Coffee is generally thought to have originated in Ethiopia in 1000 A.D., although coffee has evolved in many forms to reach what we recognize as the hot beverage we consume today (The History of Coffee). The Arabs are credited with modern coffee cultivation and trade starting in the 13th century. Since then, a lot has changed. Coffee has a storied history that spans continents and survived wars. As PBS reports, “Second only to oil, coffee is the most valuable legally traded commodity in the world. We love it, we rely on it, and we drink it in massive quantities” (Avey, 2013). Despite coffee’s deep historical roots, instant coffee is a relative newcomer to the age of coffee production. Although forms of instant coffee date back to late 1700s in Britain, Nestle’s release of Nescafe in 1938 sent instant coffee into the commercial market like never before.

As a way to use unsold coffee, Nestle first developed a type of instant coffee that depended on the addition of milk and sugars to preserve flavor (Celebrating 75 Years, 2013). This is because the original spray drying technique and heating process stripped the coffee of its signature taste and aroma. In the 1950s, the freeze drying technique allowed instant coffee to stand alone without the addition of carbohydrates for flavor stabilization. Freeze dried instant coffee ended up looking and tasting better than its earlier versions. Over the years, top coffee producers such as Nestle, Folgers, and Maxwell House have worked hard to improve the taste and enjoyability of instant coffee.

One of the largest markets for coffee has been the military. As early as the Civil War, coffee was a key energy and morale boost in the trenches. According to Mark Prendergast, author of Uncommon Grounds, the term “joe” to describe coffee may be closely related to the G.I. Joes who drank the drink en masse (Koehler, 2017).  Outside of the battlefields, hailed for its convenience and quick energy boost, instant coffee has spread across the globe.

Today, instant coffee has taken surprising parts of the world by storm. China, a country where tea drinking is tradition, has seen an incredible instant coffee boom becoming the fourth largest market in the world for instant coffee (Smith, 2014). The increase in coffee consumption is attributed to the need for a caffeine boost by the Chinese labor force. However, not all areas of the world prefer the quick and convenient drink over traditional cups of joe. The Washington Post reports that the world is roughly split in preference of coffee type with countries like the United States and Canada preferring a fresh cup versus traditional tea drinking societies, like Russia and Australia, where people reach for the instant powder (Ferdman, 2014). Whereas instant coffee sales remain lackluster in the United States, in Australia the instant drink makes up about 75% of retail brewed coffee consumption (Ferman, 2014).

Given its long history and current popularity around the world, coffee undoubtedly plays an important role in society. This website presents research that explores the chemical makeup, production process, and societal repercussion of instant coffee. The research ultimately seeks to explain instant coffee through a socio-technical lens.

Bibliography

  1. Alfred, R. (2009, August 11). Aug. 11, 1903: Instant Coffee, a Mixed Blessing. Wired. https://www.wired.com/2009/08/dayintech-0811/
  2. Avey, T. (2013, April 8). The Caffeinated History of Coffee. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/history-coffee/
  3. Celebrating 75 years of the Nestlé brand that invented instant coffee. Nestle. https://www.nestle.com/aboutus/history/nestle-company-history/nescafe-75-years
  4. Ferdman, R.A. (2014, July 14). Almost half of the world actually prefers instant coffee. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/07/14/almost-half-of-the-world-actually-prefers-instant-coffee/?utm_term=.5780ff5a4218
  5. Koehler, J. (2017, April 6). In WWI Trenches, Instant Coffee Gave Troops A Much-Needed Boost. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/04/06/522071853/in-wwi-trenches-instant-coffee-gave-troops-a-much-needed-boost
  6. Smith, K.A. (2014, June 23). Is There a Future For Instant Coffee. Smithsonian.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/there-future-instant-coffee-180951821/
  7. The History of Coffee. National Coffee Association. http://www.ncausa.org/About-Coffee/History-of-Coffee.
  8. Zuraw, L. (2013, April 23). How Coffee Influenced The Course of History. NPR.  https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/04/24/178625554/how-coffee-influenced-the-course-of-history