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NZ's most underrated inventions: instant coffee, daylight savings and bobby pins?

NZ's most underrated inventions: instant coffee, daylight savings and bobby pins?

what other life changing things did we invent that have flown under the radar? let me enlighten you xx

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shit you should care about
Mar 19, 2025
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✿ shit you should care about ✿
✿ shit you should care about ✿
NZ's most underrated inventions: instant coffee, daylight savings and bobby pins?
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The other day on Hinge I came across a profile that caught my eye. Not because I was interested in dating them (sorry, it’s rare that I am), but because of their answer to the prompt ‘What’s a random fact that you love?'

They responded that instant coffee was invented in New Zealand (Invercargill of all places) and I was SHOOK.

As both a Kiwi and an instant coffee lover (no snobs around here), I couldn’t believe that I had to find out about this on Hinge of all places.

I fact-checked it (of course) and found out that indeed, instant coffee was invented (under the name of ‘Soluble Dry Coffee-powder’) by Invercargill legend David Strang (and great great grandfather to SYSCAhood member).

Here’s some more info on him:

Instant coffee is a huge part of our New Zealand coffee story, but few people know that this is all thanks to Invercargill’s David Strang and his genius creation in 1889 for soluble coffee powder. In 1889, coffee and spice merchant Strang, created his `Dry Hot-Air` process to convert coffee into soluble granules and then set about patenting it in 1890 - one of the first-ever applications of New Zealand's new patent laws which only just came into effect. ‘Strang’s Patent Soluble Dry Coffee-powder’ as it was called, had the advantage that it was easier and lighter to ship while also having a good shelf life. He packaged it in tins, as he did with his other spice products, and set about marketing and distributing his new invention.

Like many inventions, there was some confusion as to the originator of instant coffee, and for many years a Japanese scientist called Satori Kato working in the USA in 1901 was given the credit for it. It wasn't for 10 years that Strang gained proper recognition for his revolutionary introduction. While Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt claimed Strang is a “hero” and said, “it wasn't unusual for the town's legends to go unheralded due to our geographic isolation.”

Anyway, after learning about this iconic invention at the ripe old age of 27, I wondered what the hell else Kiwis had invented that I didn’t know about. Turns out, there’s a lot.

Here’s a list of New Zealand's most underrated inventions (in my humble opinion)

Daylight Savings

An iconic story really.

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