 --> 00:37:59,120 And then kind of talk about them a little bit and we'll try that. Well, no. Come to find out, 394 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:04,960 Melita roasts their own fucking coffee. They're roasting it in the United States in Cherry Hill, 395 00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:11,200 New Jersey. They have a whole roasting operation there too. Melita USA, same thing, amazing 396 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:18,560 corporate culture. People are working there forever. The CEO, his name is Marty Miller. 397 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:25,680 He has been the CEO since 2000. Oh, wow. And Marty, he took over. He's like, I'm going to make this 398 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:34,880 company good, profitable. What do we need to do? So on their website, he actually has a ask, 399 00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:41,200 like Marty page. Ask Marty. Because he's also always dreamed of being an advice columnist. 400 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:49,120 And his parents forced him into going to business school. Exactly. He's like, hey, I'm Marty. I want 401 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:56,240 to hear from you. You tell me what you want. Tell me anything. This form is going to go directly to 402 00:38:56,240 --> 00:39:02,880 my inbox. I would like banana flavored coffee. Right into Marty. I see what he says. He wants 403 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:07,520 to hear from you directly. It's really sweet. Like not many CEOs are like, you know what? 404 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:15,280 Come find me. What do the peasants think? Right. That's like my cleaning lady who always has 405 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:20,480 like suggestions whether or not like I want them. Yes. And so I started asking her to write them 406 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:25,360 down and put them in the suggestion box. And then every time she comes to her house, I have her clean 407 00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:35,760 out the suggestion. Marcus loves that joke. I was excited that there was a suggestion box at work, 408 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:47,120 but it's just here. Marcus loves that joke. He wrote that one a while ago. He's been hanging on. 409 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:56,240 He finally found a place for it. Yeah. You can put any of your suggestions in that box. 410 00:39:56,800 --> 00:40:04,160 For her to clean it. Anyway, so moving along, I hope Marty's not cleaning them out. He says he 411 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:10,640 even says- He immediately clicks delete. Marty's like, tell me what you want. 412 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:18,000 This company actually though is amazingly transparent. So there's Melida Group in Europe. 413 00:40:18,000 --> 00:40:23,760 There's other like Melida websites, Melida USA. Every single one is filled with an overwhelming 414 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:28,400 amount of information about the company. It's actually pretty cool. They have like timelines 415 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:33,520 and like detailed, like so much information. It's great. They want you to know everything. They want 416 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:37,040 to know you to know about their sourcing. They want you to know about their roasting. They want 417 00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:41,040 to let you know what equipment they're using. They want to let you know like everything you want to 418 00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:46,320 know about this company, you can find out. They're super transparent. It's really helpful if you're 419 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:51,600 doing a podcast. Very amazing. It was great. All I had to do was like organize the information. I 420 00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:56,400 didn't even have to do any digging. It was great. Love it. They even have a location in Elgin, 421 00:40:56,400 --> 00:41:03,440 Illinois. They have like a professional brewing division. Like say you want like an automatic 422 00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:09,840 coffee maker for your office or hotel where it makes like lattes and shit. Anybody who wants a 423 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:16,400 good company, go locally. Go check them out. Fox Valley. You know, they know what's up. Check them out in 424 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:21,680 Elgin, Illinois. You could be a repair tech. You could be a sales guy. Like go get it. Maybe you 425 00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:26,000 should get a job there. I'll show up. I want to be a repair tech. They're actually, if you want to move to New 426 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:34,000 Jersey, they're hiring right now in their roastery. Oh damn. Yeah. Dude, I'll bet you they can 427 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:40,480 afford to pay me. Probably. I mean all the glass door things so that they pay well. Nice. Yeah, 428 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:44,080 but they're under staff so they expect you to work more hours, but they're going to pay you for them. 429 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:49,440 That's fine. It's kind of nice. Yeah, so like I said, people work at this place forever. 430 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:56,720 Jeff Bridges, who's the vice president of operations. The actor? I wish. No, but he's been with the company 431 00:41:56,720 --> 00:42:02,800 for 30 years. Oh. You got Marty. He's been there for CEO for 23 and probably worked there before that. 432 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:08,800 Then there's Vinny Taglifero. He's the director of coffee. He's been there since 2007. 