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Otago Daily Times

Swiss take aim at proud claim

Invercargill town crier Lynley McKerrow in front of a Strang's Coffee mural shows what she thinks of Swiss coffee. PHOTO: TONI MCDONALD The Aussies claimed Phar Lap, the Yanks reckoned they came up with pavlova. Now those cunning Swiss are talking about how they invented instant coffee. But what has become a staple for many was in fact first made in the jewel of the south - Invercargill. The spurious Swiss claim was made on stage at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 semifinals this week as a couple of Swiss presenters delivered a song titled Made in Switzerland. The duo sang about all the items made in the land-locked country and first on the list was instant coffee. But the presenters were wrong. Instant coffee was first made in 1889 and patented a year later by David Strang, of Invercargill. It was sold under the trading name Strang's Coffee citing the patented ''dry hot-air'' process. Coffee may have changed markedly since then but Mr Strang and Invercargill still have pioneer status. Proud Southlander Lindsay Beer was appalled at the claim but expected the Swiss would prefer to stay in its neutral corner, as ''the Swiss don't really like a fight''. ''It's sacrilege - they can keep their Swiss army knives but it's sacrilege to pinch our coffee.'' He wondered if Southland should enter the contest next year to set the record right. ''We've got a huge amount of musical talent in the South.'' Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds was gobsmacked that Switzerland was trying to claim Invercargill's proud history as the birthplace of instant coffee. ''I will definitely be taking this major diplomatic incident further,'' Ms Simmonds said. Town crier Lynley McKerrow believed the claim rightly belonged to the South. ''The only thing the Swiss invented was the holes in the cheese. ''We might be small, but we're fierce and we fiercely stand by the truth and the truth is - instant coffee was from Southland. ''The Swiss can keep their milk chocolate, cheese, meringues and army knives, but keep their hands off our claim to instant coffee.'' Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark said he did not mind if the Swiss song made a claim instant coffee belonged to them if they were open to paying the city royalties on the song. ''We won't be greedy if 10% of the Spotify sales can come our way. We won't mention our early inventions around watches and chocolate as well.'' The Swiss Embassy declined to comment on the erroneous claim. - By Toni McDonald