New Zealanders love their coffee. We are known for producing fantastic roasted beans and can proudly say we are the inventors of the Kiwi classic, the flat white. Taranaki has its own caffeinated claim to fame, with New Plymouth roaster Ozone Coffee producing delicious brews and Icoco, a brand of coffee produced at a roastery in Waiwhakaiho, was recently announced as the supreme winner of the 10th annual Huhtamaki New Zealand Coffee Awards for its Ethiopian Heights blend. New Zealand has a long history of coffee related innovation in coffee drinking. David Strang, based in Invercargill, invented what could be the very first instant coffee in the world, applying for a patent for “Strang’s Patent Soluble Dry Coffee-powder” in 1890. His coffee was on the shelves in 1889, 12 years before Satori Kato is credited with inventing instant coffee in Chicago. Either way, Strang’s coffee was a hit in New Zealand because of its ease of preparation. It was described in the Otago Daily Times as an economical and flavoursome solution for coffee drinkers. The use of chicory powder,made from roasted and ground chicory root, to mix with the coffee may not be as appealing to today’s coffee drinkers, the Strang method of roasting doesn’t sound too dissimilar to our methods today. It was “roasted by a current of hot air which develops the flavour more thoroughly”.
Coffee, anyone?