Coffee Brands

[KentuckyReb]

Morning, all.

Going over the contents of my haversack, getting ready for the 'season'. Had a question regarding the kinds of coffee available at the time, for those few occasions when this particular Confederate might have gotten his hands on a little of 'the real bean'. I've got some roasted whole-bean in a little poke bag--can't think of the brand at the moment--probably Folger's or some such. I was wondering if there's a modern company that was extant and sufficiently productive for its product to be found in the average WBTS haversack. This Arbuckle's Coffee...I see them advertising themselves as the 'original cowboy coffee' or something like that to the SASS folks, and I can recall seeing Arbuckle's cans in photographs 'on the range' during the late 1800's. Were they around and supplying large-scale during our period of history? If not, then are there any modern companies that were?

[theknapsack]

Re: Coffee brands

8 o'Clock coffee has been around since 1859 and would have been available to some larger cities. An old Mudsill got me on drinking it. Thats a good option, but I am going to have to do some more reasearch now as to other companies as such. Will post later.

[KentuckyReb]

Re: Coffee brands

Hm. Arbuckle's was a bust. Established in the late 1870s. Folger's has the right timing, 1850, but it was on the West Coast. Ditto for MJB, but it was in the 1880s. Maxwell House is post-war too--which surprised me a little. Apparently that story about US Grant and the Maxwell House Hotel's coffee was either apocryphal or it occurred after the war. I find quite a few period brands, but they all appear to be defunct. Ah well. The search continues. Come to think of it though, wasn't the process usually that government agents bought coffee from wholesalers either overseas or on the market, maybe even on the docks, and it became government property, thus coming to the soldiers from 'Uncle Sam, Inc.'? I know there was still a civilian supply, much less in the South of course, but perhaps the retail companies like Old Dutch Java, 8 O'Clock, etc. just handled the civilian market rather than contracting to the government. Thanks for the help, though.

[celtfiddler]

Re: Coffee brands

One reference I have lists Chase & Sandborn coffee as being established in 1862. A quick search on Yahoo showed that it is still available (it came up under a listing of Nestle coffee products).

Hope this helps,

Kimberly Schwatka

[Hank Trent]

Re: Coffee brands

One thing I'm not sure about... Are you looking for a period label to reproduce, or are you expecting the coffee itself to be the same as it was in the period because the company was in business then?

If it's the former, you could also consider brands that are no longer in existence, if you can find their labels from the period. Also, the power of brand names wasn't as great in the 1860s as today--you could often just buy "coffee" or "flour" or whatever, scooped out in bulk at the store, without it necessarily being packaged from a particular company.

If you're looking for coffee itself that would be appropriate to the period, I'd suggest going the other way, and starting by researching period varieties, then seeing who sells the closest approximation today. It's the obvious way to do it for everything else in reenacting--a Brooks Brothers suit coat isn't going to be more accurate for the 1860s than a Corner Clothiers suit coat, even though Brooks Brothers were in business in the 1860s and Corner Clothiers weren't. And it's true for food products as well. The companies that are still in business 140 years later may be the most adaptable and have changed to fit modern tastes and get lower wholesale prices, while those who kept doing the same thing went out of business. The only way to know for sure is to reseach the product itself.

Also, if you're wanting ground coffee, it was widely adulterated with chicory and other cheap substitutes in the period, while more stringent food and drug laws make it purer today, so any ground coffee made by a modern company could be made more typical for the period by adding chicory, unless you're absolutely positive the particular coffee you're reproducing was pure in the period.

Coffee is not something I've researched much, so I don't know how the period varieties fit with modern ones, but here are a few snippets.

The best coffee is the Mocha, the next is the Java, and closely approximating is the Jamaica and Berbice. (Domestic and Rural Affairs. Ed. by E. G. Storke, 1859.)

While good Rio coffee sells at 10 1/4 a 11 3/4 cts., and Java at 14 1/2 cts., chicory, roasted and ground, sells at 4 and 5 cts., and in its green and dried state sells at 1 and 2 cts. per pound. Hence the inducement for the perpetration of the fraud on such an immense scale. It has reached such a pitch that we doubt whether there is a coffee roaster or grinder in New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, that does not sell more or less ground coffee mixed with chicory... (The Coffee Trade--Its Production and Consumption, Debow's Review, Sept. 1857)

The character of coffee varies considerably with the climate and mode of culture. Consequently, several varieties exist in commerce, named usually from the sources from which they are derived. The Mocha coffee, which is in small and roundish grains, takes precedence of all others. The Java coffee is highly esteemed in this country; but our chief supplies are derived from the West Indies and South America. Some good coffee has been brought from Liberia. Coffee improves by age, losing a portion of its strength, and thus acquiring a more agreeable flavour. It is said to be much better when allowed to become perfectly ripe upon the tree, than as ordinarily colllected. The grains should be hard, and so heavy as readily to sink in water. (U.S. Dispensatory, 1851)

