NESCAFÉ – A Swiss Success Story

vintage-coffee-cup
Did you know that NESCAFÉ coffee originates from Switzerland and was originally discovered while researching a replacement for breast milk? No, me neither!

Unfortunately I had to break my love affair with NESCAFÉ recently as I ended up overdoing it a tad after purchasing my streamlined Dolce Gusto (Sounds more Italian than Swiss to me!). When my right eye started to twitch and one cup led to another, I had to go cold turkey and switch to liqorice tea (which is a fantastic replacement, naturally sweet and without caffeine or calories!)

Anyways, I diverge. Getting back to the success story that is NESCAFÉ, here are some little known facts of how it forged its way to the top of the coffee business:

  • The story of Nestlé Coffee begins in 1886, when a Swiss pharmacist, Henri Nestlé was working to find an economical and nutritious (He obviously didn’t fulfill this brief with coffee) alternative to breast milk.
  • Nestlé did end up devising a simple infant formula made up of milk, flour, sugar and added Iron. It was orginally named Farine Lactee Henri Nestlé. It became very popular all over Europe and Nestlé is to this day one of the largest suppliers of infant formula.
  • It wasn’t until 1930 that NESCAFÉ (Derived from the words Nestlé and Café) was birthed. The Brazilian government approached Nestlé to make coffee cubes as they had a huge surplus of coffee at that time and they needed to find a solution. It took eight years of research but eventually in 1938 Nestlé produced a coffee powder that required only to be mixed with water to produce a delightful cup of coffee full of natural flavor with the its natural enticing aroma.
  • NESCAFÉ became very popular with the American Soldiers in World War II and its popularity has grown from there. According to NESCAFÉ themselves “Coffee ranks in the top three most consumed beverages globally, alongside tea and water. Over 800 billion cups are enjoyed every year, and this number is growing at an annual rate of 1.5%. That’s an increase of 12 billion cups per year! Globally, NESCAFÉ is consumed at a rate of more than 4,000 cups every second!”
  • NESCAFÉ has become more and more successful as they have strived for continuous improvements and innovations. In the 1960’s and 1970’s they improved their packaging by moving to glass jars maximizing flavor retention and aroma. In 1965, they were the first brand to come out with freeze dried coffee granules improving the solubility of the coffee grains and of course consumer convenience. Today, NESCAFÉ pretty much caters for every desire that a consumer could have related to coffee, from milk-sugar-coffee mixes to short dark intense espresso’s. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it!
  • According to Forbes, NESCAFÉ ranks as number 29th in a list of the World’s most valuable brands, has sales of 10.5 billion and has a brand value of 17.8 billion. Nestlé himself knew the importance of brand and marketing 150 years ago and modified his own family crest to come up with the family of birds in a nest logo. Though Nestlé himself died in 1890, this logo still appears on the brands website and marketing materials. How is that for sticking to your gut instinct about what works!!

I don’t know about you but all this research has made me need a little something …. I’m off to indulge in a cup of coffee …. Decaff of course….

Further Information/ Sources:

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2 thoughts on “NESCAFÉ – A Swiss Success Story

  1. I am from the Midwest within the USA,thank you for the research that you have undertaken. I myself indulge NESCAFE GREEK Classic for a cold frothed Frappe and when I need a winter afternoon or evening hot pickup.

    Note: It seems to make a better smooth hot brew when I use an after market screen Kcup filter and set my Keurig brew to number four. A perfect temperature without any stirring and since it is instant, nothing to dispose.

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