Managing Partner

Robert Heuveldop

Coffee has been a part of Robert's life since his childhood: he spent over ten years of his youth in Costa Rica where he met coffee farmers from a very early age. As a forestry engineer, Robert's father advised the farmers on optimal land cultivation practices and provided information on alternative sources of income. Robert eventually studied the coffee business from scratch with a very prestigious, large-scale coffee roaster, where he focused mainly on sales, logistics and quality control. As managing director, he spent three years in charge of on-site operations, along with procurement of green coffee in Tanzania. He is now using his deep understanding and insights on the coffee farmers' side to purchase the best green coffee available for List + Beisler. Alongside coffee, Robert enjoys a close connection with his homeland, Sweden. He holidays in Scandinavia at least once a year and loves nothing more than taking his two children with him.

Managing Partner

Jan Walter

Managing Partner

Philip von der Goltz

Philip has a deep-rooted attachment to both coffee and Latin America. Philip grew up in Argentina and eventually discovered his fascination with coffee at an international green coffee trading firm in Germany. He developed his first sustainability project in Colombia, where he also spent several years actively involved in the world of coffee. From that point onwards, sustainability projects became a recurrent feature in his life, and so he decided to pursue it professionally. He was in charge of designing new strategies for sustainable supply chains for a renowned coffee roaster. In addition, he was responsible for developing a subsidiary company in Tanzania and implementing sustainability projects in eight origin countries alongside around 30,000 smallholder farmers. Philip combines his passion for coffee with a responsible trade practices in green coffee and has now begun implementing his experiences by becoming a managing director and Q grader at List + Beisler since 2015. He speaks German, Spanish, English and Italian, has a weakness for good books and loves spending time with his family, with whom he lives in the beautiful Sachsenwald forest.

Finance + HR

Jens Spranger

Jens entered the coffee trade business in 2018 from a financial perspective. Originally trained as a classic banker he later on studied economics turning him into a true numbers person. His work experience includes 18 years at a major bank as well as 12 years at a privately owned bank. This is also, where Jens first got in touch with List + Beisler. Being fascinated by the many different sides and international aspects of trade financing, he was particularly drawn to the challenge of trading natural products. He consequently decided for himself to go even further and deal with the whole picture of international green coffee trade by handling finances at List + Beisler.

As a Hamburg native, the best way to start his day is making his trip to the office by bike and ferry. Travel and sports, preferably both combined, are Jens' greatest passions; running, golfing, football, sailing, and during wintertime snowboarding (not nearly enough in Hamburg). Coffee-wise he prefers a strong and black cup while gladly exchanging it for a nice and cold beer in the evening.

Marketing + Sales

Beke Winter

Beke studied Supply Chain Management in the Netherlands and successfully contributed to a coffee start-up in Berlin and a local foods start-up in Hamburg. She is enthusiastic about complex processes that accompany an extensive value and supply chain, as well as intelligent market management. She has also understood the perspective of the growers from an early age, as her parents run a farm in the Lüneburg Heath region of northern Germany. In her opinion, the most spectacular and fascinating trading product is coffee, to which she is now wholeheartedly dedicated at List + Beisler. Beke coordinates our marketing projects, sales, and market analysis. In her private life, she loves north German cuisine, road trips and a perfect cup of café al panameño prepared by her colleagues.

Trade

Lucas Röckenwagner

Born in Hamburg-Barmbek, raised north of the Alster lake in Winterhude and working solely in Hamburg's historic Speicherstadt – we wouldn't be surprised if water from the Elbe River ran through Lucas' veins.
While already working part-time as a student in high school for a well-known local specialty roastery, he started his professional career path in international trade at the same roastery. Later, he was in charge of all import and export matters as well as trade of a project coffee from Indonesia (Orang-Utan coffee, Speicherstadt Kaffeerösterei). Since September 2018 he has become an energetic member of the trade desk. When he is not enthusiastically debating with his colleague Leonardo about the perfect single cup brew, he loves to take his customers across Indonesia's coffee farms on the phone.
Aside the List + Beisler office, you will find Lucas boxing or behind turntables. As a passionate DJ he is deliberately educating the trade desk about the latest house and techno tunes. However, it is not too unlikely to also discover a good ol' disco record in his sets.

Trade

Wolfgang Kitzing

Born and raised in Costa Rica, coffee has always been intrinsically linked to Wolfgang and his family. His grandfather and uncle were already coffee exporters and inseminated the coffee passion into him - it's within the blood, and there is nothing you can do against it.
After finishing his studies in Central America and Germany, he started his coffee career in Hamburg.
A deep dive into the coffee world followed, with different challenging tasks along the coffee value chain. Production, milling, logistics, and international trading were among his primary responsibilities in different coffee-producing and consuming countries.
Despite his profound experience, Wolfgang still loves that coffee knowledge is always evolving: from crop to crop and from cup to cup.
He moved to Hamburg with his wife, children, and dog. Together they are exploring their new hometown and searching for some great restaurants and tasty wines.