The varieties offered for sale in our market are: First, Mocha, which is distinguished by the smallness of its seed, and its bright yellow color; it is the most valuabl. Second, Java and Ceylon, or East Indian, of a pure yellow tint, large size, and next in value to the Mocha. Third, Maracaibo, La Guayra, or West Indian, of intermediate size and a greenish grey, or bluish grey color, and of the least value. So long as the seed is not roasted, there is but little difficulty in distinguishing between these three classes, and even after roasting, the aroma will enable an adept to determine with considerable accuracy between them; but if a small portion of Mocha is ground up with the inferior kinds it is very difficult to determine the sophistication, though there are some who can detect it whe the solution is made. Not only are there inferior varieties, but seeds of any variety may themselves be inferior; such may be distinguished by the fact that those of good quality are hard, and so heavy that they sinkat once when thrown on water; they have a faint coffee-like odor, are free from any smell of dampness or mouldiness, and possess a sweetish taste. When the seeds have not been properly cured, or where they have been subjected to the action of water during transportation by sea or land, these qualities are lost in a greater or less degree; and the opposite conditions prevail.... The foreign substances used in the adulteration of coffee are very numerous, but that generally employed is chiccory, succory, or wild endive... (Coffee and Its Adulteration in New York, John C. Draper, The Galaxy, February 1869)

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Coffee brands

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, 1859

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Coffee brands

You should look into finding a source for green (unroasted) coffee beans, as that is how coffee was typicaly issued.

[KentuckyReb]

Re: Coffee brands

The more I thought about it today, I turned out pretty well following you guys' line of thinking. Yes, what I was thinking was to find a company that was a supplier during the war, then I realized, like Hank says, that their blends, processes, etc. may very well have changed. I also realized that when your average Doe, John T. got issued coffee, regardless of the source, by the time it got to him it was just Brand Z Coffee, drink it or leave it, soldier, you're holdin' up the line. So I'll go with bean of a variety I find to be commonly encountered at the time, just in the little poke sack I pack it around in now. I will try to get some green...that would be even better. Now if somebody could just tell me how many pounds of powder it takes to blast a spoonful of sugar off one of them brown cones... :D Thanks again, guys.

[den.bolda]

Re: Coffee brands

Has anyone requested and digitized this file of coffee product labels from the LOC?

https://www.loc.gov/item/2002696096/

Thanks,
Den Bolda

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Coffee brands

Just don't use any from John K. Stetler. He got five years in Albany for trying to foist adulterated prime, roasted, and ground Rio on the Army...

https://books.google.com/books?id=9zkbAAAAYAAJ&dq=roast%20ground%20rio%20intitle%3Ageneral%20intitle%3Aorders&pg=PA643#v=onepage&q=roast%20ground%20rio%20intitle:general%20intitle:orders&f=false

[Chaplain Roger]

Re: Coffee brands

Right on the money. 8 O'Clock is about the best mass produced coffee out there. Their whole bean is great, and it's not over priced either. Drinking it right now as I'm writing this!

[ezra parker]

Re: Coffee brands

8' oclock is my coffee of choice. I did some digging at one point and found that is not the brand name used at the time. Let me see if i can dig it up

- - - Updated - - -

"The forerunner of A&P was founded in the 1850s as Gilman & Company by George Gilman (1826–1901) to continue his father's leather tanning business; in 1858 the firm's address was 98 Gold Street in Manhattan. Gilman's father died in 1859, leaving the son wealthy. That year, Gilman & Company entered the tea and coffee business from that storefront. One source speculates that Gilman decided to enter a more respectable business in light of his wealth. In May 1861, Gilman turned over the tanning business to his brother Winthrop; George moved his tea business to 129 Front Street. Initially, Gilman & Company was a wholesaler. In early 1863 the firm became a retailer, Great American Tea Company. Quickly, it opened five stores, moving its office and warehouse to 51 Vesey Street.[18]

Gilman proved to be a master at promotion; the business quickly expanded by advertising low prices. The firm was able to offer low prices by acting as both the wholesaler and retailer. Gilman also built a nationwide mail order business. By 1866, the firm was valued at more than $1 million. In 1869, the transcontinental railroad was completed; Gilman created a parallel company, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, to promote the then-new concept of prepackaged tea under the Thea-Nector name. The tea company continued to use the Great American name for mail-order purposes. In 1871, A&P introduced another concept when it offered premiums, such as lithographs, china, and glassware with the purchase of coffee and/or tea at its stores. These premiums are now collectibles.[19]"

When A&P was founded, there were no branded food products, and retailers sold food commodities in bulk. In 1870, the company became among the first to sell a branded pre-packaged food product, introducing "Thea-Necter" brand tea. In 1885, the name "A&P" was introduced on baking powder containers. Also in the 1880s, the company adopted the name "Eight-O'Clock" for its coffee. When A&P moved its headquarters to Jersey City, New Jersey in 1907, it included a bakery and coffee-roasting operation.[78]

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Coffee Brands

Here's a discussion about the types of coffee available for procurement and their relative advantages and disadvantages. "Rio" was favored and, as the Stetler court martial indicates, by mid-war the army was buying huge quantities already roasted and ground. https://books.google.com/books?id=c5...coffee&f=false

[ccastellani]

Re: Coffee Brands

So.... a Starbucks mocha skim double whipped chai grande skippity-do-da coffee wouldn't go over too well at an event?