Museum The Arabian Coffee Tree

In the heart of Leipzig’s old city centre, you will find Germany’s oldest coffeehouse. Since 1711 coffee, which is said to be the Saxons’ favourite drink, has been served here. The house got its name from the remarkable door sign of an Arabic coffee tree. The seats of famous regulars, such as Robert Schumann, can still be seen in the historic bar on the ground floor. The restaurant on the first floor features reminders of famous people who have visited. The Café Français, the Wiener Café and an Arabic café put you in the right mood for the museum in upper storeys.

Around the charming courtyard there are situated 15 museum rooms. The historical structure of the rooms is carefully integrated into the exhibition’s arrangement. More than 500 exhibits illustrate the glorious highlights and the characteristics of the Saxon coffee culture.

Visitors can watch coffee grinders, Meissen porcelain, coffee cups (including one used by Napoleon in 1813), roasters, vessels used for making coffee, coffee house rules, coffee substitute, coffee house music and a highly modern sample roaster which demonstrates the noble art of roasting coffee beans. The highlight of the journey is definitely the electric reproduction piano, built in 1922. Famous pianists such as Richard Strauss or Edvard Grieg have been playing sonorous melodies at a piano of this kind to be replayed in coffeehouses.