"First a really good pick-me-up"

This is a worthwhile read. 89 drinks, 59 gins, 25 beers are on the drinks menu in Germany's Bar of the Year 2021. 51 pages of pure reading material. Black on white, no colours or pictures to disturb the flow of words. But at the top of the list of favourite drinks is no drink, no gin and no beer: "You need a really good pick-me-up after an exciting long night? Then just order your favourite coffee, hand-filtered and freshly brewed at your leisure".

Indeed, "pour over" plays a constant role in the coffee concept of the LieblingBar in Hanover-Herrenhausen. Managing director Manuel Mauritz is not only Lower Saxony's Cocktail Master of the Year 2013, but also a passionate coffee drinker with a fable for the modern interpretation of hand brewing filter coffee. When the LieblingsBar was launched on Valentine's Day 2017, he recalls that at best it attracted "the hipsters from the city" to the outskirts of Hanover-Herrenhausen. In the meantime, the filter coffee poured directly onto the cup in a Melitta^® hand filter has become a permanent fixture on the coffee menu. The coffee is freshly ground from Café Crème beans from the Melitta^® La Tazza Verde^® organic and fair trade range.

However, the main role in the coffee business of the favourite bar is clearly reserved for the Melitta^® Cafina^® XT8. The fully automatic coffee machine reliably relieves the team - including 18 trainees - of the preparation of delicious coffee specialities and outstanding milk foam qualities. The professional relief helps, because coffee is in demand in the restaurant-bar at Herrenhäuser Marktplatz with 80 seats indoors and 120 terrace seats from morning to night. The menu lists nine coffee specialities. In addition, there is also Café Crème without caffeine and variants with oat milk for espresso macchiato, cappuccino, flat white, latte macchiato and milk coffee. Also: hot chocolate and hot banana shrub chocolate - hot chocolate with homemade banana fruit syrup soured with vinegar.

"The cocktail master is thrilled with the Melitta^® Cafina^® XT8. For the "White Russian", he uses cold milk foam and chocolate from the fully automatic machine in addition to vodka and coffee liqueur. The milk system provides milk foam in different temperatures and consistencies at the touch of a button.

The "Espresso Martini" expresses another concern of the Lieblingsbar: the closeness to the products used. Grain from the Nörten-Hardenberg region, honey from the neighbouring village of Stöcken and espresso from Melitta Professional are mixed for this. "We're already familiar with this when it comes to food. We also rely on proximity to our partners when it comes to drinks," explains Mauritz. Manuel Mauritz also associates proximity with the Melitta^® brand: "The brand is very familiar to me and our guests. Melitta creates a warm feeling".

The good feeling was confirmed during the cooperation. "There is expertise in all areas, they can do the whole range," Manuel Mauritz quickly realised. When it came to the coffees for preparation with the XT8, the choice fell on the spicy Melitta^® Bacio d'Oro^® espresso, with tones of caramel and dried dates, and the Café Crème Melitta^® Monte d'Oro^® Mild with a chocolaty, fruity note and a hint of orange. The collaboration goes one step further with the special development of the two coffees for the LieblingsBar online shop. The LieblingsKaffee comes from the Melitta^® Manufaktur in Bremen, where it is specially roasted in smaller quantities (bagged) and packaged in the LieblingsBar design for the partner's out-of-home sales. "The guest can bring the good experience from the bar a little bit home," explains Manuel Mauritz.

Melitta's coffee thus joins the ranks of the company's own "favourite products" (honey, wine, beer, grain and much more), which the team has also developed in its own online shop with the producers for out-of-home sales during the forced pandemic break. In the course of focusing on content, a special junior staff and training programme was also created during this time. "Learning4LieblingsBar" is the name of the learning platform that was developed by trainees for trainees. The idea is to use know-how and individual talents in a targeted way to strengthen the entire team. Supplemented by a mentoring programme, this results in a unique promotion of young talent that serves as a role model, especially in times of staff shortages in the gastronomy sector. The jury of the "Fizzz Awards" also recognised this. After the titles "Newcomer of the Year" (awarded by the trade magazine "Mixologie" in 2017), Hanover's Bar of the Year (2019), the LieblingsBar 2021 received the Fizzz Award as Germany's Bar of the Year.

Chi Trung Khuu and Manuel Mauritz form the partnership behind the LieblingsBar. Coffee partner Melitta Professional is represented on site by salesman Volker Effenberger and customer service technician Ralf Thomas, who gets special praise from bar manager Manuel Mauritz: "Bomb! Ralf has the coffee DNA, is always there for us and, when adjusting the XT8, shows what makes Melitta Professional particularly strong: the perfect interplay of coffee and machine and personal contact". From the marketing department at Melitta Professional, product manager Katja Scholz supports with a lot of commitment. "This customised solution of jointly developing the favourite coffee is a real novelty for us so far," comments the coffee expert. "It's a great fit for both sides. We are very happy to contribute to rounding off the concept." "The cooperation is going very well and is a lot of fun," adds Manuel Mauritz.