433 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:16,000 And like I said, Ron Clark, oldest employee, and as of nine years ago, had been there 47 years. 434 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:21,760 Wow. Crazy. That's amazing. Like I said, they do all of their roasting in New Jersey. Yeah, 435 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:25,920 talk about this coffee because I'm looking at the bag right now. Gorgeous packaging. It's called 436 00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:34,880 European Indulgence. So they are huge. I had no fucking idea they're huge, but I think they 437 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:40,160 sell locally in stores out in the East Coast. Oh, okay. So they're more like a regional East Coast 438 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:47,760 brand. Crazy. They're at ShopRite, Wegmans, Acme. Dang. You know who else is going to be selling at 439 00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:51,440 Acme? Well, there's two different Acmes, but we are going to be in one of them, Acme of Ohio. 440 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:57,120 Oh, well, I don't know which Acme they're in. I didn't Google it. There's like the other 160 stores 441 00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:01,040 that are bought by Albertsons, I think. Okay. Well, they're probably in that Acme because they're 442 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:07,120 roasting enough coffee to support that. It's a big boy. But they still try to be specialty about it. 443 00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:12,480 Vinnie, I read an article with him. He says about 70% of the coffee that they buy comes from farms 444 00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:19,520 that are under 10 acres. Amazing. Yeah, it's crazy. And their fucking coffee roaster gave me major 445 00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:27,920 anxiety. How big? Fucking huge. They are roasting on a ProBat R series. Have you ever even heard of 446 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:36,640 the R series? Is that the centrifugal? No, it's still like a typical drum roaster. 400 kilos. It 447 00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:44,080 roasts 880 pounds per batch. I didn't even know they got that big. That's fucking crazy. Huge. 448 00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:52,080 If you go on ProBat's website and look at this R series and just the schematic of it and how it 449 00:43:52,080 --> 00:44:00,000 goes together, I was like, I am about to faint right now. My anxiety levels are so high. You can 450 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:04,640 find pictures of them even on the Melitta USA website. There's a picture of their roaster next 451 00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:11,360 to some coffee bags. It's like monstrous. How big must it be? That would be seven or eight bags. 452 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:18,400 You could roast like four humans inside of it. No way. I mean, I would say probably seven humans. 453 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:23,120 Oh my gosh. You're going to throw seven humans in there. That's a lot of, that's a big space. 454 00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:29,920 That's fucking huge. Tall just tumbling around like a giant. Huge. You should see it. It's fucking so 455 00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:36,480 scary. I'm just imagining like a chaff fire. It even says on ProBat's website, they're like, 456 00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:42,240 look, we got like, this thing's got fire safe things. If there's a fire where it's going to 457 00:44:42,240 --> 00:44:48,720 be fine, don't worry. You have to climb inside of it to lubricate it probably. Oh my God. Imagine 458 00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:54,800 what could get chopped off. Oh goodness. Oh Jesus. Oh mama. It's too big. I think I'd rather just have 459 00:44:54,800 --> 00:45:00,880 eight. Eight 100 pound roasters. I don't need one big guy. I just want eight little guys. Eight times 460 00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:05,440 larger than the 60 kilo coffee roaster that we have. Eight times larger. That would be, I mean, 461 00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:10,800 that's like bigger than the room that we're in. Crazy. Terrifying. Yeah. It's gigantic. I just 462 00:45:10,800 --> 00:45:17,920 want to, like how tall? It's got to be at least two stories. It would have to be. Yeah. Yeah. And 463 00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:23,840 it's a drum style. It's not a dryer style. Oh my gosh. Drum style. Yeah. That's a big boy. Crazy. 464 00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:30,720 It's just a giant fucking big boy. And you've got like huge tubes and all of this. It's a factory. 465 00:45:30,720 --> 00:45:37,120 It's a monster. Yeah. They're fat. It's like a hundred thousand square feet roasting facility 466 00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:42,080 because they're also grinding. They're roasting, they're grinding, they're bagging, they're doing 467 00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:50,240 it all there. They offer toll roasting services on their website. Okay. They are organic, kosher, 468 00:45:50,240 --> 00:45:54,960 fair trade and rainforest alliance certified. So if you want any of those things, they can do it in 469 00:45:54,960 --> 00:46:00,080 their plant for you, which is cool. They do ground, they do whole bean, they do frac packs, 470 00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:05,680 they'll do cold brew. Whatever you want. They got it for you. And they're a hundred thousand square 471 00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:12,320 facility. They also have a commitment to sustainability. It's like their company ethos 472 00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:16,880 is if it's not sustainable, they're not doing it. If they can't do it, it's sustainably. 