Logo used today
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Product type | Instant coffee |
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Owner | Nestlé |
Country | Switzerland |
Introduced | 1938 |
Markets | Worldwide |
Tagline | It all starts with a Nescafé |
Website | Official website |
Nescafé is a brand of instant coffee made by Nestlé. It comes in many different forms. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestlé" and "café". Nestlé first introduced their flagship powdered coffee brand in Switzerland on April 1, 1938.
Nestlé began developing an instant coffee brand in 1930, at the initiative of the Brazilian government, to help to preserve the substantial surplus of the annual Brazilian coffee harvest. Max Morgenthaler led the development project. Nestlé introduced the new product under the brand name "Nescafé" on April 1, 1938. In 1965, Nestlé introduced a freeze-dried coffee brand called "Nescafé Gold" in Europe.
In the United States, Nestlé used the Nescafé name on its products until the late 1960s. Later, Nestlé introduced a new brand in the US and Canada called Taster's Choice, which supplanted Nescafé for many years. The company continues to sell Taster's Choice as a separate product, branded as superior to Nescafé and higher priced.
In the United Kingdom, a television advertisement campaign, the Gold Blend couple starring Anthony Head and Sharon Maughan ran in 12 installments between 1987 and 1993. The first 11 episodes were released as a promotional compilation video called Love Over Gold in 1993. A novelisation of the same name written by Susan Moody (under the pseudonym Susannah James) was released in the same year.
In 2003, the company reintroduced the Nescafé brand in Canada and the US, and the product is now known as Nescafé Taster's Choice. It is sold in North American supermarkets in both glass and plastic packaging.
While the Nescafé brand was created for soluble coffee, it has subsequently been used as an umbrella brand on a number of instant coffee products, including, in the UK, Gold Blend and Blend 37 freeze-dried coffees.
In 2006, Nescafé launched the new coffee machine system "Dolce Gusto" ("sweet taste" in Italian). The system allows consumers to make various styles of coffees themselves (cappuccino, latte macchiato, espresso, lungo, etc.). Additionally, hot chocolate and cold drinks can be prepared with the machine. The machines are now sold in more than 60 countries. Unlike other Nescafé products, most Dolce Gusto beverages use roasted and ground coffee beans, instead of instant coffee.