Skip Starbucks: Try The Coffee Brand Cowboys Used To Drink Back In The Day

Long before a grande nonfat oat milk latte became the daily order of businesspeople at Starbuck's in cities across America, another coffee brand was the country's favorite. For decades, Arbuckles' Ariosa Coffee was the gold standard among cowboys — and the best-selling java in the United States. And it all started in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the 1860s, soon after the Civil War ended. 

Founded by brothers Charles and John Arbuckle, who came from a family of Scottish immigrants that ran a grocery store, the brand was a pioneer in the coffee industry. Its big breakthrough came in 1873, when the Arbuckles became the first to package and sell preroasted coffee beans. They used a mixture of egg whites and sugar as a preservative coating. This helped seal in the aroma and taste of the beans while giving the brewed coffee a smooth texture and sweetness. Prior to that time, consumers, coffee shops, and restaurants had to purchase coffee beans and roast them in a wood stove or in a skillet over an open flame before they could be ground and brewed. If they burned the beans, they'd ruin the batch. So the Arbuckle method was truly a game-changer. 

Cowboys enjoyed Arbuckles' Coffee out on the plains, prairies, and trails, as well as in saloons and restaurants. The brand's Ariosa variety was the one that started it all and reigned supreme during the days of the Wild West. 

The chuck wagon cooks charged with keeping cowboys well-fed and caffeinated throughout their long days loved Arbuckles' coffee, because it made their jobs easier. They didn't have to worry about roasting the beans first, which allowed them to brew the coffee faster and freed up some time to take care of other tasks. The prepacked, airtight bags arranged so efficiently in their containers (100 bags per crate) made it easier for the cooks to transport more coffee, too, a significant benefit with all the traveling they and the cowboys had to do. 

The cooks also appreciated that each bag came with a sweet peppermint stick, which they could frequently offer as an incentive to get the cowboys to grind the beans for them — a welcome reprieve when the demands of cooking were high. Arbuckles' became so popular among ranch hands, cattle drivers, and cooks in the North American west that many thought it was the only brand available. 

After John Arbuckle's death in 1912, the brand was sold and entered into a merger with Maxwell House, and the combined company was later acquired by General Foods. However, years later — long after Arbuckles' had stopped being sold — a restaurant owner, Denney T. Willis, discovered the Arbuckles' trademark had expired. He then registered it again himself and refreshed the brand, relaunching the original Ariosa coffee, a Central American medium roast with smoky and chocolatey notes. While there may be a couple of differences from the first incarnation, Willis took pride in learning as much as possible about Charles and John Arbuckle's roasting and packaging process so that he could closely replicate it, providing his customers with authentic cowboy coffee from a bygone era.

Today, Arbuckles' operates out of its roastery in Tucson, Arizona. You can buy its coffee by the bag at select retail locations, like Whole Foods in Tucson. You can also order it online on the brand's website. While the modern Arbuckles' has expanded its product line with more diverse offerings, it has stayed true to its cowboy coffee roots in other ways.

In addition to reviving the Ariosa blend that originally won the hearts and taste buds of those western laborers (and even bringing back the peppermint stick in each bag), the company offers an Ariosa Dark roast, as well as a Mexicali variety that combines coffee with chocolate, French vanilla, and cinnamon and has actually become the brand's top seller. Other options include a light roast called Plainsman, a smoky Sledgehammer blend with caramel notes and a syrupy consistency, and a breakfast blend with a chocolatey and nutty profile. 

Arbuckles' further diversifies its products with high-quality coffees from other countries as well as other regions of the North America, such as a fruity Mexican and Southwest American-inspired Sonoran Storm blend, a European Espresso Dark roast, a Compono that's a mix of dark espresso and light-roast coffees, and an Indonesian French Roast Sumatra. Additional varieties include Ethiopian and Costa Rican blends. The company also offers various flavored coffees like Hazelnut Cream, Raspberry Truffle, and Chocolate Lava Cake, catering to all different tastes and preferences.