Nestlé’s Blue Bottle wades into instant coffee

According to a statement, Blue Bottle Coffee, which is majority-owned by Nestlé, is launching an instant espresso that allows consumers to prepare premium beverages at home without expensive equipment or brewing expertise.
Adding pre-ground espresso beans to milk produces Craft Instant Espresso, the brand’s first soluble coffee product in the U.S. after three years of research and development.

Five years ago, Nestle reportedly paid $425 million for a nearly 70% stake in California-based Blue Bottle Coffee, giving the food and beverage giant another premium offering as it expanded its coffee presence.

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Nestlé acquired Seattle’s Best Coffee from Starbucks last week for an undisclosed sum, expanding its presence in mainstream offerings for the beverage.

However, Blue Bottle, which is best known for its specialty coffee beans and retail stores, fits decisively into the premium space.

The latest instant coffee for making espressos fills a void by allowing the brand to compete in a more portable market segment that is becoming increasingly popular among consumers who value portability. In lieu of traveling to a coffee shop or activating a coffee maker, they simply add milk and can enjoy instant espresso nearly anywhere, including at home.

Blue Bottle’s senior director of global innovation and quality, Benjamin Brewer, stated in an email, “We didn’t believe instant coffee at Blue Bottle standards was possible, but our initial experimentation with soluble proved the path to instant could be something moving and inspiring for our guests if handled properly.”

It was essential for us to control the entire process so that we could ensure our high quality standards were met at every stage.

Craft Instant Espresso also enables Nestlé to broaden its instant coffee offerings to a greater number of consumers. Nescafé is one of Nestlé’s best-selling products. Popular among customers with lower incomes, it has flourished despite a rise in inflation. Nescafé contributed to a nearly double-digit growth rate in beverages in North America during the first nine months of the year, the company reported last week.

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