It might be hard to pin down exactly who the first cowboy was that took along coffee out into the wilderness to do all of the things that cowboys did back in the wild west days, but one thing is for sure, they did not like to be out on the trail without it. They even had their own preferred blend made by someone named Arbuckle. This was after they had used the roasting green coffee beans in a skillet and then brewing them up. When the Arbuckle store in Pittsburgh developed a way to keep ground coffee fresher for longer periods of time, the cowboys wanted this kind because it saved them time and trouble.

They would brew their coffee up in a cooking pot or even a skillet if that was all they had. Luckily for them, they did figure out that if they wanted coffee made easier on an open fire, a coffee pot was a necessary item to pack in their gear. Before long any good cowboy out roaming had his coffee pot. No wagon train or cattle drive was without a coffee pot either. Perhaps sometimes being in the wilderness where real stores or even trading posts could be few and very far in between, it might have been a little hard to come by if they ran out.

The coffee we are accustomed to today is probably a lot more tasty than what they had back then. Not so much that the coffee itself was any different, but it might not have been ground as fine and sugar and cream was probably not readily available either. However, the Arbuckle brand did have a sugar and egg coating that gave it some sweetness. This is what was used to preserve the freshness for as long as possible.

It is doubtful that many of us today would be able to stomach the coffee that the old time cowboys brewed up. It was supposedly a lot stronger than what we prefer, unless you are an espresso drinker. We have become spoiled to the many flavors we can ad to our brew like chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and a wide variety of other things. We like special creamers and whipped toppings on our cup of Joe. Not having the coffee we are accustomed to might be just one more reason that some of us would never have made a very good cowboy.