The first commercial instant coffee was made in Invercargill (the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand) by David Strang, who owned a coffee and spice works factory. For its manufacturing it used something called "Dry Hot-Air" process.
He applied for a patent for his "soluble coffee powder" in 1889. It was patented under patent number 3518 and sold under the trading name Strang's Coffee
Strang also filed patents for a "coffee-roasting apparatus of novel design" and Strang's Eclipse Hot Air Grain Dryer. He was also credited with making mocha - a blend of coffee and cocoa that is ubiquitous nowadays.
However, instant coffee wasn’t massively produced until 1910 when 1909, the Belgian-American businessman, George Constant Louis Washington, invented the first mass-produced instant coffee.
David Strang was born in Glasgow, worked in a coffee warehouse before moving to New Zealand in 1863. He first sold his products locally and later developed a national, and then international following. Strang’s coffee and spices won awards at exhibitions in Christchurch, Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. He created his `Dry Hot-Air` process to convert coffee into soluble granules and then set about patenting it.
‘Strang’s Patent Soluble Dry Coffee-powder’ as it was called, had the advantage that it was easier and lighter to ship while also having a good shelf life. He packaged it in tins, as he did with his other spice products, and set about marketing and distributing his new invention.
Commercial instant coffee by David Strang
