“The entire strength and aromare retained by process of glazing coffee.” —Arbuckle advertisement
Do you consider yourself a tea aficionado or do you love your morning coffee? I so enjoy the aroma of coffee, but have never liked drinking it. On the other hand, I enjoy tea both hot or iced. My favorite is Bigelow decaf Earl Grey which I enjoy every day of my life.
My friend of 21 years Marilyn sent me an article about Arbuckles’ Original Cowboy Coffee thinking it would make for a delightful article in The Voice. She was right. So for your reading pleasure, here is the history of the cowboy coffee.
After the Civil War, John and Charles Arbuckle of Pittsburgh, were partners in a grocery business. They glazed green coffee beans with a mixture of egg and sugar to seal in the flavor and roasted the beans, then sold it in convenient one-pound bags, sealed to ensure freshness.
Prior to their idea, shoppers purchased green coffee beans, roasted them in a skillet over a fire or in a wood stove and ground them up for brewing. The coffee was only as good as the cook and one burned bean cold ruin the entire batch.
Chuckwagon cooks would set a coffee pot on the fire and grind the beans while the water was heated to a boil. Enough coffee was put into the hot water to make the beverage strong enough to put hair on a man’s chest. After the coffee had brewed they would break an egg over the top. The egg would spread out over the surface and boiled, then it would sink to the bottom of the pot, take the grounds with it.
Arbuckles’ Ariosa Blend Coffee became so popular in the Old West that cowboys would ask for “a cup of Arbuckles” as if there was no other coffee worth mentioning.
The brothers’ roasting methods and their packaging processes were patented. Each bag contained a stick of peppermint candy which enterprising cooks used to bribe volunteers to grind the coffee. Each package had coupons printed on it which could be redeemed for everything from handkerchiefs and razors to scissors or wedding rings. By the 1880s the Arbuckle brothers were roasting more than 800,000 pounds of coffee a day.
Early advertisement cards were include in each bag of coffee and friend Marilyn has one dated 1890. Each card had a perfect map of a state or country with a description on the back. The great great grandmother, Meta Behnke Lechtenburg, who was born in 1867, saved those cards and Marilyn came into possession of them. She has 58 cards, each one in its own sleeve and in an archival box.
The Arbuckle Coffee is available on Amazon now. It is 100% Arabica coffee, certified, clean, rain forest alliance, soured from Guatemala, Colombia and El Salvador and sells for $14.99 for a 12 oz. package. It has distinct notes of cinnamon, plum, and orange with a cocoa hazelnut finish. “Better Coffee. Better you,” relays their advertisement online.