Inside Melitta North America’s new M-Lab in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Picture by Michael Stavaridis, courtesy of Melitta North America.

A brand new hub for espresso innovation opened final summer season in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, courtesy of Melitta North America.

The corporate minimize the ribbon on a 4,500-square-foot espresso coaching, occasions and analysis middle referred to as the M-Lab alongside its roasting headquarters, and has subsequently been packing it with a gentle slate of business programming.

Picture by Michael Stavaridis, courtesy of Melitta North America.

“M-Lab is our major focus, and the results of years of considerate planning,” Melitta North America Advertising and marketing Vice President Mike Brown advised Every day Espresso Information. “It represents a daring development initiative designed to bolster Melitta’s management within the espresso business, supporting manufacturers of all sizes, from rising manufacturers trying to scale to massive nationwide manufacturers looking for extra manufacturing and growth assist.”

One of many first main gatherings at M-Lab was the Nationwide Espresso Affiliation (NCA) Subsequent Gen Espresso Problem in September 2025, a hands-on workforce occasion wherein younger espresso professionals constructed mock manufacturers from the bottom up and pitched them to skilled judges. 

A panel dialogue with (left to proper) Todd Carmichael, Nikisha Bailey and Dan Pabst. Courtesy photograph.

In November, M-Lab hosted a panel that includes La Colombe Espresso Co-Founder Todd Carmichael, Win Win Espresso Co-Founder Nikisha Bailey and Melitta North America Innovation and Product Improvement Supervisor Dan Pabst, with about 40 espresso individuals within the viewers. 

Final month, M-Lab hosted a number of education-focused occasions, together with an SCA Espresso Worth Evaluation (CVA) for Cuppers course with participation from six licensed Q Graders, together with 5 from Melitta North America.

Members at a latest CVA course for espresso cuppers. Courtesy photograph.

The M-Lab is split into what Melitta calls a collaboration house, a inexperienced espresso lab and a pilot manufacturing space. Programming areas assist hands-on coaching, mix growth and beverage R&D, whereas the pilot manufacturing space is designed to assist corporations transfer from idea to product by means of small-scale roasting and packaging trials.

The M-Lab options all kinds of apparatus on-site, together with superautomatic and bean-to-cup machines from the Melitta Skilled portfolio and a barista bar outfitted with a La Marzocco Linea PB X espresso machine. Industrial batch brewers, sizzling water towers, grinders, a pourover station and a kegerator add to the brewing gear combine.

Picture by Michael Stavaridis, courtesy of Melitta North America.

The inexperienced espresso lab incorporates a Probat 4-barrel pattern roaster. By a big glass window, M-Lab guests can peer into the pilot manufacturing house centered on a Probat P60 roaster fed by a Sovda Elevate system. A Probatino roaster is accessible for take a look at batches.

Melitta’s Dan Pabst mentioned the corporate is aiming to maintain the calendar full in 2026 with expanded occasions, lessons and companies for business and group audiences.

Picture by Michael Stavaridis, courtesy of Melitta North America.

Pabst mentioned, “We’re curating a calendar of distinctive and numerous occasions for 2026 that can carry worth to the business, whereas on the identical time providing well-established coaching and certification packages which have develop into mainstays for the business.”

Melitta North America is a part of privately held Melitta Group, based mostly in Germany. The corporate — which incorporates subsidiary Melitta USA, a distributor of Melitta espresso filters, packaged coffees and pourover brewers — has been roasting in Cherry Hill for greater than 50 years. 

Picture by Michael Stavaridis, courtesy of Melitta North America.

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