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Cowboy Coffee

A long, long time ago, before there was latte, cappuccino, or even espresso, hobos, mendicant evangelists, sheep herders, and cowboys used to take their coffee al fresco, sometimes in the pouring rain or driven snow; occasionally on horseback or riding the rails. This brew came unadorned by the gift of the cow because cows, bless them, are disinclined to be milked in the great outdoors, never mind following humans on their peripatetic rounds. Whether or not one actually was a cowboy, this arcane brew was universally known as ‘cowboy coffee.’

            Cowboy coffee is traditionally prepared by boiling water in a blue porcelainized coffee pot over a campfire. One adds a handful or two of ground coffee beans to a pot of water and heats the combination to a rolling boil. As soon as you can touch the pot, fresh coffee may be poured into tin cups and slurped reverently. Inevitably there are grounds in one’s coffee, but custom dictates that these may be strained thru the moustache or simply spat out after swallowing the hot coffee. Some, more fastidious connoisseurs put the fresh coffee grounds in a knotted sock before placing them in the coffee pot. This has the added virtue of laundering one of your socks but is considered fey by the true cowboy.

            Nescafe killed cowboy coffee.  Nescafe, the first commercially successful instant product, was introduced in 1938 and its consumption by soldiers during WWII cemented its place in the hearts of weary travellers.  Today one seldom sees true cowboy coffee except cupped in the hands of an old bindlestiff too proud of his brew to be seen near a Starbucks. And, truth be told, that road warrior is probably drinking Nescafe too.