Soluble Coffee Sticks

3-in-1 coffee, or coffee mix, is coffee reduced to a single step: instant coffee, powdered creamer and sugar, measured into one paper stick. You tip it into a cup, add hot water and stir, and you have a sweet, milky coffee. It began in South Korea in 1976, when Dongsuh Foods combined instant coffee and sugar with its own powdered creamer, and it went on to become a fixture of Korean homes and offices. Here’s what it is and how to make it.

The short version

• Instant coffee, creamer and sugar in one stick.
• Add hot water, as the pack says, and stir.
• First made in Korea in 1976, by Dongsuh Foods.
• Cheap, fast and consistent.
• Sweet and milky: not one for black-coffee drinkers.

What’s in a coffee mix stick?

Three things, in set proportions:

• Instant coffee, usually spray-dried or freeze-dried.
• Powdered creamer: Dongsuh’s original, Prima, was made with palm oil.
• Sugar.

Because everything’s measured, every cup tastes the same, which is a big part of its appeal.

How do you make it?

1. Tear open the stick and tip it into a cup.
2. Add hot water, using the amount on the pack.
3. Stir until it dissolves.
4. Drink it hot, or pour it over ice.

Too much water makes it thin and less sweet, so start with the pack’s amount.

A short history of coffee mix

• 1976: Dongsuh Foods launches what’s usually credited as the first three-in-one coffee mix, combining instant coffee and sugar with its powdered creamer, Prima. The Korea Times calls the first product Maxwell House Coffee Mix, sold in pouch-type packets.
• 1989: Dongsuh introduces Maxim Mocha Gold, which later moved from pouches to sticks, giving people more control over the sugar.
• 1997 onwards: after the Asian financial crisis, coffee mix becomes an office staple in Korea, and Dongsuh says Korea became the world’s biggest consumer of instant coffee in that period.
• 2009: The Korea Times reports that Dongsuh’s coffee mixes hold about 80% of the Korean market.
• Today: Maxim Mocha Gold sold 5.3 billion sticks in 2025, according to The Korea Times, and coffee mix is sold across Asia and beyond. In Korea itself, ready-to-drink “convenience store coffee” now has the largest share of the coffee market, says the Korean Cultural Center.

Why is it so popular?

It’s cheap: a Dongsuh spokesperson told The Korea Times that people could have a cup for about 100 won. It’s fast, needing only hot water, and it’s consistent. In offices, a box of sticks and a hot water dispenser serve everyone.

Coffee mix vs other convenience coffee

	3-in-1 coffee mix	Instant coffee	Canned coffee
Contains	Coffee, creamer and sugar	Coffee only	Coffee, often milk and sugar
You add	Hot water	Hot water, milk, sugar	Nothing
Taste	Sweet and milky	As you make it	Varies

General guidance only. Coffee mix contains sugar and creamer as well as caffeine, so check the pack if you’re watching any of them, and take care with hot water.

Coffee mix vs other methods

• Spray-dried instant: the coffee in most mixes, and its history.
• Freeze-dried instant: premium instant granules.
• Japanese canned coffee: ready-to-drink coffee from vending machines.
• Camp Coffee: the British coffee and chicory essence.

Explore every industrial method in the instant and industrial chapter.