Food in Berlin: Erich Hamann Schokoladen

Erich Hamann Bittere Schokoladen Berlin was founded in 1912 by, you guessed it, Erich Hamann, a confectioner who came from the Memel Territory in East Prussia. The first retail store and production facility was located in Kurfürstenstraße, just next to several girl's boarding schools, whose residents expressed their need for dark (bitter) chocolates with less sugar; Erich Hamann happily complied, making this the main focus of his young company. The business went well and 1928 the architect Johannes Itten was commissioned to build the new factory, store and residential house for the company, resulting in a Bauhaus building in Brandenburgische Straße, Wilmersdorf, which is still the headquarter, production and distribution premises. It also houses the store and the apartments for Erich's son, Gerhard, and his wife Ingrid, as well as Erich's grandson Andreas, who runs the company today.

Although everything -- the production, packaging and distribution -- is still done in this one building (and mostly by hand), only 12 employees work here, including Gerhard Hamann, who is still responsible for the company's most known product, the chocolate bark, which is still produced on the machine Erich Hamann developed. Also located in this building is the store, still in its original Bauhaus Design, where you can buy all the chocolate variations Hamann has to offer. You will also get Hamann chocolates at KaDeWe and Murkudis, and they also ship their products to German customers directly from the manufactory.

I was invited on a tour through the production facilities (and was allowed to eat as much chocolate as I could -- a child's dream come true). See my pictures after the click.

The production facility on the ground floor.

Gerhard Hamann producing the chocolate bark on the machine his father developed. Although 77 years old,
he's the one doing the better part of the bark production, entrusting only his son to fill in for him.

Finished and lined up whole milk bark.

The machine producing the bark is working completely mechanically
since the 1920s; the only piece that has to be replaced from time to time is the belt.

Production and packaging on the first floor.

These thin chocolate plates are another speciality of Hamann Schokoladen.

The packaging hasn't been changed since the 1920s.

So called "Knackeier" (cracking eggs) -- marzipan filled chocolate
eggs whose crust is so thin, they crack when you bite in them.

Meet Erich Hamann.

It was a beautiful day.