Quality Management + Training

Christian Klatt

Christian is a coffee avant-gardist. Up to date with the latest trends and an infallible instinct for which new developments on the coffee market are a mere flash in the pan and those that are here to stay. He started his coffee formation at the tough Double Eye barista school in Berlin, before placing third at the German Barista Championships in 2007. The industrial engineering graduate then spent around ten years working for a globally well-known coffee grinder manufacturer. At List + Beisler, Christian manages the sampling facilities and impresses with his innovative impulses and his vision for a modern coffee culture. Driven by excellent willingness for continuous improvement in quality knowledge, he recently undertook further training to become a Q grader as well as a SCA Sensory Professional. Born in Berlin, Christian has now lived in Hamburg for over ten years. He has come to feel entirely at home here, but that may actually have a lot to do with his family, with whom he spends most of his free time together with friends, at the field hockey pitch or also quite likely at some ping-pong-table in the park.

Quality Management

Luis Cardoso

Luis is originally from Lisbon, where he studied architecture. In 1994 he moved to Hamburg – and in 2016 into the coffee business. Luis has a natural talent as a master roaster at List + Beisler, where he roasts every coffee to perfection. Sampling is another of Luis' responsibilities, where he supports the quality assurance of the coffee in the quality lab with the greatest care and caution: he sifts the beans, monitors the moisture content and identifies any defects. Every delivery to List + Beisler passes through his capable hands. Everything Luis does, he puts his heart into: his job, the people, the process, the coffee, and of course, not forgetting his passionate argument for how a World Cup title is actually not as valuable as a European title.

Logistics

Manuel Behrmann

Manuel didn't discover coffee, but coffee discovered him – and it never let him go again. Before his time at List + Beisler, he spent six years at a logistics company as a forwarding agent, where he was responsible for coffee logistics. He has now been with List + Beisler for almost seven years and deals primarily with trade between the source countries and the USA. Additionally, he monitors the decaffeination process for our decaf grades and ensures that these arrive at the agreed location promptly and in to their high quality standards. Alongside this, Manual dazzles the staff with his lexical expertise and, as office DJ, takes care of the musical well-being of all his colleagues. It's also worth knowing that Manuel never puts up with poor-quality coffee: even taking his own coffee with him when visiting friends.

Logistics

Dennis Köhler

Dennis is a veteran of List + Beisler, having completed his training as a wholesale and export merchant with the company. As an experienced sensory analyst, Dennis catches even the most delicate of nuances and can assign each coffee to the most remote of cultivation areas with his eyes closed. Dennis knows how every coffee should taste – a priceless skill, which he used often in his 17 years as a cupper and manager of the sampling facilities at List + Beisler. Eventually it was time for a new challenge within logistics. Today Dennis primarily coordinates imports of green coffee into Hamburg, releases the goods for storage and is the first point of contact for our European customers, who value him not only for his logistic foresight, but also for his excellent knowledge. In his spare time, Dennis juggles his love for sports with a bit of work here and there. Currently, he is driving SC Eilbek to greatness as co-trainer of the men's football team.

Logistics

Stefanie Schmidt

Steffi's roots are Hanseatic through and through. As a born-and-bred northern German she dedicated herself to the fascinating world of seafaring straight after school. She began her training as a shipping clerk working in various positions such as customer service and sales for a very traditional Hamburg-based shipping company. After over 15 years in seafaring, Steffi is now responsible for the extended supply chain at List + Beisler. She ensures coffee leaves its point of origin on time and passes through customs before being warehoused in Hamburg. The last mile is also in Steffi's hands as she makes sure coffee reaches our customers on time.

Coffee also plays a major role for Steffi whenever she is not in the office. Whether as a little energizer on a cycling trip, or a Flat White, reminiscing about good times in Australia – Steffi's eyes light up when the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafts through the office.

Logistics

Gunnar Servais

When meeting Gunnar expect the unexpected: he grew up on an island in the North Sea, but ended up on the other side of the world right after high school, spending a year in Australia including desert and exotic animals. Once he returned from down under, he chose big city life in Hamburg to start training in business forwarding and logistics. Gunnar has sent quite a few commodities throughout the world along his career path. Just before joining List + Beisler he even sent himself to Tanzania for a few months.

Looking for a long-established company paired with Hanseatic values, he arrived in the beautiful warehouse district Speicherstadt at List + Beisler, handling our transit and export business. With his northern German accent, a passion for unique socks and an impressive coffee consumption, Gunnar has become firmly established in our logistics team.

Finance + Accounting

Axel Nordmann