How Old Is Instant Coffee? (Solved & Explained!)

Although a few precursors to instant coffee were introduced as early as 1771 in Britain and the 1850s in America, most coffee experts agree that instant coffee was first patented in 1890 by David Strang of New Zealand. Like our instant coffee today, Strang’s coffee could be made simply by adding boiling water or milk.

The rest of this article will give you a detailed look at the origins of instant coffee.

Why did people see a need for instant coffee?

For most people living today, it is relatively easy to buy, grind, and brew your own coffee at home, thanks to the prevalence of affordable coffee beans, grinders, presses, and drip machines. However, in the 18th and 19th centuries, coffee typically required expensive machinery to brew and was considered more difficult to make than a drink like tea.

When was the idea of instant coffee first introduced?

According to The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, John Dring patented what was dubbed a “coffee compound” in Britain in 1771. Dring’s compound was perhaps the earliest form of something resembling instant coffee, but there is no known historical documentation of how coffee-like Dring’s compound actually was, nor how he produced it.

How old is instant coffee in America?

A form of instant coffee was first introduced in the United States in the early 1850s. This coffee substance, which was produced in a cake-like form called “Essence of Coffee,” was included in rations for Union soldiers during the American Civil War with the intention of being mixed with hot water in a soldier’s tin cup.

When were other precursors to instant coffee introduced?

The Scottish company Paterson & Sons, Ltd began selling a popular syrup called “Camp Coffee” in 1876. Camp Coffee was developed as a cordial-like drink containing sugar, water, and extracts of chicory and dried coffee and intended to be mixed with water or milk in order to produce a somewhat sweet, coffee-like drink.

Were early forms of instant coffee popular when they were first introduced?

Instant coffee was not commercially available until the 1890s, and Union soldiers considered their “Essence of Coffee” rations to be so poor in taste and unpleasant in texture that the US military discontinued its production by the end of the war. However, the Camp Coffee syrup is still used today in Britain, mostly as a baking item.

When was the first truly instant coffee invented?

David Strang of Invercargill, New Zealand, patented a so-called “Dry Hot-Air” process of producing instant coffee in 1890. Strang owned a coffee and spice works factory through which he developed a soluble coffee powder that is generally considered by coffee historians to be the first genuine version of commercially available instant coffee.

Why is David Strang’s form of instant coffee believed to be the first of its kind?

Unlike earlier instant coffee-like mixes, there is enough historical documentation to show that Strang’s mix could be made instantly with boiling water or milk and resulted in a drink that actually resembled coffee. As indicated in an advertisement for Strang’s business, the coffee was contrasted with coffee “essences” or “extracts” that had been previously invented.

Who was originally believed to have invented instant coffee?

Until about 2012, Japanese chemist Satori Kato was believed to have been the first inventor of instant coffee when he was awarded a patent for stable soluble coffee in tablet form in 1903. Kato’s instant coffee, which was advertised on behalf of his business, the Kato Coffee Company in Chicago, was exhibited at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901.

When was instant coffee first mass-produced?

In 1909, Belgian-American inventor George Constant Louis Washington began selling a new form of instant coffee that he had developed, and the next year he founded the G. Washington Coffee Refining Company in New York in order to sell his coffee on a larger scale. Washington is considered to be the first person to mass-produce and sell instant coffee.

How popular was instant coffee in the early 1900s?

During World War I, the G. Washington Company sold its coffee to the Canadian military in 1914 and then produced instant coffee for the US military in 1917. Servicemen were able to mix Washington’s instant coffee mix with hot water even while fighting in a trench, and the coffee rations became so popular that soldiers nicknamed it “a cup of George.”

What was the problem with early forms of instant coffee?

As revolutionary as the various instant coffees invented by Strang, Kato, and Washington were, none of them dissolved easily in water, which meant that coffee drinkers had to deal with chunks of coffee in their cup. In addition, these early coffee powders did not have as much flavor and aroma as freshly brewed coffee.

When was better-tasting instant coffee invented?

Until the late 1930s, instant coffees tended to dissolve poorly and were regarded as having an inferior flavor to regular coffee. Eventually, Swiss company Nestlé developed a new drink mix, “Nescafé,” in 1938, by drying coffee extract along with an equal proportion of soluble carbohydrate, which resulted in a better-dissolving and better-tasting instant coffee.

How did instant coffee become so popular?

Nearly half of the world’s coffee consumption comes from instant coffee, and one of the main reasons for its popularity is that instant coffee has been a popular inclusion in military rations. During WWII, the US military’s demand for instant coffee was about six times greater than the demand for instant coffee in the US civilian population.

When was instant coffee in its current form invented?

Researchers in the 1950s developed a way to make pure coffee extract that dissolved well without needing an added carbohydrate. By the early 1960s, Maxwell House developed freeze-dried instant coffee granules, which better preserved the flavor and aroma of the coffee and resulted in an instant coffee that tasted closer to a freshly brewed cup.

How is instant coffee made?

First, coffee beans are roasted just like regular coffee beans in order to extract that comforting flavor and smell. The roasted beans are then ground into a fine powder, brewed in a large amount of water, evaporated into a thick extract, and either freeze-dried (which uses a giant freezer) or spray-dried (which uses an air spray drier).