473 00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:23,600 This is interesting about their filters. They're manufactured using FSC certified pulp, 474 00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:30,080 which sounds like forest. That's the forestry. Yeah. They also have a partnership with American 475 00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:36,480 forest and have planted over 600,000 trees. Their Melida cone filters are compostable. 476 00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:41,360 All of their filters, even the white ones, which is interesting, are chlorine and bleach free. 477 00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:48,720 Oh, yeah. They bleach them using an oxygen process. There's literally no difference 478 00:46:48,720 --> 00:46:54,000 between the white and the brown, which is cool. And then we all know they have the bamboo filters. 479 00:46:54,000 --> 00:47:02,400 Those are 40% bamboo and their packaging is recycled paperboard. Dope. So to me, it seems 480 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:07,760 like they're this huge, gigantic global company, but it's like they've really tried hard to stay 481 00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:17,120 true to their values, creating a family values company. They want it to be someplace. When I 482 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:21,920 was reading this interview with Vinny, he was like, oh yeah, I was talking to Marty on the phone the 483 00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:27,680 other day. So it's like, there's Marty. He's out there. He's talking to his people. They are 484 00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:35,040 globally $1.7 billion in sales every year. Wow. Yeah. And they employ 5,800 people. 485 00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:40,800 Is that just the US branch or that's total? All global, yeah. Wow. So they're huge. They're a way 486 00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:45,520 huger company than I thought, probably because they just don't have the visibility in our area 487 00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:52,560 that they do other places. Like I said, their coffee, ground, whole bean sold more out East. 488 00:47:53,200 --> 00:48:00,080 We do not have that luxury of having Melitta on our shelves. So we had to get... Yeah, what the 489 00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:07,040 fuck is this? What is this like? So we did our best. We did the best we could. If you want to 490 00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:16,400 buy Melitta coffee around us, you can't. I was certain that at least Woodmans would have it, 491 00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:21,760 but no, they didn't. And so we went on a search. Like I said, I was hoping that it was roasted by 492 00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:26,320 another company and that we could just go buy the other company's coffee, but no, they're roasting 493 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:30,320 it themselves. So we had to get Melitta. And the only thing we could find was that our local 494 00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:37,440 Walmart, they have these weird pucks. It's like a bag full of coffee. Yeah, it's like a tea bag, 495 00:48:37,440 --> 00:48:44,320 but it's like the kind that go at a hotel where the brews in a... It's like a coffee and filter 496 00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:51,760 all pod, all in one, but not like a K-cup. But wait, I figure the coffee's the same. It's still 497 00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:57,040 a coffee in there. What difference does it make? Are you supposed to brew it? So there's like, 498 00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:02,640 it says that it's for a specific type of coffee brewer called a Sanseo and Hamilton Beach pod 499 00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:07,840 coffee makers. We don't have that pod coffee maker. We only bought it for the coffee. That's why I was 500 00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:12,560 like, we could just rip these open and pour it into the filter and then brew it the way we're 501 00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:16,880 supposed to brew it as a... Because this is going to be the same. Whether we bought a bag of ground, 502 00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:20,240 we just happen to end up with all these extra pods. How's it smell? What's the olfactory reveal? 503 00:49:20,240 --> 00:49:25,040 Yeah, here's the olfactory reveal. Oh man. So yeah, Melida, it sounds like a great company. 504 00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:30,640 It sounds like they're trying to do what they can as a major gigantic global company. They're 505 00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:36,000 keeping it in the family as much as they can. Like I said, they didn't hire their first... It took 506 00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:41,600 them a hundred years to hire outside of the family, basically. Well, shall we brew some coffee? 507 00:49:42,240 --> 00:49:49,280 Let's do it. Modest Coffee roasts the highest quality single origin coffees without the snubbery. 508 00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:54,880 They take the guesswork out of buying specialty coffee by carefully curating green coffees 509 00:49:54,880 --> 00:50:00,880 and sorting them to one of their tiers based on cupping score, price, flavor notes, and roast 510 00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:10,160 level. Go to www.modest.coffee forward slash no bad reviews to see what they're roasting today. 