A little about coffee.
At the fifth course (1997), to increase my financial well-being, I arranged through my friends to work in Moscow for the Chibo coffee campaign. I never drank coffee before, treated it neutral, well, working there - does not mean drinking it.
I was taken as a merchandiser, the task included controlling the availability of coffee in the stores, the correct arrangement on the shelves, if possible - attracting new stores to distribute this coffee. Chibo knew only that it was German coffee — and nothing more. Six months before this, he was on an internship in Germany, travelled somehow to Dresden, walked there along the shores of the Elbe, where he was surprised to learn that on the slopes of the southern exhibition in the Elbe valley there are seemingly the northernmost vineyards in Europe...
The site for which I was responsible was located in the Krylatsky area, including the beginning of the Rublev Highway. It was here, near the intersection with Krylatskaya Street, that I discovered somehow, while on a free hunt for new shops, the gastronomy "Ezhik". He attracted me with his name, and also wanted to warm up a little (it was October). has entered. With an eye-catching look, he appreciated that "our" coffee is not for sale, but the store is nice, the order is round - there is a chance to lure it into our networks. He asked to bring me to the shop manager, said, I am in the business. I was taken to a small office, packed with cabinets with documents, in the middle - two tables, behind them are sitting two men aged 40 years. I say that I am from the Cibo coffee campaign, I distribute our product, I offer to buy and sell good German Cibo coffee from us, we offer Cibo Families, Milds, Mockas and the coolest – Cibo Exclusive. One of the men suddenly stumbled – German coffee! I say :
Yes from Germany.
Men, almost not a chorus:
Does it grow right there?! to
Here I grew up a little... I don’t drink coffee, I don’t know anything about it, where it grows there – on beds or on trees – I don’t know, while I worked somehow and didn’t think about it. But nothing to do, the main thing is to squeeze the goods!
Yes, I say, it’s right there and it grows!
Men roast: coffee only in the southern countries, go away from here, have had fun for the whole day!
- German coffee grows on the slopes of the southern exhibition in the valley of the Elbe, in the vicinity of Dresden, there it has enough sun on the edge, so it has a very specific taste, but in general - a pleasant drink, highly valued in Europe, finally reached us. Near the coffee plantations are also the northernmost vineyards in Europe, you, as a merchant, should know about them!
The men were silent. The detailed information led them to some confusion: hz, maybe there and really these Germans brought something new... At the prices of coffee acceptable, the packaging is beautiful... They say, let us now make a trial order, see how it goes, we will discuss everything with the management and if it goes – we will take. I filled up the papers and went with them.
The day after 3 was the delivery of coffee to "Ezhik", and after 3-4 days I decided to go to them, see how the different varieties were displayed and offer to place according to our rules. I go to the store. Our coffee stands on a separate showcase, in the right order (recommendations on arrangement to the first delivery were attached), all the way, it’s not for nothing. I ask the cashier how they get. She says that well, the product is new, everyone likes, take, young man, you will not regret. I say it’s me who supplies it. Here my aunt surprised me sharply: hearing this, she immediately stumbled at the whole store somewhere inside the store: "Nicolas, Vasya, he came, go faster!!!". I was more frightened by this reaction than surprised, I think I need to tear my nails before it is too late. But I didn’t have time. The old merchants rushed and put me under their hands in their closet cabinet. They sat on a chair at the end of the table far from the entrance, one was left to guard me, the other went out somewhere right away. But I did not even have time to ask what was going on, as he has already returned, but not alone, but with a tall elderly Armenian. “Here, Armene Wachtagovich, that’s him!” Armene Wachtagovich looked at me for a few moments with some astonishment, then also sat down and got a bottle of cognac from somewhere. The second merchant sat next to me and so they almost surrounded me. "Well, let's drink for the German coffee Chibo, growing on the shores of the Elbe of the southern exhibition," Armén said unexpectedly and all were poured. Despite the fact that I did not drink, I had to apply, because to understand what is happening, I still could not.
Will you order coffee again? I asked to ask something.
The German? I asked the merchant.
“Yes, German, from the shores of the Elbe,” I answered firmly, and imagined a bottle of cognac flying into my head.
Here, these three were roasted, with the merchants almost in one voice, and Armene with a pleasant whisper of a wise man. They rolled on their chairs, beat their hands on the table, pointed to me with their hands and couldn’t stop! I sat, not understanding anything, and knocked my eyes. Then Armene calmed down and said, “Vasily, tell him, he doesn’t understand anything!”
He, with difficulty restrained, said the following. When I first came to them and started pushing coffee, they almost decided to send me. There were many such walks, and I was the fourth to offer them something that day. But they were caught up with German coffee, which, as they knew, does not grow in Germany. But I gave the details of growing, say, geographically unique coffee, and they were a little doubtful about their knowledge. I decided to try and figure out what sort of one this is. After I left, they called Armene (here it turned out that he was the store manager) and told him about the offer. The Armenians laughed at them from the heart (German coffee!), but they told him about the shores of the Elbe of the southern exhibition... They sent someone to the neighboring store for a package of Chibo exclusive, cooked, tried. I liked it, but how could it be from Germany? In short, almost until the morning they first tried to find some information about Chibo on the Internet (and he was very slow and did not work ahti), called friends from other shops, at two nights came to some base to the Koreans, where they were told where he was brought and where he was packed, what was in his composition, etc. During this time, they drank two bottles of cognac and fell asleep in the morning at the office.
No coffee grows anywhere in Germany and has never grown there. Your Chibo is made from Arabica and Robusta that grow in South America, Africa and Asia! In Russia it appeared two years ago (in 1995), and only so few people know about it and you were able to swallow our brains!
They told me a long time about coffee, about its varieties, how and where it grows, where it is made... It feels like they have grown significantly as coffee specialists over that night. And I learned more about coffee during that lecture than before and after... Armene remembered that night, too. He probably hasn’t been involved in such an intellectual drive for a long time to find out what a passing student is trying to do to them... In any case, we broke up very well, and I left with a big order for a new coffee.
I worked in the coffee company for six months, I appeared in "Ezhik" about once a week, and every time my aunt at the box shouted "Nicolas, Vasya, he came!" - and we, waiting for Armene, went to the cabinet to drink, who coffee, who brandy, who coffee with cognac. It was then that I tried coffee, although I became addicted to it later, 2 years later, under different conditions. After I defended my diploma and left the company, for two years I occasionally appeared when I ran past them, but then the store closed and it seemed that the system of gastronomists "Ezhik" disappeared. At least I did not meet them again. Unfortunately, they had the most delicious German coffee from the slopes of the southern exhibition from the valley of the Elbe!