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. In 1865 John Arbuckle and his brother Charles, partners in a Pittsburg 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 the aroma. Marketed under the name ARBUCKLES' ARIOSA COFFEE, in patented, air tight, one pound packages, the coffee was an instant success with chuckwagon cooks in the West faced with the task of keeping cowboys supplied with plenty of hot coffee out on the range. Each
package of Arbuckles' contained a stick of peppermint candy which became a means by which that 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. Today, thanks to the folks at Arbuckles' the cowboys' favorite is available once more. The one pound packages of rich beans are every inch the full-bodied, aromatic coffee you'd expect from the likes of Arbuckles'. There's even a piece of peppermint inside. No longer just a fond memory for a dwindling breed of old-time cowmen, ARBUCKLES' ARIOSA COFFEE is back and as good as ever!
