How Do You Know Your Instant Coffee?

In many parts of the world, coffee is one of the most popular beverages. Almost half of the world love to drink instant coffee, particularly in countries in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Australians, for one, prefer instant coffee. In Asia, where the majority of people are tea drinkers, the market is slowly opening up, although most of them prefer the coffee mix, which is an instant coffee blended with sugar and creamer.

Many people do not think much of where and when instant coffee started. But they do appreciate the convenience and taste of instant coffee, which you can easily prepare even if you are in a hurry every morning.

So let us learn some important facts about coffee that you may or may not know.

Fascinating coffee facts

• Coffee has a long history. It is believed that coffee was discovered around 800 AD. A goat herder named Kaldi discovered that his goats became energetic and did not want to sleep after eating some beans in the forest of the ancient Ethiopian plateau. He gathered some of the beans and told an abbot at a local monastery about it. The abbot created a drink using the berries and remained alert during evening prayers. He shared the drink with the other abbots and the knowledge about the coffee berries started to spread, reaching the Arabian Peninsula and the rest of the world.
• It is actually a fruit. Despite the market calling it coffee bean, in reality, coffee is a fruit. The coffee plant grows a bush. It produces flowers that mature into berries. At the center of the berry is the coffee fruit, which is called a coffee cherry.
• Brazil is the largest coffee grower in the world. About one-third of the coffee in the world comes from Brazil. Vietnam and Colombia are the second and third-biggest coffee producers.
• Finland drinks the most coffee. It’s amazing to know that each Finnish drinks about 1,680 cups of coffee each year.
• Coffee used to be consumed as food. East African tribes used to grind coffee berries and mix them with animal fat and consume it as food. That was before people discovered that coffee berries produced a delicious beverage.
• The first form of instant coffee. In 1771, a form of instant coffee was developed in England. However, the coffee became rancid after a short time.
• First mass-produced instant coffee. A Belgian-American man by the name of George Constant Louis Washington started the first mass-produced instant coffee. He named the product as Red E Coffee.
• Best coffee beans for instant coffee. For most of the instant coffee brands sold around the world, manufacturers use the Robusta coffee beans grown in Vietnam.
• First successful instant coffee. Coffee manufacturer Nestlé was the first company to successfully launch their instant coffee. The brand, Nescafe came out in the market in 1938. Today, about 13% of all the coffee the world drink is instant coffee.

Bonus: We assume that you are aware of decaffeinated instant coffee. But did you know that the caffeine removed from the instant coffee is sold to pharmaceutical and fizzy drink manufacturers?

So next time you make a cup of your favorite beverage, remember the fascinating history of instant coffee.