CHICAGO— Melitta is turning to its history to tap into a very modern trend. The company is debuting its Signature Series Pour-Over coffee makers, which are a nod to the iconic pour over makers the company’s founder, Melitta Benz, invented in 1908. The new pour over coffee makers will be introduced at the International Home + Housewares Show.
“We are known for pour-overs and they have always been near and dear to us. Our inventor invented it. Consumer trends make this the perfect time to relaunch our pour-overs and increase the consumer awareness of this brewing method,” said Chris Hillman, vp/marketing, Melitta.
According to the company, Benz took a brass pot from her kitchen, punched holes in it and used a piece of paper from her son’s notebook to create the first pour over.
Hillman noted that the new Signature Series Pour-Overs combine function and design in order to deliver brewing simplicity to the modern consumer. This consumer has a preference for an elevated taste for coffee made from more traditional methods and wishes to do so in their own home.
“We feel there is a convergence of a lot of trends that the new pour-overs can tap into. First, while we have noticed the increase in single serve coffee over the years, consumers have been migrating to better coffee. This shift points to more home brewing methods and customization of the taste of the coffee,” explained Hillman.
He noted that the larger trend of consumers creating more food and beverages at home in general, along with environment trends, such as the popularity of coffee house culture, has influenced the consumer to seek out simple brewing methods.
“The beauty of pour over is the getting back to the basics approach and doing so in a simple way. Also, pour over is very fast and can be easily personalized. For us, pour over as a category is a convergence of a lot of these trends and so it makes perfect sense for us to reintroduce ourselves and our new makers,” Hillman said.
In addition, while the company is certainly tapping into specialty retail channels to reach the consumer with an affinity for craft coffee methods, Hillman stated the Melitta believes it is also time to take pour over makers to the mass consumer.
“The full Melitta product range is all about coffee, including our filters and coffee itself, and most of those product have roots in the grocery channel. Our Melitta coffee makers are certainly also in non-grocery accounts and we feel it is time to broaden our penetration into the home stores. One of our top goals with the Signature Series is to introduce our pour over story and communicate our roots and how we feel this is the best way to make coffee,” he said.
Melitta designed the Signature Series of pour over coffee makers to ensure consistent brewing results and to be used with Melitta paper filters.
The pour over has two viewing windows to provide visibility into the mug that is said to help prevent unnecessary messes while brewing over a mug.
The Melitta Pour-Over line will have a starting suggested retail price of $19.99 and will be available in department and specialty retailers beginning in fall of 2017.
