He has been with Tchibo since July 2007, working in Coffee Research and Development. The trained biologist is deeply knowledgeable about every aspect of coffee: the plant, green coffee, roasted coffee, and the beverage—particularly in terms of ingredients and their effects on quality and health. As a coffee taster, he considers himself to be, despite all his efforts, merely in the upper middle tier, which he tries to compensate for with his coffee consumption (7 cups a day: filter coffee or Caffè Créma, usually with a splash of milk, or espresso with sugar). If there is no coffee or no drinkable coffee available, he is happy to settle for a strong tea (with milk).

In his free time, Gerhard Bytof enjoys spending time with his family, gardening (more wild than precise), traveling (if not to coffee-growing regions, then to the UK and Ireland), reading (thrillers and history), and listening to music (soul, blues, alternative, and Brazilian music).