Coffee Origins

As the legend goes, the first person to ever drink a cup of coffee was the 9th century goat herder Kaldi who noticed that his flock had more energy when consuming the red berries of a certain plant. He collected the berries and took them to a Muslim holy man who threw them into a fire. The roasting scent was so delicious that they quickly gathered up the beans, ground them, mixed them with water and drank them. 

However, the first credible evidence of coffee drinking dates back to the 15th century, where Sufi monks drank it in what is now Yemen. The public discovered it in the early coffee houses of Cairo and Mecca and adventurers soon began introducing it to countries all over the world.

Where does your coffee come from? Commercial coffee is grown in an area between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn affectionately known as the “bean belt”. In order for the coffee plant to thrive, it needs moderate sunshine and rain, porous soil and constant temperatures between 65 and 75ºF.

The top 10 coffee-producing countries are: 

 1. Brazil                   6. Ethiopia 
 2. Colombia              7. India 
 3. Indonesia              8. Guatemala 
 4. Vietnam                9. Côte d’Ivoire 
 5. Mexico                 10. Uganda

The NESCAFÉ coffee you’re enjoying today is a perfect brew of the brand’s long-standing history. The origins of NESCAFÉ hark back to the year 1930, when Brazil had a substantial surplus of coffee, and needed help preserving it. Upon the request of the Brazilian government, NESTLÉ began abrewin’!

Our coffee specialist, Max Morgenthaler, and his team had a simple proposition – a delicious cup of coffee by just simply adding water. With this guiding principle, the team worked hard to find a way to make soluble coffee that will not lose out on the coffee’s natural flavor. Eight years later, they found the answer.

NESCAFÉ milestones:

1938: NESCAFÉ introduced in Switzerland

1965: NESCAFÉ achieved an important breakthrough with the launch of the first freeze-dried coffee in Europe - NESCAFÉ GOLD.

1980: NESCAFÉ launches the first gourmet soluble coffees - NESCAFÉ President in Japan, NESCAFÉ ALTA RICA and NESCAFÉ CAP COLOMBIE in France.

1984: NESCAFÉ launched trendy coffee products such as coffee mixes, coffee mixtures, ready-to-drink coffee and flavored soluble coffees. Instead of asking “Would you like a coffee?” the question became “which coffee would you like?”