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Cover Story Will the

INSTANT

COFFEE

have a chance to turn the table?

While more and more people are becoming familiar with specialty coffee, 50% of the world
coffee beans are still used to make instant coffee. Of course when we mention coffee, the first
impression some people will get is the 3-in-1 instant coffee. The most important reasons why
instant coffee is still very popular is because of its convenience and low costs.
Nowadays, coffee is becoming better every day, more and more cafes are putting drip coffee, specialty coffee, fresh
roasted coffee, etc. on their menu. As people are accepting black coffee and specialty coffee, they now know more about
advantages and disadvantages of instant coffee. For example, is it healthy to drink instant coffee or will it cause cancer?
More and more questions and arguments are starting to flood the market. According to the results shown by Mintel
Purchase Intelligence, the marketing value of instant coffee was down-sliding for the past few years. By the end of 2019,
the marketing value of instant coffee will drop to 66%. The well-known brands such as Nestle and Maxwell are facing
difficult times, as Nestle is in the battle of whether coffee-mate is an illegal substance, Maxwell was kicked out by its
mother company in 2015. The world famous instant coffee is now hitting the bottom of the valley. However, according
to The International Market Analysis Research and Consulting Group, the marketing value of instant coffee is still hit-
ting 86 billion dollars. What’s so charming about this unpredictable coffee behavior and why it rises so many questions
and arguments, let’s discuss it in following paragraphs.

What is instant coffee? The Making of Instant Coffee Includes These Steps:
st
① 1 Step: To get rid of the unwanted matters in the coffee
Early in 1890, a man from New Zealand named ② Roasting: The complex physical and chemical reactions
David Strang discovered the “instant” technology and happened inside of a coffee bean, to form a special kind
had it patented. Later, George Washington discovered of coffee flavor
a massive technology for producing instant coffee and ③ Grinding: To grind cooked beans into fine powder.
announced it to the market in 1910. In 1938, facing the ④Extracting: Under the certain temperature and pressure,
problem of the leftover coffee beans, the Brazilian gov- extract the soluble coffee substances into water.
ernment together with Nestle upgraded the producing ⑤ Condensing & Drying: The final process to get the in-
technology, especially putting a certain amount of sol- stant coffee powder.
uble carbohydrate before drying, to improve the flavor, Looking at those steps, you can say it certainly is a
thus Nestle became the leading brand of instant coffee. creative brand’s new discovery, it simplifies complicated
During the 1980s, Maxwell, following Nestle, entered process of hand brewing and allows coffee to exist as an
Chinese market, these two big brands of instant coffee easy-to-get drink. Also, it brought the first coffee wave
brought the first impression of coffee to Chinese people. into the world.

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