Melitta
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-based company selling coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
, paper coffee filter
Coffee filter
A coffee filter is a coffee-brewing utensil, usually made of disposable paper. A stainless steel filter is used to prepare Indian filter coffee, the form of coffee common in India....
s, and coffee makers, part of the Melitta Group, which also has Melitta branches in other countries world-wide. The company is headquartered in Minden
Minden
Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...
, North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
.
It is named after Melitta Bentz
Melitta Bentz
Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz , born Amalie Auguste Melitta Liebscher, was a German entrepreneur, who invented the coffee filter in 1908.-Biography:Bentz was born in Dresden, Germany...
(1873–1950) who founded the company after she invented the drip brew
Drip brew
Drip brewing, or filtered coffee, is a method for brewing coffee which involves pouring water over roasted, ground coffee beans contained in a filter. Water seeps through the coffee, absorbing its oils and essences, solely under gravity, then passes through the bottom of the filter...
paper coffee filter (German patent granted July 8, 1908). Bentz later ran the company as a family business
Family business
A family business is a business in which one or more members of one or more families have a significant ownership interest and significant commitments toward the business’ overall well-being....
.
Company history
Housewife
Housewife is a term used to describe a married woman with household responsibilities who is not employed outside the home. Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household...
from Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Germany, invented the first coffee filter. On July 8, 1908, Melitta Bentz received a patent registration for her "Filter Top Device lined with Filter Paper" from the Patent Office in Berlin. The 35-year-old housewife was transformed into a businesswoman and, during the same year of her invention, the company bearing her name was established.
In the 1930s, Melitta revisited the original filter top and tapered the filter into a cone-shape. This new filter top created a larger filtration area, which was lined with ribs to allow for improved extraction of the ground coffee. A few years later, Melitta introduced cone-shaped filter paper to fit inside the new cone-shaped filter top.
Melitta continued to develop new techniques to improve the shape, performance, material and production process of the Melitta filter systems. In 1989, Melitta introduced Natural Brown filter paper, the first coffee filters made from unbleached pulp. These new and improved filters kept unwanted by-products from leaching into the environment. In 1992, due to the popularity of white filter paper, Melitta developed an oxygen-bleaching process to produce white filter paper without chlorine. In 1997, Melitta developed another filter with Flavor Pores, microfine perforations that allow more coffee taste and aroma to come through while filtering out unwanted sediment, particles and oils. Melitta improved the Flavor Pores filter in 2002 by adding a second Safety Crimp for extra strength and durability. Bamboo Filters were introduced in 2007. Later that year, Melitta took Flavor Pores one step further and released new patented Flavor Enhancing Micro Perforations, which enhanced the filter process to allow for a richer cup of coffee.
Melitta USA
Melitta USA, headquartered in Clearwater, FloridaClearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...
is part of the privately held Melitta Group of Minden, Germany. Melitta USA is responsible for the sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
and marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
of Melitta coffee filters, coffee, and non electric coffee systems in the USA.
Melitta's coffee filters are manufactured in Clearwater, Florida and the company has a coffee roasting
Coffee roasting
Roasting coffee transforms the chemical and physical properties of green coffee beans into roasted coffee products. The roasting process is what produces the characteristic flavor of coffee by causing the green coffee beans to expand and to change in color, taste, smell, and density...
operation located in Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Cherry Hill is a township in Camden County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a population of 71,045, representing an increase of 1,080 from the 69,965 residents enumerated during the 2000 Census...
. Melitta USA has been roasting coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
in the Cherry Hill location for more than 40 years.
Pour-over brewing method
Coffee cognoscenti have renamed the manual drip brewing method as “the pour-over,” and say there is no better way to make a cup of coffee. The pour-over started showing up at independent coffee houses that wanted to provide a fresh-brewed single cup of coffee at any moment. Preparation consists of a cone – lined with a coffee filter and filled with ground coffee – sitting atop a coffee cup. Water is slowly poured by hand over the grounds and coffee drips into the cup below.The pour-over method dates back 102 years when Melitta Bentz devised a paper filter, set it in a brass cup in which she had punched holes, and filled it with ground coffee. She then poured water over the grounds, and coffee – clean and clear – dripped into a drinking cup below. Long called the drip method, her way of making coffee is now dubbed “the pour-over”.
How to Make a Pour-Over
To properly make a pour over, water is slowly swirled over the grounds, taking about a minute to pour the water in to fully extract the flavor. Water temperature should be just below boiling. The method and the equipment are the same for commercial establishments as for home preparation.
External links
- Homepage of Melitta, Germany with international links