A brief history of instant coffee (worksinprogress.co)

The article traces how instant coffee evolved from early, unviable “coffee cakes” and concentrates to the techniques that made true instant powder possible. It highlights key steps including hot-air dehydration (David Strang), industrial-scale production and wartime demand (George Constant Louis Washington’s product), and Nestlé’s spray-drying breakthrough led by Max Morgenthaler—later refined through freeze-drying. Overall, it shows that the real challenge was extracting and preserving coffee’s volatile flavor compounds while removing water without damaging them.