511 00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:18,640 Pip pip cheerio. And we're back and I see Jenny is brewing... Brewing coffee the way Melida 512 00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:24,720 intended it. A little pour over, a little hot water. Yep. I see the brewer using a vintage brewer. 513 00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:33,600 Looks like the plastic is 100% BPA. Could be. Is that all clear? All clear, hard plastic. 514 00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:40,960 But like with a brownish tinge to indicate it's from 1978? Definitely. Very cool. They did the 515 00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:47,680 flat pour over for a long time, for like 30 years. It wasn't until 1937 that they introduced the cone 516 00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:53,840 shape that we all know pour overs to be now. And I think there's not really that many that do the 517 00:50:53,840 --> 00:50:59,520 flat shape anymore. Like we were talking about, there's the Vietnamese thin. That's a flat shape, 518 00:50:59,520 --> 00:51:03,760 but that doesn't have a filter. There's the arrow press, but that's meant to be pressed through. 519 00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:10,160 And then the Kalita wave, that's a flat. Then some of the automatic brewers have that flat bottom 520 00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:16,560 basket as well. The original Melida was more of like an arrow press style filter, just over those 521 00:51:16,560 --> 00:51:22,720 bottom holes. The holes were kind of big too. They were probably like a good quarter inch of a hole. 522 00:51:22,720 --> 00:51:29,360 Oh, that was to encourage dripping. Right, exactly. Because of like it's flat shape. It had these 523 00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:36,080 bigger holes. Here, I can show you guys, if you want to look. That's really cool. You guys couldn't 524 00:51:36,080 --> 00:51:41,600 get your hands on a brass one, huh? Oh man, that would be cool. Yeah. So it's got, and that 525 00:51:41,600 --> 00:51:47,600 handle underneath is actually the cup. So it would drip. It was like all in one unit, the cup and the 526 00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:52,880 filter. So cool. Melida is still putting out new products today. And as a matter of fact, like the 527 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:58,080 ceramic pour over cones that they make are still one of my favorites because they are, 528 00:51:59,840 --> 00:52:06,480 the circle or the hole for the dripping is larger. It's more forgiving on the technique. It just sort 529 00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:12,080 of regulates itself on how much it drips out. So I really like them. They're really forgiving. 530 00:52:12,080 --> 00:52:18,480 I'm holding up a one right now. And one thing that I like about, so the Melida, the shape, 531 00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:24,400 these ridges on the inside are really important too, because it helps like let some air in there. 532 00:52:24,400 --> 00:52:30,480 So it's like, if it were smooth, like some pour overs, it are smooth and then the filter sticks 533 00:52:30,480 --> 00:52:37,040 to it. And then it's like, you can't have like the air, water. It creates like a suction where the 534 00:52:37,040 --> 00:52:43,200 coffee can't quite get through and it goes slower when it's going through. So these ridges help, 535 00:52:44,320 --> 00:52:48,320 help make it so that there is no suction. Interesting. So there's like a little bit 536 00:52:48,320 --> 00:52:53,520 of science there too, which is kind of an interesting thing. So yeah, we have, I love 537 00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:58,400 Melida, this one that we're brewing on, I found at a thrift store. It's just a vintage glass pot. And 538 00:52:58,400 --> 00:53:04,720 then the plastic cone on top, it's a big brewer. It takes a number six filter, which means that 539 00:53:04,720 --> 00:53:12,080 it'll brew 12 cups of coffee, 12 small, technically 12 small cups, but you know, probably six regular, 540 00:53:12,080 --> 00:53:17,760 like our standard. But for them, like six to eight ounces, we've seen this before on coffee makers 541 00:53:17,760 --> 00:53:23,680 and stuff. Like the standard was six to eight ounces at another point in time. We now think 542 00:53:23,680 --> 00:53:31,360 of like 12 to 16 as the standard. Right. Yeah. Well, I make a pour over every morning with a 543 00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:38,960 ceramic. Melida, the ceramic Melida? Oh no shit. Yep. Every day. I started that because I had a 544 00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:44,960 series of bad luck with like Mr. Coffee style coffee pots. They kept breaking. And then I decided 545 00:53:44,960 --> 00:53:52,480 to try out a French press and I didn't really like that. I don't like the gift in the bottom of the 546 00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:57,680 cup with those. And I also broke it like a weekend. I just like sling it against the side of the sink. 547 00:53:57,680 --> 00:54:02,800 So I was like, I need something that is never going to fucking break. And I picked up a plastic 548 00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:08,880 Melida cone and the coffee is so good. I just think it tastes better than any other method. 