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Marsha and Christoph receive the container
Marsha and Christoph leave at 5:00 a.m. from Cadolzburg to be in the port of Hamburg at the latest at 13:00. We arranged an appointment with the company Vollers to open the container together and take a look at the condition of the cocoa. The journey is a bit tricky, as it rains constantly. We still reach Hamburg harbor on time at 13:00. We are greeted by the exceptionally friendly Mrs. Denise Dammann and taken to the hall in front of our container. Lothar Sassenscheidt - a long-time employee of Vollers and a proven cocoa expert - opens the container for us. A first fright: the sacks are no longer as neat as colleague Pablo had stacked them in the container. But there is no escape of insects and no moldy or giddy odors - which can happen if the cocoa in the country of origin has not been properly processed. We also do not detect any moisture in the container. Mr. Sassenscheidt stabs the first sack and takes a sample from it. He smells the cocoa and looks at it. His critical look gives way to a delighted smile, which is to signal his benevolence. "A very good cocoa!" is his sober commentary, which allows our tension to soften slowly. Afterwards, the bags are packed onto Europalettes and transported to the adjacent hall for weighing. In order to make an exact bean analysis, a representative sample is now taken from all sacks. The result of the analysis will be given in a few days, but Mr Sassenscheidt can already see that he is convinced of the quality of the cocoa. He reckons with regard to the size and regularity of the beans with an 80 Beancount, which would be terrific!
The cocoa is now stored in the Vollers hall, since it still has to go through the customs clearance. This may take several days, according to Mrs. Dammann.
We are drinking a cup of coffee at Frau Dammann's office and chatting a bit before we plunge into Hamburg's evening rush hour traffic to get to our hotel. This is located in St. Pauli not far from the jetty (Landungsbrücken), so that in the evening we still take a walk there and have dinner.
We have "Plaice Finkenwerder Art"!
This was a long and exciting day and we are very glad that our cocoa has arrived so well in Germany.