The first patent for a “coffee compound” was filled in Britain in 1771, but this product never went to market. In 1890 David Strang licensed his “dry hot-air” technology and began creating an early form of soluble coffee. The first major soluble coffee brand, Red-E Coffee, was introduced to the US market in 1909 by George Louis Washington.
Nescafé collaborated with the Brazilian Coffee Institute in the 1930s to perfect the freeze-drying method used to make soluble coffee to this day.
What is soluble coffee?
Soluble coffee is used to make a beverage derived from real brewed coffee. It usually comes in powder or granule form and needs to be rehydrated with hot water to make coffee. Over the years the manufacturing process has steadily improved and today there are millions of people who prefer soluble coffee to a traditional freshly brewed cup o’ Joe.
Is soluble coffee the same as instant coffee?
Yes! Don’t let the different terminology throw you off, they are all the same thing. Soluble coffee goes by many different names including instant coffee or coffee powder.
They can all be described as real coffee that has been dehydrated and must have water added to it before drinking.
When was soluble coffee invented?
The earliest record of soluble coffee dates back to a 1771 patent filed in Britain for a “coffee compound”. Not much is known about this mysterious ancestor to modern soluble coffee, but it certainly didn’t enjoy much popularity at the time and has largely been forgotten about.
For a while it was thought that soluble coffee was invented in 1901 by Dr Sartori Kato, a Japanese chemist based in Chicago. His search for a way to make “instant tea” led him to creating stable, soluble, coffee which became hot coffee with the addition of water. His patent was filed in 1903.
But Dr Kato was actually beaten to the finish line 10 years earlier when the first patent was granted for something we would recognize as soluble coffee by today’s standards. New Zealander David Strang developed and patented his “dry hot-air” technology in 1890 and Strang’s Coffee hit the shelves soon after.
How was soluble coffee discovered?
The exact series of events which led to soluble coffee being invested have mostly been lost to history. However, it is theorized that the idea came about from observing coffee powder that had dried in the spout of a coffee pot. Addition of water to this powder would turn it back into coffee.
How is soluble coffee made?
Soluble coffee is typically made using freeze-drying which includes these 7 stages:
- Bean roasting
- Grinding roasted beans
- Brewing and filtering
- Water evaporation
- Freezing and breaking into granules
- Sublimation, where any remaining liquid is removed
- Packaging
This process has taken many years to perfect and was piloted by Nescafé in 1938. Many of the manufacturing stages used in early soluble coffee production were borrowed from technologies developed during World War II.
A different way of making soluble coffee is called “spray-drying”. Here, rather than freezing the concentrated coffee, it is blasted by hot air which atomizes and instantly dehydrates the coffee. Although this method is cheaper than freeze-drying, it is at the cost of losing the complex aromas of coffee so is a less popular production method.
What was the first soluble coffee brand?
The first major soluble coffee brand entered the US market in 1909. It was created by George Louis Washington and was known as ‘Red-E Coffee’. Interestingly, if it wasn’t for the World War I the idea of soluble coffee may have never taken off.
Red-E Coffee was not very popular with the average consumer as it had a bitter, thin taste. However, it was provided to soldiers in the trenches where it served as a welcome break from the misery of war.
What is the biggest soluble coffee brand?
Nescafé remains the biggest coffee brand in the world with a 2020 revenue of $99.71 billion. With more than 20 different soluble coffee products to their name and many more instant coffee mixes in their portfolio, they can certainly be seen as the kings of soluble coffee.
Who drinks the most soluble coffee?
Australia and New Zealand drink more soluble coffee than anywhere else in the world, it accounts for over 75% of total coffee consumption.
Asia Pacific countries are in second place with soluble coffee making up over 60% of their coffee consumption. Eastern Europeans drink soluble coffee 50% of the time, Middle Easterners drink soluble coffee 40% of the time, and Western Europeans drink soluble coffee just 25% of the time.
Despite a well-documented love for coffee, the USA is one of the lowest consumers of soluble coffee which made up just 10% of the USA’s total coffee consumption in 2013.
When did soluble coffee become so popular?
Despite early soluble coffee having a relatively unpleasant taste by today’s standards, it didn’t stop steady growth of the industry. Historians believe that World War I was crucial in cementing soluble coffee as a quick and reliable way to drink coffee. Soldiers were given a ration of Red-E Coffee while they were in the trenches which became a habit once back in the US.
Today, soluble coffee makes up around 34% of all coffee brewed around the world and by 2018 $35 billion-worth of soluble coffee was consumed worldwide.
Why was soluble coffee invented?
The Brazilian Coffee Institute were orchestral in driving the development of soluble coffee. Unprocessed coffee beans don’t have a particularly long shelf-life, and as the world’s largest producer of coffee beans, Brazil needed to avoid wasting their produce.
In the 1930s the Brazilian Coffee Institute collaborated with the scientists at Nescafé to improve the process of dehydrating coffee while maintaining its flavors.
Soluble coffee has many merits. It is much quicker and easier to prepare than traditional freshly brewed coffee. It is also cleaner, there are no coffee grinds to dispose of, and the soluble coffee granules have a much longer shelf-life than regular coffee.
Hi, I’m Jen Williams, chief editor and writer for ThirstPerk.com.
I’ve been drinking coffee and tea for most of my life, but it wasn’t until I started working at Thirstperk.com that I became an expert on the subject. I’m a total caffeine addict who has spent hours upon hours reading about and experimenting with the different types of coffees out there in my search to find the perfect cup of joe.
I’ve been a tea lover for as long as I can remember as well. I grew up in a house with a mom who loved to drink herbal tea, and I think that’s where my love for tea first began. These days, I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting teas to try, and I love experimenting with different brewing methods and flavoring combinations.