COWBOY COFFEE - THE PONY ESPRESSO, PART TWO

 By Bennett Owen

Photo courtesy of J. Stephen Conn

Now here’s a recipe, time tried and true
For chuck wagon coffee, a buckaroo’s brew
Add water and coffee in equal parts
Then set on a fire, that’s how the deal starts
Boil hard for two hours then into it toss
A well-rusted horseshoe from a clubfooted hoss
Stare into the pot a few minutes steady
If the horseshoe ain’t floatin’ your coffee ain’t ready

Kathy Lee  (Thank you, whoever you are!)

© From the collection of Gordon Berry

OK, part one was the history lesson, now here’s the “how to.”  First up, the Colorado Cattle Company:

And here’s another one from the icon of cowboy coffee, Arbuckles’.  Make a pot of coffee and clean your socks at the same time! Mmmmm, Good:

Photo courtesy of the Utah Historical Society

Neither of the above recipes mentioned the infamous eggshell and yet many cowboy brewers swear by this ingredient. Some say it’s to settle the grounds, while others will tell you it’s to take the bitter edge off.  Well, here’s the definitive answer by none other than author John Steinbeck:

“I went into my house and set coffee to cooking, and remembering how Roark Bradford liked it, I doubled the dosage, two heaping tablespoons for each cup and two heaping for the pot. I cracked an egg and cupped out the yolk and dropped shells and white into the pot, for I know nothing that polishes coffee and makes it shine like that.

The air was still very cold, and a cold night was coming, so that the brew, rising from cold water to a rolling boil, gave the good smell that competes successfully with other good smells.”

John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley         

That’s not a recipe for coffee. That’s a recipe for happiness.

President Roosevelt's cowboy breakfast at Hugo, Colorado. Library of Congress

This song is by ‘The Arbuckle Boys’ from Texas…give it a listen and you’ll see why.  The video is chock full of gorgeous images and well worth the three minutes:

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

Cowboy Coffee – The Pony Espresso

by Bennett Owen

The West wasn’t won by tea drinkers.

Photo courtesy of Library of Congress.

It was the winter of 1863-4, one of the most brutal ever recorded in what is now Montana. In the gold rush town of Bannack, about one thousand miners, many with significant “pokes” were snowed in, running short of supplies. William A. Clark, who would later become one of America’s richest Robber Barons, seized an opportunity that was truly golden. He braved road agents, Indians and the elements, making his way to Salt Lake City, 400 miles to the south. And several weeks later he returned with a wagon stocked full of …food? Grain? Victuals? Surely you jest! A shrewd judge of his customers, Clark’s wagon was laden with booze, tobacco and…coffee (merchandise one naturally associates with Salt Lake).

"Bannack, Montana. A gold miner, one of few remaining residents of Bannack when it was the capitol of the state." Photograph by John Vachon. Image courtesy of Library of Congress.

Our resident expert, Cowgirl on Coffee, notes that cowhands used to drink coffee fresher than we enjoy today, since the chuck wagon cooks used green coffee beans roasted in a frying pan over a campfire. 

But in 1865, Pittsburgh grocer John Arbuckle and his brother came up with a process of glazing roasted beans so they’d keep their flavor…and soon cowboys at campfires across the west wouldn’t mount up until after they’d had their cup of  “Arbuckles.”  

Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com

The precious commodity was shipped in big wooden crates. Each package of Arbuckles contained a peppermint stick so whenever the cook needed the coffee beans ground, they’d call out, “who wants the candy?” and some cowboy with a sweet tooth would come a runnin’.

As for taste, the final product was considered strong enough if you could float a horseshoe on it. Stage Coach stations were notorious for selling “clear coffee” … an indicator that the grounds had been used one time too many.

Arbuckles is still in business and, yes, each package still contains a stick of peppermint.

Cowboy Coffee is not rocket science but there ARE several intriguing variations on the theme that we’ll introduce next week, and we will attempt to answer once and for all that vexing question of the ages…WHAT ARE THE DAMNED EGGSHELLS FOR?

Image courtesy of CowboyActionTown.com

In the meantime, here’s a version of Winchester 73, with just the coffee scenes spliced together. It’s nearly 12 minutes long!  Starring James Stewart and…in a supporting role…Rock Hudson, playing “Young Bull.”