Behind one of the world's most famous instant coffees lies a story of economic crisis: Nescafé was born as a response to the enormous coffee surpluses left by the Great Depression in Brazil. In this video, we discover how a problem that threatened the economy of an entire country ended up giving rise to a beverage consumed today in more than 180 countries.

We will analyze the context of the late 1920s and early 1930s, when the Wall Street Crash of 1929 caused a collapse in coffee prices and left Brazil, the world's leading producer, with immense quantities of unsold beans. We will explain why this situation was so serious for the Brazilian economy, which depended heavily on this crop, and how coffee was even burned as fuel due to the lack of buyers.

We'll review how, in the early 1930s, Brazilian representatives approached Nestlé seeking a way to preserve coffee and expand its consumption, and how chemist Max Morgenthaler led the development of an instant coffee that could be prepared simply by adding water without losing its flavor. We'll explain the technical difficulties of that project and the origin of the name "Nescafé," formed from "Nestlé" and "coffee."

We'll also explore the product's launch in Switzerland on April 1, 1938, how World War II spurred its expansion when it was included in the rations of American troops, and how soldiers became ambassadors for the product after the war. Finally, we'll analyze how this invention, born out of a crisis, ended up transforming coffee consumption habits worldwide.

If you're interested in brand history, the curious origins of everyday products, and the role of economic crises in the creation of great inventions, this video is for you. Subscribe to the channel for more stories like this, give us a like, and tell us in the comments what other product you'd like us to investigate.

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