Cowboy-Style Coffee, Then and Now
by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Nowadays, I can't go without coffee. If Doc tells me to give it up, I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe go back to drinking tea. I used to drink tea, and was a reluctant convert to coffee because of convenience and socializing at various jobs. Never did give up coffee all the way, though. Back in the days when cowboy drovers were moving cattle from Texas to Kansas (just after the Civil War until the mid-1880s, mainly), the chuck wagon cook needed coffee to help keep the crew moving and happy — or closer to it, in that dangerous, dirty work. The Arbuckle brothers came up with a new way of processing and sealing the coffee , and it was an instant hit in the West. Since there weren't no stove handy most of the time, cowboys had their methods to make it, and it's still popular for people who are camping and so on. Good thing cowboys like to eat eggs... Here's a recipe from Camping With Gus , and more recipe information from American ...