549 00:54:09,520 --> 00:54:14,960 Yeah, I agree. I think it's great. I think the Melida and then the Bee House coffee brewer, 550 00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:19,920 that one's a Japanese company called Zero Japan. Those two are my favorite. They're very similar 551 00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:26,560 in shape, very similar in design. Okay. So the problem with the Bee House, if you're an American, 552 00:54:26,560 --> 00:54:32,480 is that if you are brewing like a 12 ounce, I like, I don't have a huge 16 ounce mug of coffee, 553 00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:37,280 but I do like a mug that's a little bit bigger than the standard. And that tiny little... The 554 00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:46,880 Bee House is smaller. Yeah. It doesn't fit on top of the mug. So yeah. Yeah. Melida, it's great. I 555 00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:51,760 like, I have right here, we have in our house, we have a plastic one somewhere. The plastic one is 556 00:54:51,760 --> 00:54:57,120 great for travel, especially because it's unbreakable. Yeah. Indestructible. So back in the 70s, I think 557 00:54:57,120 --> 00:55:03,280 it was, they came out with this whole colored line, which I have, and there's going to be a picture on 558 00:55:03,280 --> 00:55:08,320 social media. I have the light pink one. They came out with a series of these in like pink, blue, 559 00:55:08,320 --> 00:55:13,200 I think in yellow as well, which they're just cute. They're really cute. You brew it through 560 00:55:13,200 --> 00:55:18,960 your ceramic filter on top. It's a number two filter into this pot. And then you have a little lid. 561 00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:23,440 We also have this other one that they came out with. It's a ceramic, but it has almost like a 562 00:55:23,440 --> 00:55:30,720 metallic type finish to it. Yeah. It's more like hand crafted. It's not perfectly cylindrical like 563 00:55:30,720 --> 00:55:35,600 a machine. It looks, it has a handcrafted look. I think it's like, I think it's probably still made 564 00:55:35,600 --> 00:55:42,720 out of machine, but it has that look. Yeah. And then you can, I started, I was like, I gotta find 565 00:55:42,720 --> 00:55:49,600 an, an MA 120, like the OG original Melida automatic brewer. Well, I couldn't find that, 566 00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:55,280 but if you go on eBay, you can find, this is kind of cool. They have these like travel kits. It's 567 00:55:55,280 --> 00:56:02,080 like a travel coffee, automatic coffee brewing kit where it comes in a fun bag. It comes with 568 00:56:02,080 --> 00:56:08,000 a little one cup brewer. It kind of looks like the Technivorm one cup brewers that are out there, 569 00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:13,360 but it's a small little one cup, tiny brewer. And it even comes with like little canisters for your 570 00:56:13,360 --> 00:56:20,000 coffee and your cream and your sugar. It's the cutest thing. I have to buy one. There's a lot of 571 00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:26,080 them on eBay. If you're interested. So cute. You know what I just bought? We're taking a trip soon. 572 00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:33,840 And in preparation, I bought two pour over cones that are collapsible. Oh yeah. I think I have one. 573 00:56:33,840 --> 00:56:38,320 Maybe it's in the RV. Yeah, those are great. Very cool. I tested one out. It seemed to work. 574 00:56:38,320 --> 00:56:43,120 Did it work? Yeah. So let's talk about this coffee. Wait, hang on. I gotta show you guys really 575 00:56:43,120 --> 00:56:49,200 quickly. Cause this, I'm like, I am fucking, I'm so obsessed. I gotta buy this. Look at this. How cute. 576 00:56:51,120 --> 00:56:56,320 And so you would take your little travel bag of coffee and plug it in at your hotel or wherever 577 00:56:56,320 --> 00:57:03,200 you are. I do that anyways. All right. It's super cute, but like there's your carry on. Like just 578 00:57:03,200 --> 00:57:07,520 coffee. Not practical at all. I'm thinking it's for like people who are in Europe traveling by train. 579 00:57:08,160 --> 00:57:13,200 Oh, that's very romantic. Yeah. That's kind of, that's where my mind went because I don't like 580 00:57:13,200 --> 00:57:21,360 flying on airplanes, but it's so cute. I love it. I have to buy it. So let's do an olfactory reveal. 581 00:57:21,360 --> 00:57:24,800 Shall we? Wait, wait, wait. I just have to show you this one too. Cause I'm obsessed. Marcus is dying. 582 00:57:24,800 --> 00:57:30,960 This one comes with a little, a little glass carafe instead of plastic. That's so cool. 583 00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:38,640 I'm like obsessed with Melita. I love the fact that this, that this thing that is a global way of 584 00:57:38,640 --> 00:57:46,160 drinking coffee so fucking common, it is like, um, was just invented by this woman. And I feel like 585 00:57:46,160 --> 00:57:50,880 she doesn't get enough credit out there. Oh, wait, I just, I just, there's whole barista 586 00:57:50,880 --> 00:57:57,200 comp it pour over competition. It's such a thing now. I just put this together. It's vintage and 587 00:57:57,200 --> 00:58:03,440 it's only $25 for this whole setup. This is actually really cute. You do have to buy it. 588 00:58:03,440 --> 00:58:07,520 Yeah. Oh my God. I can't wait till you buy this. It's so cute. Like a leather bag. 589 00:58:08,560 --> 00:58:16,000 It looks nylon. It's probably nylon. Very cool. So olfactory reveal. Let's talk about the coffee, 590 00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:20,480 European indulgence. Why we're here. This is the name of the game. Stuff's going to walk us through 591 00:58:20,480 --> 00:58:24,400 is how this coffee goes. We smell it first. We tell you what we think about it. We drink it. 592 00:58:24,400 --> 00:58:28,720 It's funny that Marcus said you're going to tell us, but he's just telling us first, 593 00:58:28,720 --> 00:58:33,120 but you're about to tell us. Yeah, actually I'm just going to tell you, do it. We drink it black. 