Häagen-Dazs began as a family business run by Reuben Mattus, his mother, and his uncle, where the trio made and sold lemon-flavored Italian ice until 1960.

Faced with a lack of customers, Mattus renamed the business Häagen-Dazs and decided to sell higher quality ice cream in three flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and coffee.

During the '60s, most ice cream companies served traditional and reliable chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors. Selling a coffee flavor was a calculated risk.

Although not popular in America, coffee ice cream had been around since the late 1600s in Italy, and it was the most common flavor next to chocolate.

While Häagen-Dazs is an American brand, founder Reuben Mattus created a name that sounded foreign to intrigue customers and to sell "import quality" ice cream for a higher price.

Because of this marketing strategy, it's most likely that Mattus went with coffee as one of Häagen-Dazs' first flavors because it was synonymous with European ice cream culture.