THE COFFEE THAT WON
THE WEST
Some years back I was deeply engrossed in reading a
number of cowboy memoirs of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, doing research for the
historical western romance I was writing. I was amused to discover the
number of everyday products the men mentioned consistently, some of which have
now gone from the shelves. There was Sapolio soap powder, Eagle Brand
milk (still going strong) and, as any western historian will know, Arbuckles’
for coffee. Ike Blasingame, in his Dakota Cowboy, (University of Nebraska Press,
1958) gives Arbuckles’ more than a passing mention; he describes
the chuck wagon and “A flat-sided coffee grinder was bolted to the side of the
wagon, handy to reach, for in those days our coffee was made from freshly
ground coffee beans. Most all outfits used the famous Arbuckle
brand. It came in huge burlap bags holding one hundred one-pound packages
of whole beans which were ground in the mill as needed. I remember the
stick of candy in each package, as well as a coupon, good for dozens of
premiums—handkerchiefs, lace curtains, shears, Torrey razors, and jewelry of
all descriptions, including wedding rings.”
So, what’s the story behind the “Coffee That Won the
West” and what’s become of it?
Right up through the Civil War, coffee was primarily
sold ‘green’ and had to be roasted by the consumer. On the range,
this was done in a skillet over the campfire or, at home, in a wood burning stove, and it had to be done
in small batches: while green coffee beans could be stored indefinitely,
roasted beans were subject to oxidation, leaving the beans rancid within a
couple of weeks. Furthermore, such individual roasting made for
inconsistency, and one burnt bean could ruin an entire batch. Beans sold by
grocers pre-roasted were subject to not only this inconsistency but also to
mixed quality, and to the vagaries of the grocers’ scales.
The family grocery business of Arbuckles’ was
established in Pittsburgh in 1859. John Arbuckle dropped out of college
to join the firm, which later, in 1865, included his brother Charles. His first
innovation was to pack roasted coffee beans in 1-lb. packages, ready for the
customer. In 1871, the Arbuckles Bros. Co. was formed, and moved to New
York. John Arbuckle then went on to invent an egg and sugar glaze that
“closes the pores of the coffee, and thereby all the original strength and
aroma are retained.” (From the back of an Arbuckles’ trade card, circa 1890s).
Packed in l lb. packages, the coffee was an instant hit and Arbuckles’ Ariosa
Coffee was born. By the 1880s, Arbuckles’ was the largest coffee importer
in the world.
Part of their success was due to their marketing
innovations. The bags of coffee were packed in sturdy crates, which
eventually found their use in grocery store shelving and other impromptu uses
such as repairing homes for the Navajo in AZ. Now collectible, one crate
that survived intact recently sold at auction for $300. The bags
themselves had an attractive, bright red and yellow label, and contained a peppermint
stick; this proved to be a means by which Cookie could bribe cowboys to grind
the beans. Arbuckles’ was also the first, in 1873, to advertise coffee on
a full color handbill. And best promotions of all were the coupons, as
Ike Blasingame mentions above, along with trade cards. The trade cards
were works of art in themselves, and the different series included all the US
states, countries of the world, humorous sketches, patriotic scenes, and maps.
The reverse side could be anything from an ordinary postcard
backing to advertising slogans, recipes or a picture of the factory as
above. Now collectors’ items, they are often available on eBay, and a
cookbook of the recipes has also been released.
While the Arbuckle Bros. diversified into other areas of
commerce, including sugar refining, and owned a ranch in WY as well, it was as
coffee magnates that they were primarily known. When 20th Century
improvements in packaging made the glazing of beans unnecessary, the company
continued to blend premium coffees. John Arbuckle developed a ‘Yuletide’
blend that was eventually marketed as Yuban, now owned by Kraft Foods.
Sometime after John Arbuckle’s passing in 1912, the company was sold on to C.W.
Post of cereal fame, eventually becoming part of General Foods.
But the Arbuckles’ story doesn’t end there. In
1974, Pat and Denney Willis decided to start a company in order to provide
their restaurants with coffee of a consistently good quality. They took
on a salesman named Ken Arbuckle who claimed to be descended from the Arbuckle
Brothers—and so Arbuckles’ Ariosa Coffee was resurrected. Now located in
Tucson, it still comes with a peppermint stick inside the bright red and yellow
1 lb. packages, and cowboys today can still say ‘they ain’t worth shootin’ ‘til
they’ve had their Arbuckles’.
To read more about my coffee-drinking cowboys, please
visit me at:
Twitter: @andidowning
https://twitter.com/AndiDowning
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