594 00:58:33,120 --> 00:58:38,160 We tell you whether or not we like it. Then if we can't, we add stuff to it. Cream sugar, whatever 595 00:58:38,160 --> 00:58:45,840 we get there. And then the very pinnacle of no bad reviews is, uh, if we need to, we hit it with a 596 00:58:45,840 --> 00:58:53,280 little whiskey. Uh, and then we keep drinking it till it tastes not bad. Yeah. So my, I did not 597 00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:58,640 look into really where their coffees are coming from specifically. Um, I'm assuming a lot of 598 00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:05,440 their coffee comes out of Brazil still still because they have a division. They set up a whole 599 00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:11,360 division in Brazil. So this smells like your typical macro roaster. When you're roasting 600 00:59:11,360 --> 00:59:15,520 800 pounds of coffee at a time, you've got two settings. You've got dark and darker. We've 601 00:59:15,520 --> 00:59:18,880 talked about this because there's just so much thermal energy going into it and the roasting 602 00:59:18,880 --> 00:59:25,280 coffee so fast, it's hard to really stylize it and put your mark on it. You're just kind of, 603 00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:30,640 you know, operating a machine at that point. Um, this coffee kind of smells like a big macro, 604 00:59:30,640 --> 00:59:37,840 in my opinion. Yeah. Um, oh, for sure. I bet it is. He said that they roast 880 pounds in 15 minutes 605 00:59:37,840 --> 00:59:44,480 and the coffee beans get up to 1100 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeah. So 1100 degrees. That's, 606 00:59:44,480 --> 00:59:51,120 yeah, that's, uh, that's hot. Yeah. Pretty hot. Well, you figure we're roasting, like when we're 607 00:59:51,120 --> 00:59:56,560 doing our measurements, that's just on the temperature inside the drum. Does the drum 608 00:59:56,560 --> 01:00:01,840 get up to 1100 degrees? Not even close. Yeah. So how does the beans, is that that thermal energy 609 01:00:01,840 --> 01:00:04,880 that you're talking about? Yeah. When you're putting the beans act like little, little heat 610 01:00:04,880 --> 01:00:09,680 sinks and they absorb all this energy until they can't absorb anymore and then they release it. 611 01:00:09,680 --> 01:00:14,000 And then, so when you've got that much kind of thermal energy going in and they release it, 612 01:00:14,000 --> 01:00:20,080 you're, you, the beans start roasting themselves. And also at that temperature at 800 pounds, 613 01:00:20,080 --> 01:00:24,560 when it comes out, the beans are also, there's so much thermal energy when it's done roasting, 614 01:00:24,560 --> 01:00:30,000 they can't cool off on their own fast enough in the cooling tray. So they quench it with water. 615 01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:36,800 They actually hit the, the, the, the cooling beans with water to help in the evaporation of the water 616 01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:42,240 helps cool it off faster so that the beans don't roast. So again, in my opinion, you're sort of 617 01:00:42,240 --> 01:00:48,880 like you're introducing water, which kind of like could potentially affect the end flavor in the 618 01:00:48,880 --> 01:00:53,600 cup. Cause you're kind of extracting a little bit when you're immediately quenching it. I'm not 619 01:00:53,600 --> 01:00:58,160 entirely certain if the probe at, cause I was wondering about the water quenching to see if 620 01:00:58,160 --> 01:01:03,280 this was cooled by water quenching. That's fine. It happens. It's an industry practice when it's 621 01:01:03,280 --> 01:01:07,680 so big because there's so much thermal energy. So anyways, let's go ahead and try this coffee. Oh 622 01:01:07,680 --> 01:01:15,680 shit. Where's our mugs? All right. All right. We're back. So, all right. So it smells, 623 01:01:16,720 --> 01:01:21,200 just smells like coffee. Smells like coffee. So here's the thing. It seems like they really do, 624 01:01:21,200 --> 01:01:25,680 like I know that they're gigantic scale, but it does, like in this article I read with Vinny, 625 01:01:25,680 --> 01:01:32,240 the roaster or the head roaster, he really does seem to be really into coffee. He seems to be 626 01:01:32,240 --> 01:01:37,200 really into like the roasting. He seems to be into the farms. He seems to be into the, 627 01:01:37,200 --> 01:01:44,720 like trying to do his best on like millions of pounds a year scale. Right. You know, like, 628 01:01:44,720 --> 01:01:49,760 there's only so much you can do, but he did not, he was not one of those guys who was like, 629 01:01:49,760 --> 01:01:54,320 fuck it, you know, just throw the coffee and bring it out. He was really excited and passionate 630 01:01:54,320 --> 01:02:00,720 about coffee and excited and passionate about what they were doing. So I recognize that they 631 01:02:00,720 --> 01:02:06,000 are gigantic macro roaster, but I think it's kind of cool that he still really cares. 632 01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:12,560 Yeah. So, you know, there's only so much you can do though, you know, and can't fault them for that. 633 01:02:13,360 --> 01:02:18,320 Right. And they're doing a lot of, a lot of good. I mean, those 5,000 employees are happy. 634 01:02:18,880 --> 01:02:21,840 That's globally too though, but they've got all those other products as well. 635 01:02:23,920 --> 01:02:29,120 Is this particular coffee anything special as far as organic, fair trade, 636 01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:34,320 rainforest Alliance, blah, blah? No, but I did read that they have a rabbi who comes by every 637 01:02:34,320 --> 01:02:38,320 couple of weeks to double check to make sure they're still doing kosher shit. They're still kosher. 638 01:02:40,640 --> 01:02:47,920 Got a rabbi on payroll. Yeah, basically. Right. How do you, how do you score that rabbi job where 639 01:02:47,920 --> 01:02:51,760 you don't have to like write something and read it out loud every week. You just go from like 640 01:02:51,760 --> 01:02:56,400 business to business and do your little spiel over the giant vat of coffee or whatever. Yeah. It's 641 01:02:56,400 --> 01:03:04,320 gotta be, you know, that's, that's, that's the kush rabbi job, right? Like retired rabbi, you know, 642 01:03:04,320 --> 01:03:09,040 no longer running a church. So yeah, you know, this is just the European indulgence. 