Cheapened Blends and the Rise of Specialty Coffee

As had happened during the previous conflict, World War II increased the use of instant coffee overseas, this time with improved Nescafé from Swiss-based Nestlé, followed by American brands. After the war, instant coffee sales took off in the era of the TV dinner and Minute Rice, even though its taste only remotely resembled good coffee. Because taste was not really an issue, the company used inferior robusta beans (by then growing in Africa and Brazil as well as the East Indies) in instant coffee. As coffee roasters engaged in price-cutting wars in the supermarkets, they also cheapened their regular blends, adding robusta to them. Not surprisingly, consumers responded by brewing weak coffee and reducing consumption. Coffee lost the baby boomers to Coke and Pepsi.