Hamburg: European Powerhouse

The Hanseatic port of Hamburg has played host to some of the most significant companies in the European tea and coffee trade for well over 100 years.
In this issue, we trace the history of Dethlefsen & Balk (DB), which celebrated its 175th anniversary this year.
From humble beginnings, through diligence, perseverance and a genuine love and respect for the tea and coffee industry, and despite some setbacks along the way, D&B has grown into one of Europe’s most respected and successful tea and coffee traders, one of several key players in the global supply chain.

But DB is not the only Hamburg-based company possessing a long and storied history in the tea and coffee trade. Indeed, Hamburg is not the only city in Germany to have long-established, successful tea and coffee companies located in it.
Germany has been a trend-setter in the market development of fine teas and specialty coffees for decades, spearheading and supplying a European-wide uptake of gourmet offerings, from fruit teas to exotic coffee blends, for decades now.
Quite when the mantle of Europe’s leading tea and coffee trading nation fell from Holland and England and devolved to Germany is moot: the fact is that German tea and coffee traders dominate the European market – and are pivotal customers for Asian tea and coffee producers.
The quality of German-made tea and coffee products is totally reliant on the quality of the raw products it sources and imports from is suppliers, many of the them from Asia, and the relationship between Asian tea and coffee growers and suppliers and German buyers is one of the lynchpins of the global tea and coffee trade.
No wonder then that the announcement that Tea & Coffee Asia’s publisher, October Multimedia, has teamed up with Hamburg Messe, the owners COTECA, the world’s leading tea, coffee and cocoa trade show, to co-develop and market the event, has created quite a STiR, not only in Germany, where the national tea and coffee trade associations and the major German tea and coffee trading houses have expressed their unqualified support, but also throughout Asia, where tea and coffee producing nations have been quick to see the opportunities holding a seminal tea and coffee trade event in Hamburg, Europe’s most important tea and coffee trading port and home to many of Germany’s powerhouse tea and coffee companies.
For many Asian tea and coffee traders, including regional tea and coffee boards, as well as machinery, equipment and supplies manufacturers, there is simply no choice: they understand that they simply must exhibit. Given its unique location, there is every reason to support COTECA, and no way it can be ignored: the trade development and networking opportunities are simply too obvious.
COTECA will be held at the Hamburg Messe from September 20-22, 2012. Online reservations are open now at www.coteca-hamburg.com. Early bird rates are available until February 20, 2012.
Finally, there is a real choice. Make COTECA YOUR show in 2012.