Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Arbuckles: The Coffee That Woke the West




If you depend on a morning cup of coffee to get the old blood flowing, you can thank a bunch of frolicking goats.  According to legend, coffee was discovered more than a thousand years ago by a sleepy-eyed goat herder who noticed that a certain berry gave his goats insomnia. After making himself a berry brew–and spending the night dancing with goats–he named the concoction Kahwa, the Arab name for wine.

Though coffee became the drink of choice for rebels after the Boston Tea party, its appeal was limited.  Sold green, the chore of roasting beans baffled housewives and chuck wagon cooks alike.  According to one old timer, beans had to be clean-picked, placed single layer in a roasting pan and stirred constantly.  One burned bean would ruin the whole batch.  Once the beans were roasted, they quickly lost flavor and aroma.  The short shelf-life meant that roasted beans could be sold only in big cities.

John Arbuckle, a Philadelphia grocer, had an idea.  Why not coat the roasted beans with something to keep them from deteriorating?  He bought a roaster and got to work. He tried coating roasted beans with a glaze consisting of Irish moss, gelatin, isinglass, white sugar and eggs and it worked.  Eventually, this glaze was simplified to only white sugar and eggs.  This coating allowed him to ship roasted beans all over the country.

Not only did John Arbuckle solve the roasted bean problem, he pretty much invented the whole concept of marketing.   He was the first to use premiums to encourage the sale of coffee.  A peppermint candy was included in each one pound bag.  “Who wants the peppermint?” was a familiar cry around chuck wagons. 
This call to grind the coffee beans got a rash of volunteers.  No rough and tumble cowboy worth his salt would turn down peppermint candy.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Arbuckle next came up with a voucher plan. He printed a coupon bearing his signature on each package. A given number of coupons would earn the bearer one of a hundred items available in the Arbuckles’ catalog– the wish book of its day.  Items included everything from a toothbrush to a double-action revolver.  A young man could even order a golden wedding ring for his lady love.

Claiming to mail out 80,000 rings a year, Arbuckles became known at the biggest distributor of rings in the world.

Not only was the coffee a life saver to those early westerners, so was the packaging. Coffee was shipped in sturdy Maine fir crates, 100 one-pound bags to the lot.  The crates were used to make furniture, coffins and cradles.  The Navajo Indians even used the wood to make hogans, and the trademark flying angel that emblazoned each package of coffee adorned many a western Christmas tree.

The next time you brew a pot of coffee, just think:  all this happened because a bunch of caffeinated animals got one man’s goat. 


With more than thirty books to her credit, Margaret Brownley is a N.Y. Times bestselling author and was a Romance Writers of American RITA finalist.   Gunpowder Tea (Brides of Last Chance Ranch) will be published in October.  Margaret also has stories in A Bride for All  Seasons, A Pioneer Christmas and A Log Cabin  Christmas collections.  Not bad for someone who flunked eighth grade English.  Just don't ask her to diagram a sentence!

16 comments:

  1. I love this story! I was reading it as I was sipping my morning coffee! :) Too bad they didn't have the coupon program in coffee anymore! :)
    ~Joanna

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    1. Joanna, I know what you mean. Do you remember the blue chip and green stamp days. I sure do miss those!

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  2. Who knew??? Raising my cup of Kahwa to you, Margaret! :)

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    1. Who knew indeed? I know this seems odd, but I'm actually drinking tea this morning in honor of the new prince.

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  3. Ohhhh, that last line, Margaret!!! That's bad! lol

    Interesting post, though - lots of information I'd never heard. Thanks for waking me up this morning! (see, even a post ABOUT coffee can wake a person up!) ;)

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    1. Oh, and I just realized as I was summarizing this history for my family, that the grocer who came up with the coating for coffee beans shares a name with a favorite cartoon character - Garfield's owner, John Arbuckle! :D Wonder if that choice of names was deliberate?

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    2. Bethany, I forgot about Garfield's owner. Arbuckle is such a wonderful name; maybe he just liked the sound of it.

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  4. Love the article even though I don't drink coffee. I'm a serious tea drinker but I'm also a Philadelphia native so I enjoyed the info about Arbuckle. I never knew... Plus I'm writing a couple of westerns right now so I am inspired to research more about Arbuckle and coffee in the early west. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I like tea, too. I drink coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon. By the way, my September release is titled Gunpowder Tea. So what does that tell you?

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  5. Margaret, what an interesting post! I love learning about how we began the habits that are so much a part of our lives.

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    1. Marilyn, it's fun to learn about how we got to be who we are today. That's what this site is all about!

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  6. Marlene, thank you. Good luck with your research!

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  7. I love coffee every, every morning. I love my Keurig! The stronger the coffee, the better. Thanks for the history on coffee. sharon, CA

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  8. Wow, who knew, indeed!! I love my flavored coffee/lattes and now I will go find a goat and thank him. :)

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  9. Margaret,
    I can't wait to order "Gunpowder Tea" for my High School daughters. The cover looks so enticing, like a steaming mug of tea!

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  10. I will never look at coffee beans the same knowing what life would be like had Mr Arbuckle not been brilliant and changed coffee as we know it. I'd sure be hurting since I can pretty much mess up boiling water! Thanks for a great post!

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