A certified coffee sommelier

Michael Gliss is a coffee connoisseur – in fact, hardly anyone knows their (coffee) beans better! In 2001, he also became the first person in Germany to qualify as a coffee “sommelier”. Now we’re awarding him another title – #culinarycologne ambassador.

Culinary Cologne is a guide for visitors to our city, helping them explore the culinary delights of what is often referred to as “Italy’s northernmost city” – my home town of Cologne. It’s about us in the tourism sector teaming up to take our city to the next level and put the spotlight on Cologne’s culinary and tourist highlights. About developing, presenting and communicating culinary stories and taking guests/visitors on a journey of discovery through Cologne.

With Michael Gliss, Germany’s first certified coffee sommelier, people can be sure the coffee beans come direct from the growing regions because we always know where our products come from as well as where our coffee farmers live and under what conditions. And we communicate that information transparently to our guests and customers.
Gliss coffee is certified organic and purchased directly from growers around the globe in a socially responsible and fair manner, from bean to cup. With us, you only get our own, exquisitely crafted Gliss roasts, exclusively from Germany’s oldest organic coffee producer. Gliss Caffee Contor is a small, specialist coffee outlet where locals and visitors to our city can discover high-quality coffee and accompaniments such as chocolate or biscuits.

I was born and bred in Cologne’s Südstadt district so it was a no-brainer. An open-minded, Mediterranean-style city with so many cultures and nationalities – a constant source of refreshingly new and surprising ideas. You can go on a culinary discovery tour right here, with cuisine from Egypt, Chile, Eritrea, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Cyprus – and the Rhineland.

Coq au vin – the Frenchman in me would love to make and eat this classic all year round. I get the naturally farmed chicken (from the Eifel region) from “my” butcher’s, Lappen & Prengel, in the Belgian Quarter. The vegetables are also sourced regionally and I buy them from my English hero of all things organic at his little shop in Brauweiler, just outside Cologne. And I cook it all in our convent kitchen – the perfect place to relax – in the village of Königsdorf, not far from the city.