The History of Instant Coffee: From War Rations to Your Kitchen

Who invented instant coffee? There is no single inventor. The history of instant coffee is a relay: a New Zealand spice merchant made a powder in 1889, a Japanese chemist in Chicago patented a soluble coffee in 1903, a Belgian-born entrepreneur in Brooklyn turned it into a business around 1910, and Nestlé’s Nescafé made it global in 1938. Two world wars did the rest.

Here is the full story, from a failed 18th-century experiment to the freeze-dried jar in your cupboard.

Key takeaways

• Early “coffee compounds” and liquid essences existed in the 18th and 19th centuries, but they were not true soluble powders.
• David Strang of Invercargill, New Zealand, produced an early instant coffee powder in 1889; Satori Kato in Chicago showed a soluble coffee at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition and was granted a US patent in 1903.
• George Constant Louis Washington mass-produced instant coffee in Brooklyn from around 1909–1910, and World War I soldiers called it “a cup of George.”
• Nescafé launched in 1938 after Brazil, struggling with huge coffee surpluses, sought a way to preserve coffee.
• Freeze-dried instant coffee arrived in the 1960s and keeps more aroma than spray-dried powder.

In this article

1. Instant coffee timeline at a glance
2. Early attempts: compounds and essences
3. The first powders: Strang and Kato
4. George Washington and the cup of George
5. Brazil’s surplus and the birth of Nescafé
6. Spray-dried vs freeze-dried
7. Instant coffee today
8. FAQ

Instant coffee timeline at a glance

Early attempts: compounds and essences

The dream of coffee without brewing is old. In 1771, Londoner John Dring patented a “coffee compound” that mixed ground coffee with butter and tallow. The fats went rancid, and it never caught on.

Liquid concentrates came next. In 1840, the Scottish firm T & H Smith produced a coffee essence boiled down to about a quarter of its volume. During the American Civil War, the Union Army looked into concentrates too, but soldiers disliked the texture and stuck to beans. These were syrups and pastes, not the dry, soluble powder we know.

The first powders: Strang and Kato

David Strang, Invercargill, 1889

The earliest well-documented instant coffee powder comes from the bottom of the world. David Strang, a coffee and spice merchant in Invercargill, New Zealand, produced a soluble coffee powder using a dry hot-air process, and the local Southland Times reported on his patent in 1889. Some sources date the patent to 1890. Strang’s coffee sold modestly, but it was not a lasting commercial success.

Satori Kato, Chicago, 1901

For decades, the usual answer to “who invented instant coffee?” was Satori Kato, a Japanese chemist working in Chicago. His Kato Coffee Company served hot samples of soluble coffee at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, and in August 1903 he received US patent 735,777 for a “Coffee Concentrate and Process of Making Same.” Kato’s claim to be first was later challenged when Strang’s earlier work was rediscovered, so today he is best described as an important early pioneer rather than the sole inventor.

George Washington and the cup of George

No, not that George Washington. George Constant Louis Washington was a Belgian-born inventor and businessman who was the first to mass-produce instant coffee successfully. He launched “Red E Coffee” around 1909, and his G. Washington Coffee Refining Company was established in 1910, with production in Brooklyn.

His big break was World War I. After the United States entered the war in 1917, the military bought as much instant coffee as it could find. NPR reports that by October 1918, the Army was trying to obtain 37,000 pounds a day, while the whole country’s daily output was about 6,000 pounds. The coffee came in small envelopes, and a War Department official noted that gas attacks made ordinary brewing impossible at the front. Soldiers stirred the powder into hot water and called the result “a cup of George.”

The taste was not great, and postwar sales suffered. Washington sold his company in 1943, shortly before his death, and the brand was discontinued in 1961.

Brazil’s surplus and the birth of Nescafé

The modern instant coffee industry was born out of a crisis. After the 1929 Wall Street crash, coffee prices collapsed and Brazil, the world’s largest producer, was left with mountains of unsold beans. Over several years, Brazil destroyed huge quantities of coffee, much of it burned, to support prices.

Brazil looked for a way to turn surplus coffee into a product that would keep. Nestlé, already expert in powdered milk, took on the challenge. In 1932, Swiss chemist Max Morgenthaler was put in charge of the project. Nestlé cut funding in 1935, but Morgenthaler kept experimenting at home, and in 1937 he presented a successful powder to the company’s board.

Nescafé launched in 1938, first in Switzerland. According to Works in Progress, a year’s worth of stock sold out in about two months. The timing was dramatic: within a few years, World War II made a light, long-lasting coffee extremely valuable. In 1942, the US government classified instant coffee as a commodity vital to the war effort, and instant coffee became a staple of soldiers’ rations. (We tell the wider story of wartime coffee and home-front rationing in a separate article.)

In 1952, Nestlé developed a way to make its powder from 100% coffee, without the added carbohydrates used in the early product.

Spray-dried vs freeze-dried

All instant coffee starts the same way: roasted coffee is brewed at industrial scale into a concentrated extract. What changes is how the water is removed.

Freeze-drying uses technology refined during World War II for preserving blood plasma and medicines. General Foods released the first freeze-dried instant coffee under the Maxwell House name in 1963, and Nescafé Gold followed in 1965.

Instant coffee today

The latest chapter is premium instant. Since the late 2000s, brands have experimented with microground coffee blended into soluble coffee, and specialty roasters now sell freeze-dried instant made from high-grade beans. The goal is the same one Strang had in 1889: real coffee flavor in seconds.

How to make better instant coffee

• Dissolve it first. Stir the granules into a splash of hot water before topping up; it reduces clumps.
• Avoid boiling water. Water just off the boil, around 195°F (90°C), is gentler on flavor.
• Get the ratio right. Follow the label, then adjust. For iced coffee, dissolve in a little hot water and pour over ice and cold milk.
• Keep the pouch sealed. Instant coffee absorbs moisture from the air and can clump or go flat.

Our Instant Coffee gives about 30 servings in a resealable pouch: add one rounded teaspoon to 8 oz (240 ml) of hot water and stir. It is made for the office, travel, the gym bag and busy mornings. If you are curious about functional blends, our Instant Coffee with Mushroom combines instant coffee with Lion’s Mane, Cordyceps and Reishi, with about 42 servings per pack. For days when you have time to brew, browse our Best Selling fresh-roasted coffees.

Instant coffee history FAQ

Who invented instant coffee?

No single person. David Strang in New Zealand made an early soluble powder in 1889, Satori Kato patented a soluble coffee in the US in 1903, and George Washington was the first to mass-produce it successfully around 1910.

When was Nescafé invented?

Nestlé’s chemist Max Morgenthaler perfected the process in 1937, and Nescafé was launched in 1938.

Why did soldiers call instant coffee a cup of George?

Because much of the instant coffee supplied to US troops in World War I came from George Washington’s Brooklyn company.

Is freeze-dried coffee better than spray-dried?

Freeze-drying generally keeps more of the coffee’s aroma, but it is slower and more expensive. Taste depends on the beans and the process as a whole.

Sources

1. Benjamin Stubbing and Oscar Sykes. A brief history of instant coffee. Works in Progress, 2026.
2. Jeff Koehler. In WWI Trenches, Instant Coffee Gave Troops A Much-Needed Boost. NPR / GBH, 2017.
3. Wikipedia. Satori Kato (citing US patent 735,777, 1903).
4. Google Patents. US735777A: Coffee concentrate and process of making same. 1903.

Facts checked in October 2026.

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