Instant coffee was invented in 1901.
In 1889, David Strang, who sold spices and coffee in the South Island of New Zealand, made soluble coffee powder and sold it as "Strang's Coffee". In fact, this "Strong Coffee" is the world's first instant coffee product.
In 1901, in the product hall of the "Pan American Exposition" held in New York, Kato demonstrated "instant coffee" made with new technology. He also tried to apply for a patent, but when he obtained the patent in 1903, he did not realize that "instant coffee" could be commercialized.
The production process
It mainly consists of the following parts:
(1) Pretreatment, that is, the screening and cleaning of green coffee beans to remove the mixed coffee beans. Metal, stones, dust and other foreign objects as well as broken beans, moldy beans, etc.
(2) Roasting, during which the substances contained in coffee beans undergo complex physical and chemical reactions, forming unique coffee aroma substances.
(3) Grinding, in order to improve the extraction efficiency, grind the roasted coffee beans into particles of a certain size.
(4) Extraction, under a certain temperature and pressure, extract the active ingredients of coffee into water.
(5) Concentration, through vacuum concentration, increases the concentration of coffee (generally 40%) at a lower temperature (-50°C), mainly to facilitate drying operations.
(6) Drying, this is the process of forming instant coffee powder, and it is also the process that has the greatest impact on the quality of coffee powder in the entire processing process. The spray drying method is generally used, but because the aromatic substances of coffee are very heat-sensitive and are easily volatilized at higher drying temperatures (in fact, there has been some volatilization in the previous extraction and concentration processes), this is why instant coffee is often not roasted and ground. The main reason why brewed coffee has a strong aroma.