Coffee Design: Motel Beer & Coffee In Berlin

Motel Beer & Coffee out of Berlin, Germany debuts a new line of canned nitro coffee products this week at the World of Coffee at the Messe Convention Center. The new cans are collabs with Square Mile Coffee Roasters and Coffee Collective and feature coffees from Kenya and Panama. The striking labels were designed by Motel’s own Marie Stadelmann. We spoke with Motel’s Head of Coffee Cory Andreen to find out more.

Hey Cory. Tell us a bit about Motel.

Motel Beer & Coffee is Cory Andreen (Head of Coffee), 
Travis Wilson (Operation Manager), Peter Read (Head of Beer) and Marie Stadelmann (Creative Director). We all met at Markthalle Neun, a refurbished 19th century market hall in Berlin about four years ago.
 At the time, Cory and Travis had a small production space for hot brewed RTD coffee in the basement. Peter was the brewer at Heidenpeters, the craft beer makers at Markthalle Neun and Marie was working at the bar. It was during this time, over a number of after work drinks, that we realized that brewing nitro coffee and beer requires a lot of the same equipment. And so, with a shared dedication to quality ingredients and delicious drinks, presented in a down-to-earth kind of way, we founded Motel Beer & Coffee.

Motel paired up with Coffee Collective and Square Mile for this collaboration—who else has Motel teamed up with in the past?

As a company that essentially started with a coffee beer collaboration, I would say that these kind of creative partnerships is in our DNA. We love working with producers who inspire us from various fields—be it dedicated coffee or hops farmers, biodynamic vintners, coffee roasters, or other beer brewers—to both learn as much as possible in the process and to create unique, tasty beverages. The learning part can’t be emphasized enough—both our coffee and our beer quality were improved through a mutual exchange of knowledge and working with producers from other fields keeps us supplied with a wealth of ideas to apply towards constantly improving this quality even further.

We’ve collaborated previously with The Coffee Collective, brewing and bottling their Kieni for sale at their shops in Copenhagen last year. Over the years we’ve also collaborated on coffees with Climpson & Sons, Koppi, Bonanza Coffee, Kaffe 9, and Ernst Kaffeeröster. This is our first year with the canning line so it’s the first time we can bring the collabs to a broader public. We’ve also made a coffee liqueur with Grey Goose and a bottled coffee cocktail with World Class.

As for beer, we recently collaborated with Berlin-based tortilleria Tlaxcalli and organic farming collective Höfe Gemeinschaft Pommern to brew “Acapulco”, a Mexican Lager. For the past two years, we’ve been making “Melsheimer”, a Riesling IPA using fresh grape must from biodynamic Mosel Riesling guru Thorsten Melsheimer. We’ve also worked with our friends from Big Stuff Smoked BBQ on a couple of smoky beers and have just launched the first of a series of four canned seasonal beer cocktails we’re producing with Christian Gentemann from Big Stuff Smoked BBQ.

Esmeralda Geisha Nitro—this is quite a beverage. What does it taste like?

The flavor is a fascinating blend of chocolate, oranges, rose water, with hints of rosemary and other herbs. The Coffee Collective has a way of wielding their Loring that results in extremely light roasts that are still soluble, creating a texture that is creamy and juicy. Like most tasty beverages with delicate aromas and flavors, we recommend letting get a bit closer to body temperature before enjoying.

How much does it cost?

The Esmeralda Geisha will retail for 10€ a can (including tax and 25c can deposit), or 45 €  for the collaboration mix pack including three cans of Esmeralda Geisha and three or our Muchagara Kenya collaboration with Square Mile Coffee Roasters, which will also launch at World of Coffee.

Who designed the cans?

Marie Stadelmann, our Creative Director, designed the cans. The can design—with its pastel colors and minimalist look—takes its cues from the aesthetic of 1960s Italian espresso bar culture, where quality and fast-paced service go hand in hand. You might already know her for her work on the Sprudgie Award nominated packaging from Fjord.

Marie Stadelmann

How can I get my hands on these precious cans?

We will be presenting Esmeralda Geisha for the first time at our booth at World of Coffee, from June 6-8, and hosting a mixer-cum-launch-party together with TCC and Square Mile at our brewery in Reinickendorf on Friday, June 7th. Esmeralda Geisha will be available online from June 10 at www.motelminibar.com.

What’s next for Motel?

We’re extremely excited about our new producer partner in Kenya, Eddie Kiyaka. He’s young, brash, and this was his first year of production, cranking out a mere 72kg of organic, naturally processed Kenyan varietals at 2200masl. What a madman. The coffee is unlike anything you’ve ever tasted (hit him up on WhatsApp and he’ll tell you it’s “better than Geisha”) and can’t wait to share it.

As for the rest of the portfolio, we look forward to expanding our winemaker series this year and hopefully finally doing something together with our longtime friends from Companion Tea!

We can’t wait!

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge.

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