|
Up until the close of the Civil War, coffee was sold green. It had to be roasted on a wood stove or in a skillet over a campfire before it could be ground and brewed. One burned bean ruined all; there was no consistency. In 1865, John Arbuckle and his brother Charles, partners in a Pittsburgh grocery business, changed all this by patenting a process for roasting and coating coffee beans with an egg and sugar glaze to seal in the flavor and aroma.
|
|
|
Traditional Coffee Packaging
Marketed under the name ARBUCKLES' ARIOSA COFFEE®, in patented, airtight, one pound packages. The new coffee was an instant success. Chuck wagon cooks in the west were faced with the task of keeping cowboys supplied with plenty of hot coffee out on the range. ARBUCKLES' ARIOSA (air-ee-o-sa) COFFEE® packages bore a yellow label with the name ARBUCKLES' in large red letters across the front, beneath which flew a Flying Angel trademark over the words ARIOSA COFFEE® in black letters. Shipped all over the country in sturdy wooden crates, one hundred packages to a crate, ARBUCKLES' ARIOSA COFFEE® became so dominant, particularly in the west, that many cowboys were not aware there was any other kind.
|
|
Calling All Cowboys!
Keen marketing minds, the Arbuckle Brothers printed signature coupons on the bags of coffee redeemable for all manner of notions including handkerchiefs, razors, scissors, and wedding rings. To sweeten the deal, each package of ARBUCKLES' contained a stick of peppermint candy. Due to the demands on chuck wagon cooks to keep a ready supply of hot ARBUCKLES' on hand around the campfire, the peppermint stick became a means by which the steady coffee supply was ground. Upon hearing the cook's call, "Who wants the candy?" some of the toughest Cowboys on the trail were known to vie for the opportunity of manning the coffee grinder in exchange for satisfying a sweet tooth.
|
|
|
|
|
