Instant coffee is 250 years-old
As coffee is the most popular hot drink in the world, instant coffee should be one of the greatest inventions of all time! With instant coffee, people need no time to prepare a hot cup of coffee: Just by adding hot water to the coffee powder, then adding sugar or milk of your choice, you will have the perfect cup of coffee to boost your energy. Advantages of instant coffee also include lower shipping weight than beans or ground coffee, and long shelf life. It also reduces cleanup, and lowers environmental footprint!
The first instant coffee is called the “coffee compound”, made in Britain in 1771. This invention didn't make it in the US until 1851 when the first American instant coffee was created. The purpose of instant coffee then was to be served in the army to soldiers during the American Civil War. However, the first successful method of creating a stable soluble coffee powder was invented by Japanese-American chemist Satori Kato in 1901. Following Kento's invention, George Constant Louis Washington, an American inventor made the first commercial brand of instant coffee in 1910.
After that, Nescafé spray-dried coffee arrived in 1938, and freeze-dried coffee - the type of coffee that you'll most commonly find on shelves today, has been around since the 1960s. This type of instant coffee was invented by Nestle.