643 01:03:10,800 --> 01:03:17,280 It doesn't say where it's from specifically. Yeah, Steph. How do you feel that? That's a look. 644 01:03:17,920 --> 01:03:24,800 I just took the tiniest sip and it was just a hint of bitterness. Yeah. It's a, you know, 645 01:03:24,800 --> 01:03:31,680 it's strong. Bitter's a desirable characteristic to some people. People really like that. I don't, 646 01:03:31,680 --> 01:03:36,080 oh boy. I mean, I have to do something to this coffee. It's, it's very bitter, right? I think 647 01:03:36,080 --> 01:03:41,280 it's a not, it's, it's an instant, you know, maybe we could get to not bad with a little cream. And 648 01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:47,440 what else is going on? Like some acidity? Yeah. It's just very, it's very intense. I love tobacco. 649 01:03:47,440 --> 01:03:53,920 Very intense. Um, you know, this reminds me like coffee and a cigarette, you know, this is that 650 01:03:53,920 --> 01:03:58,240 kind of cigarette. Yeah. You got the flavors of the cigarette right there in your coffee. 651 01:03:58,240 --> 01:04:03,920 And I love that 18 man coffee and a cigarette. That was breakfast. That was worth so good. 652 01:04:03,920 --> 01:04:09,280 I do miss coffee and a cigarette and fitting into a size four. Yeah. Yeah. Those were the days. 653 01:04:10,240 --> 01:04:16,160 Yeah. This brings me right back. So I kind of love that. Okay. That's a positive. Yep. It's 654 01:04:16,160 --> 01:04:22,400 not terrible. It's cooling slightly and I feel like it's helping or maybe I'm just, I keep sipping 655 01:04:22,400 --> 01:04:28,480 and I'm getting used to it. I feel like, I feel like the more sips I take, the less bitter it gets. 656 01:04:29,280 --> 01:04:34,480 Maybe I just need to get used to it. I'm having that. Add something to it. Yeah. I'm going to add, 657 01:04:34,480 --> 01:04:38,560 I'm going to add a little, I'm going to add a little zhuzh. I'm going to zhuzh it up. Zhuzh it up. 658 01:04:38,560 --> 01:04:43,200 What are you, where are you starting? Can you hand it here? Are you getting some stuff? I know that 659 01:04:43,200 --> 01:04:49,840 you're morally opposed to milk, but yeah, I might pass on the milk and just go straight to the whiskey. 660 01:04:49,840 --> 01:04:59,280 Yeah. I'll do the milk for us. I'll try the milky version. I feel like I, I like the whiskey better 661 01:04:59,280 --> 01:05:04,160 without the milk. That makes sense. So I'm just going to go straight there. Okay. How is it with 662 01:05:04,160 --> 01:05:10,640 the milk? Yeah. Okay. No, I don't think it's much of a difference. Oh, okay. Yeah. I almost, I like, 663 01:05:10,640 --> 01:05:16,320 I like when milk softens the coffee and I feel like this is, you got to make, it's no bad reviews, 664 01:05:16,320 --> 01:05:22,080 Marcus. Okay. He's giving a bad review to the milk, not the coffee. I think it's all the 665 01:05:22,080 --> 01:05:28,960 the milk's problem. This coffee, you just, you know, it's too, this coffee's strong. 666 01:05:28,960 --> 01:05:35,360 Look, this is what I'm going to say about it. We've had a lot of like giant coffee roasters. I don't, 667 01:05:35,360 --> 01:05:39,920 I don't know if we can confirm that we've had one that's been nearly a thousand pounds per batch. 668 01:05:39,920 --> 01:05:46,960 Yeah. So putting that into perspective, I actually think it's better than some of 669 01:05:46,960 --> 01:05:52,080 the other ones that we've had that were roasted on smaller roasters. 670 01:05:54,000 --> 01:06:00,400 Oh, that's so good. The whiskey did it. Man, that's so good. That uncle, uncle nearest, 671 01:06:01,680 --> 01:06:04,560 really, they need to be a sponsor. 672 01:06:04,560 --> 01:06:10,640 Can you throw any coffee at this, any whiskey, this whiskey just fixes. Yeah. Man. Yeah. It's good. 673 01:06:11,360 --> 01:06:17,360 Yeah. It's tasty. It helps, it helps mellow it out. Oh, they are roasting 10 million pounds of coffee 674 01:06:17,360 --> 01:06:23,440 per year. Wow. That's crazy. That's a lot of fucking coffee. Right. It's almost a million pounds a 675 01:06:23,440 --> 01:06:31,120 week. How is that possible? I mean, a million pounds a month, 250,000 pounds. That's crazy. 676 01:06:31,120 --> 01:06:37,600 A million pounds a month, 250,000 pounds per week. There's 24 hours in a day, man. They got that shit 677 01:06:37,600 --> 01:06:43,760 running. They did say that the coffee roastery is going 24 hours a day. 24-7, the coffee roastery 678 01:06:43,760 --> 01:06:51,360 is in operation. That's how. Wow. Yeah. Geez. Yeah. Can you, you know, we could do that. We have done 679 01:06:51,360 --> 01:06:56,080 that. We have done that. Close to that. Fucking A. That was the worst six weeks of my life. 680 01:06:56,080 --> 01:07:03,920 Yeah. But they're seeking coffee roasters and that's probably why. Oh, graveyard shift. Right. 681 01:07:05,280 --> 01:07:11,120 Yeah. That's no good. I love the whiskey with this though, cause it's like buttery now. Let me just. 682 01:07:11,120 --> 01:07:14,880 Or with the milk and the whiskey. Let me just put this in perspective though. Like this giant 683 01:07:14,880 --> 01:07:22,400 roaster, they're doing 250,000 pounds a week. That is only 300 batches. Uh-huh. Right. And it's only 684 01:07:22,400 --> 01:07:30,320 15 minutes a batch. Divided by seven, 40 batches a day. You know. Equals that divided by. That's 10 685 01:07:30,320 --> 01:07:35,280 hours. That's only 10 hours. So much fucking coffee. 