“Coffee should not be ground until the coffee-pot is ready to receive it. Coffee will lose more of its strength and aroma, in one hour after being ground, than in six months before being ground.”
Source: 1800's Arbuckle’s Brothers Trade Card Advertisement
Green Coffee Beans Get Roasted
Before 1865 green coffee beans were sold in mercantile stores since roasted coffee beans after exposure to air soon became stale or rancid. Users had to roast the green coffee beans in a skillet on a cook stove or over a campfire before they could be ground and suitable for brewing coffee. The downside was that the coffee beans were easily burned in the process and even one burned bean would taint the whole batch.
That all changed when John Arbuckle and his younger brother Charles, operators of a mercantile store in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, through experimentation perfected and patented a new method of sealing in the freshness of roasted coffee beans using an egg-sugar based glaze. The method did not impair the flavor of the coffee but instead resulted in a fresh, dependably uniform and consistently good and flavorful coffee.
The Arbuckles marketed their roasted coffee beans in the soon to become familiar paper one pound paper bags with a yellow label that with their name “Arbuckle’s” printed in red above their “flying angel” trademark and “Ariosa (air-ee-o-sa) Coffee” printed in black beneath the trademark.
The one pound bags were sold one hundred to a sturdy wooden crate allowing cowboys on the trail or remote ranges to purchase a month’s supply and still enjoy a strong, flavorful brew each time. As a marketing strategy, the brothers placed a peppermint candy stick premium in every package. The candy, an infrequently enjoyed luxury in those days, was as legend has it, used by many a chuck wagon cook to entice cowboys to take their turn on the coffee grinding mill.
The business grew rapidly and in 1871, Arbuckle’s Coffee relocated to New York City. Arbuckle’s was the dominant brand of coffee in the United States for many years. In the 1880s, the Arbuckles were the largest coffee importer in the world. Following the death of the Arbuckle brothers, Arbuckle’s Ariosa Coffee eventually faded into history.
Ariosa Re-born as a Gourmet Coffee
Thanks to Arbuckle Coffee Roasters, an Arizona based coffee roaster, the traditions established by John and Charles Arbuckle continue today and Ariosa coffee is back, no longer consigned to history as the favored brew of choice of a dying breed, the American Cowboy. The flavorful Ariosa blend can be purchased today as a gourmet blend at the business in Tucson or can be ordered from their website for delivery by FedEx.
So pardners fill those coffee mugs with a bit of history and try the coffee that according to legend, won the West.
Reference:
"Letters Patent No. 73,486: John Arbucle, Jr." Old Coffee Roasters.com. Web. 12 Jan. 2010.
Larry Darter - Larry Darter is a freelance writer and published author with three books to his credit. He is a graduate of the Univ. of Central ...
