Caro is a brand of
roasted grain drink, a
caffeine-free
coffee substitute made of roasted
barley,
malt
Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.
Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...
ed barley,
chicory, and
rye
Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...
. It is manufactured by
Nestlé and was first introduced in
West Germany in 1954. It is available throughout
Europe as well as other markets including
New Zealand and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. It is imported to the
United States under the name Pero and sold in Spain as Eko.
Caro is available as an instant powder or as Caro Extra in granulated form. The name "Caro" references the German word "Karo", the term for the diamonds
playing card suit, as seen in stylized form in the product logos used in Germany and the United States, and in the Spanish product until the early 2000 when the branding was restyled.
History
The company's history goes back to the time of
Frederick II, who imposed high taxes on coffee beans. The company's founder, Johann Heinrich Franck, found a coffee alternative in chicory, which was mixed with grain and roasted. In 1828 production started in Vaihingen an der Enz and in 1868 it was relocated to Ludwigsburg because of the better transport connections.
The brewable Linde's grain coffee, which is still colloquially called Muckefuck in parts of Germany, comes from the same house. With this, however, the war and post-war period was associated A new brand name was therefore sought for the soluble substitute coffee in 1954 and formed from components of the word coffee substitute extract (with a C instead of the introductory K): Caro.
In 2012, 114 employees were employed in the Ludwigsburg plant, producing around 8,000 tons of Caro coffee, Kathreiner malt coffee and Linde's grain coffee.
For the brand, long-standing signature music in advertising was a textually rewritten version of the song I like by
Volker Lechtenbrink, who also interpreted the advertising song.
In June 2018, Nestlé announced that it would close the Ludwigsburg plant at the end of 2018 and relocate production to Portugal.
Nutritional information
See also
*
Barleycup
*
Inka (beverage)
*
List of barley-based drinks
*
Postum
References
External links
*Michael Müller
''Es duftet – Caro lüftet den Kaffeedeckel'' Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung, 2012-9-27 (German)
{{coffee, nocat=1
Barley-based drinks
Drink brands
Coffee substitutes
Nestlé brands