No. 3 - Winterausgabe 2019_20, Salzburg

But we do put up with bad coffee and that’s a desaster.”
Italy stands for good coffee culture: neither the coffee nor the
machines are better “but you deal with the products, with
leisure and passion.” In Austria people who are fresh out of
a hotel management school don’t know how to properly set
and adjust a coffee machine.
Incorrect processing can ruin the best bean. And since many
coffee machines aren’t adjusted properly they over-extract
the coffee which makes it taste bitter. But: “When it comes
to roasting we leave a buffer in our beans to make sure that
even if the brewing process is bad the coffee still tastes good”,
Rafael Schärf continues. “You can do that by increasing the
sweetness, for example. Which is also why milk goes so well
with coffee, by the way. 80 or 90 percent of our coffee is
consumed with milk, in cappucinos or latte macchiatos.”
Da Salzburger currently offer seven coffee blends that are
named after different musical genres, from “Klassik” to “Jazz”
all the way to “Indie Pop”; two blends are organic and one is
organic and fair trade. “Organic coffee used to be undrinkable”,
says Rafael Schärz. “But our blends “Soul” and “Blues”
aren’t just the best tasting if you ask me, they’re among my
favourite kinds of all. Even if the beans that are used for it are
a bit unsightly and often aren’t used because of the way they
look.”
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Kaffeewerkstatt has also found an innovative way of packaging
their products: the beans are filled in recycled kraft
paper, each bag is stamped by hand. There are no labels or
plastics. “In the future we want to develop a deposit system
to avoid waste and deliver the coffee directly in the container
that is has to rest in for ten days after roasting anyway. The
tubs hold four to eight kilos and can be reused. We deliver
regionally and focus on Salzburg. That’s enough. I don’t have
to produce 500 tonnes of coffee every year.”