10 hours a day. Right. Why do they need to be 686 01:07:35,280 --> 01:07:42,000 running 24-7? Right. You know, packaging. Packaging and shit too. Right. So they can like, yeah, that's 687 01:07:42,000 --> 01:07:47,200 kind of crazy. Like that's how big their fucking coffee roaster is, is that they can pretty much 688 01:07:47,200 --> 01:07:57,360 easily do 250,000 pounds a week. Yeah. My mind is fucking blown right now. So anyways, putting it 689 01:07:57,360 --> 01:08:04,480 on that perspective, this is better than other coffees we've had for sure. And how many coffees, 690 01:08:05,120 --> 01:08:11,840 how many bags or pods are left? Because I spent $4 on this coffee too. So we got three cups of coffee 691 01:08:11,840 --> 01:08:18,000 for four bucks. But we're supposed to get 18 cups of coffee total. That's true. If we use the right 692 01:08:18,000 --> 01:08:26,080 pod brewing. And volume. So it would be like nine, 12 ounce cups. Okay. So the funny thing is, is that 693 01:08:26,080 --> 01:08:31,360 each one of those pods only had like seven grams in it. Yes. That's enough for like a six ounce cup 694 01:08:31,360 --> 01:08:39,040 of coffee. Right. Right. So doing the math, right, we end up with roughly nine cups of coffee. Um, 695 01:08:39,040 --> 01:08:44,960 or the way that we brew it, we'll end up with six cups of coffee. Um, still not bad for four bucks. 696 01:08:44,960 --> 01:08:54,400 Right. Exactly. Not bad. If you got four bucks to burn, you know, um, I think, uh, uh, there's worse 697 01:08:54,400 --> 01:08:59,680 ways that you could do it. And thinking of all things considered, they're trying to be sustainable. 698 01:08:59,680 --> 01:09:05,200 They're trying to, you know, they're trying to support farmers. They're trying to, they're doing 699 01:09:05,200 --> 01:09:10,000 they're doing what they can on a massive fucking scale. So who, who is this coffee for? 700 01:09:13,840 --> 01:09:20,000 I think it's for Vinny at the coffee retreat for sure. Vinny's really into it. Vinny's into it. 701 01:09:20,000 --> 01:09:25,760 I feel like this coffee needs a biscotti or a biscotto. Maybe some sweetness is the answer. 702 01:09:25,760 --> 01:09:31,680 If I was dipping, like, I feel like this would taste good on a cookie. I put a, like a fair 703 01:09:31,680 --> 01:09:39,200 amount of whiskey in mine. Um, and I love it. Okay. I really like this. So this is for the person 704 01:09:39,200 --> 01:09:46,320 who's woken up hungover and needs to do a hair of the dog. Were you hungover today, Marcus? No, 705 01:09:46,320 --> 01:09:51,120 actually this is, you know, just somebody who likes to wake up drinking. Sober May. Will you hand me 706 01:09:51,120 --> 01:10:01,280 the somebody. Oh no, we ruined your sober May. Well, in fairness, I got the idea for sober May 707 01:10:01,280 --> 01:10:09,760 on the 18th. So, and we've already ruined it. It lasted like a week, but it was a great week. I feel 708 01:10:09,760 --> 01:10:15,280 so healthy. It's been a self care week. You know, it's been great. I mean, I suppose if you're 709 01:10:15,280 --> 01:10:20,720 drinking Uncle Nearest though, yeah, maybe it's acceptable. You're not really drinking your, 710 01:10:20,720 --> 01:10:26,880 mostly, it's mostly coffee. And it's like, uh, you know, it's heritage, whatever a heritage thing. 711 01:10:26,880 --> 01:10:33,600 Um, I think I figured out who this coffee is for. The traditionalist. You know, you like your 712 01:10:33,600 --> 01:10:39,120 traditional coffee. You like your coffee to taste like coffee. Your alcohol tastes like alcohol. 713 01:10:39,120 --> 01:10:43,440 You know what I'm getting right now? I'm getting like choc full of nuts vibes. That's so funny. I 714 01:10:43,440 --> 01:10:48,000 was just thinking of that. Yes. You know, you like something familiar. This is for your classic New 715 01:10:48,000 --> 01:10:52,720 Yorker. If you like choc full of nuts, you're going to like Molita. If you don't like change, 716 01:10:52,720 --> 01:10:58,960 if you're resistant to change, this is, this is it. If you're in 1929, you might like this coffee. 717 01:11:00,720 --> 01:11:04,640 I ended up adding a little milk because I just felt like I needed more. So now I have a little 718 01:11:04,640 --> 01:11:12,160 bit of milk, more than a little bit of whiskey. It's fine. It's not bad. Yeah. Um, I only added 719 01:11:12,160 --> 01:11:17,360 milk and I was okay, but I did put a generous helping of milk in there. Oh, and I, you liked it 720 01:11:17,360 --> 01:11:23,040 black. Well, uh, is that our episode then guys? I think so. Do we have any clarifications this week? 721 01:11:23,040 --> 01:11:28,880 Oh, not that I can think of. Oh shit. You guys are off the hook. Thank you so much for listening to 722 01:11:28,880 --> 01:11:32,880 us. And if you'd like to continue on, we've got some fun, love it or leave it's coming up here. 723 01:11:33,440 --> 01:11:38,480 What are we tasting today? Is it a surprise episode? Um, no, Jenny knows about the horrible 724 01:11:38,480 --> 01:11:41,840 thing that I brought for her to try. It's not horrible though. I think we're all going to love 725 01:11:41,840 --> 01:11:48,640 it. It's bread cheese and the traditional way of eating bread cheese is to cut it up into little 726 01:11:48,640 --> 01:11:53,920 squares and put it in your coffee. Amazing. So that's what we're going to try. Cool. And you're 727 01:11:53,920 --> 01:11:58,480 going to love it. Bread cheese. I think it's fucking weird, but whatever. It's just cheese. 728 01:11:58,480 --> 01:12:04,560 There's no bread in it. Oh, yeah. Okay. Good. Cause I'm gluten free. Oh, to may gluten free may. 729 01:12:04,560 --> 01:12:12,880 The cheese is keto. You're going to love it. Fantastic. So join us over there for that one. 730 01:12:12,880 --> 01:12:18,800 Uh, we'll continue the party over there and, uh, and then Jenny, where would they go? patreon.com 731 01:12:18,800 --> 01:12:36,080 slash no bad reviews pod and make sure you tell a friend selling it. Thanks everybody. 732 01:12:48,800 --> 01:13:04,160 Thank you for listening to this podcast generously sponsored by modest coffee. 733 01:13:04,160 --> 01:13:12,080 purveyors of single origin coffee without the snobbery visit www.modest.coffee 734 01:13:12,080 --> 01:13:19,440 forward slash no bad reviews to see what they're roasting today. Enjoy.