Room 4: Factory-Made Coffee-Grinders @museum.de

"Since granny got her new coffee mill, she’s been having so much fun grinding the coffee that she’s drinking twice as much coffee as she used to" ...

... according to the ongoing story of "Robber Hotzenplotz". It tells of her famous lap mill, which you may well think you’ve seen here in this room. Some of you may believe you’ve discovered a grinder just like that at a flea market, while others remember grandparents or great-grandparents grinding coffee in just such a coffee mill, held on their lap. But – you’re way off the mark. By exactly a century.

The lap grinders in this room date from the middle of the 19th century. From the time when coffee became popular among ordinary people. Coffee grinders are always a reflection of their time, so this period saw basic coffee grinders being made of cheaper materials. You can tell they’re industrially manufactured from the little plaque with a company logo.

The simple lap grinder began its triumphal march. It was the prototype of the coffee grinder that was still available in every home a century later, in the mid-20th century – and is still being made today. The firm of Zassenhaus, which was involved in manufacturing coffee grinders from the very start, still has the basic box-shaped model in its range today.

Peugeot also still produces a box-shaped wooden coffee grinder. Yes, the same Peugeot that’s mainly associated with high-priced, fast cars.

If you take a look at the display case on the opposite wall, you’ll see a Peugeot coffee grinder from 1890 in a simple wooden design. Although it’s faded, you can still make out the company logo – a lion – on the wood. The Peugeot grinder is showing its age – it was originally blue. Peugeot grinding mechanisms have been manufactured since 1842 and are the group’s oldest products.