Ludwig Roselius (1874 – 1943) was a prosperous German coffee merchant who founded Kaffee HAG. In 1903, he invented the first successful coffee decaffeination process. His invention required first steaming the coffee beans in salt water to open the pores and then repeatedly rinsing them with benzene to extract the caffeine. This process is no longer used because benzene is now known to be a human carcinogen. Other solvents are used in its place.
Why Ludwig Roselius Invented Decaf Coffee
Ludwig Roselius’ father was a heavy coffee drinker and died at the early age of 59. His physician attributed his early death to his coffee addiction. The loss of his father motivated Roselius to find a way of decaffeinating coffee. In 1906, he founded Kaffee HAG, (Kaffee–Handels-Aktiengesellschaft) with a red lifebuoy ring as its trademark. Later, he replaced the buoy ring with a red heart. In 1979, Roselius’ son sold Kaffee HAG to General Foods, and in 2015, Douwe Egberts and Jacobs Douwe Egberts purchased over half of the coffee division.
Ludwig Roselius – Marketing Genius
Ludwig Roselius recognized the importance of marketing at a time when his collegues scoffed at the practice. Already in 1908, he marketed his decaf with slogans such as “Always harmless, always digestible.” Kaffee HAG was the first coffee advertised in silent film cinemas and also one of the first companies to create a sophisticated promotional look. As result of his tireless efforts, Kaffee HAG became a household word worldwide. The cocoa powder, Kaba, added in 1929, and the coffee brand Onko, added in 1950, supplemented the line.
Ludwig Roselius – Father of Boettcherstrasse
Soon Roselius connected his business acumen and his fascination with art and architecture. In 1906, he purchased a dilapidated building on Bremen’s Boettcherstrasse. It became the “heart” of his coffee empire. Between 1922 and 1931 he purchased additional buildings along the short alleyway between the town’s market square and the harbor. Working with three architects, Eduart Scotland, Alfred Runge and Bernhard Hoetger, he gave several derelict buildings an instant face lift by installing expressionist clinker facades. In addition, he built a bell tower with a unique carillon, a museum for the painter Paula Modersohn-Becker and the Haus Atlantis, now operated as the Radisson Blu Hotel Bremen.
Bust of Ludwig Roselius in the Boettcherstrasse in Bremen – Bernhard Hoetger, 1922. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com
Ludwig Roselius Museum
The foundation walls of the oldest house on the street, the Roselius house, presumably date back to the 14thcentury. Ludwig Roselius redesigned and expanded it in 1907/1908 and 1937/1928. Except for the façade, it was destroyed during World War II, rebuilt by 1954, and completely restored with funds from Sparkasse Bremen in 1991. The Ludwig Roselius Museum is open to the public and houses valuable works of art, furnishings, carpets, paneling, silver and many other treasures.
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
