Schärf World

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Caution: a tour through the Schärf World can change your coffee-drinking habits. It is not uncommon for company employees – even management – to interrupt their work in order to explain to their visitors with obvious enthusiasm why it is so important for really good coffee that the beans be harvested by hand, how crucial it is for the roast master to have an acute sense of smell, and what role proper storage and grinding plays in the coffee’s taste. And one can see, smell, and experience all of this from up close, because part of the tour takes one directly through the production facility of the picturesque Roasting House and Manufactory. Using the coffee bushes that bloom and mature right in the facility’s foyer – a rarity in Europe – guides show visitors how one can recognize ripe beans.

Visitors can also participate in a coffee-tasting session at the cupping table to experience first hand the differences in taste. As the developer of espresso machines, the company impressively demonstrates the sophisticated technology that is needed to get the best from the bean, and how to know if one’s favourite restaurant really has a mastery of the machine, or if it would be better to change restaurants.

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