By western author Nick Brumby

“Boil it for two hours, then throw in a hoss shoe. If the hoss shoe sinks, she ain’t ready.” — Camp cook wisdom about cowboy coffee

Stetson, saddle, spurs, blanket. Add in a bandanna and a devil-may-care attitude and any Old-West-era cowhand was ready to hit the trail for months of backbreaking labor driving cattle north from Texas.

But in fact, there was just one more thing. No self-respecting cowpuncher would even think of stirring from his bedroll in the freezing early hours if there weren’t endless cups of steaming hot cowboy coffee waiting for him.

A cowhand’s life was tough – spending months in the saddle, riding through rain, hail, snow or scorching heat, eating when they could, and sleeping with one eye open. It was a lifestyle that soon sorted greenhorn pretenders from the real deal.

However, they weren’t too proud to accept a little help from time to time. This mainly came in the form of endless cups of strong, black, cowboy coffee that offered much-needed energy during long days in the saddle, helped them stay warm during cold nights, got them on their feet after an all-too-short sleep, and generally fostered a sense of camaraderie around the campfire.

Cowboys weren’t the only frontiersmen to enjoy a cup of joe. Old West pioneer, Julia Brier, wrote, “Our coffee was a wonderful help and had that given out, I know we should have died.”

Chuckwagon cooks tried to keep plenty of hot coffee on hand for cowboys on break. In fact, the ‘biscuit roller’ prioritized quantity and strength over flavor. As True West notes, one ranch cook reported going through 175 pounds of coffee beans in a single month.

However, that’s not to say that the cookie didn’t try his darndest to make his coffee at least a little palatable. Coffee brewing wisdom was handed on by word of mouth. For example, when adding the coffee to the pot, the cook would typically let it boil for a few minutes. While this might seem to contradict modern coffee brewing practices, the extended boiling time helped to extract maximum flavor from the coarse grounds and create that signature cowboy coffee intensity.

Cowboys and camp cooks used various techniques to settle the grounds. Some would toss in a handful of cold water, which helped the grounds sink to the bottom of the pot. If available, others used an eggshell to attract the grounds. If all else failed some would simply let the coffee sit for a few minutes, allowing the grounds to settle naturally.

When camp cooks made coffee from a chuckwagon out on the range, its taste could vary. If the water was extremely hard, they might add a dash of salt. If the water was heavy with gypsum, they might break an egg in the pot to dull the acidic bite. When cooks under pressure made several pots of coffee in succession without emptying the grounds, the coffee tasted scorched.

To combat this, cowboys added their own ingredients to improve the flavor. Some common additions included:

• Sugar or Molasses: Those with a sweet tooth would add sugar or molasses to sweeten the bitter brew. These sweeteners were often scarce and considered a luxury.
• Salt: A pinch of salt was sometimes added to reduce the bitterness of the coffee and enhance its flavor. This trick was especially useful when using water of questionable quality.
• Whiskey: On particularly cold nights, a splash of whiskey might be added to the coffee for an extra kick.
• Spices: Cinnamon or other spices were occasionally added on a special occasion to create a more aromatic and flavorful brew. These spices were typically brought from home and were hoarded jealously.

Arbuckles’ brand of coffee was so common across the American Frontier that most cowboys didn’t realize there was any other type. “Arbuckles” became a generic name for coffee, like Stetson for hat or Levi’s for jeans. To keep it that way, Arbuckles packaged trading cards with its coffee. These cards proved very popular, covering such topics as cooking, geography, sports, U.S. history and birds. The cards either accompanied the bagged coffee or were sold over the counter. Even today collectors continue to snap up these cards.

Over the decades cowboy coffee has become legendary, and like most legends a couple of myths hitched along for the ride. One myth in particular just won’t die – that cowboy coffee tastes like burnt boot leather. The truth? If your coffee tastes like a charred fence post, that’s not the cowboy’s fault — it’s the cook’s. If it’s too bitter, it ain’t cowboy coffee — it’s cowboy punishment.

Cowboy coffee done right is rich, bold, and smooth — none of that acrid bitterness folks assume. The secret lies in the water temperature and timing. Boiling water will scorch coffee grounds. Instead, bring the water to a near-boil, toss in the grounds, then let it steep off the heat. Like cowboy cook Kent Rollins argues, cowboy coffee “is probably the smoothest coffee in the world.”

Another cowboy coffee fact: The ideal water temperature to make coffee is 195–205°F. Camp cooks and cowboys didn’t have thermometers, but they knew what the bubbles looked like when the time was right, which takes experience and, yes, makin’ some mistakes along the way.

An old recipe for cowboy coffee recorded in Western Words: A Dictionary of the Range, Cow Camp, and Trail, from 1945, gives a set of instructions on how to make genuine cowboy coffee: “Take two pounds of Arbuckle’s coffee, put in enough water to wet it down, boil it for two hours, then throw in a hoss shoe. If the hoss shoe sinks, she ain’t ready.”

About Nick Brumby

I like a good story. And of all stories, I love westerns the most.

As a kid, I spent far too many afternoons re-watching Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, picking up ‘Shane’ for just one more read, or saddling up beside Ben Cartwright when ‘Bonanza’ was on TV each afternoon.

I’m a former journalist and I love horses, dogs, and the occasional bourbon whiskey. I live with my wife, daughter and our ever-slumbering hound in a 1800’s-era gold mining town – our house is right on top of the last working gold mine in the area. There may not be much gold left, but there’s history wherever you look.

I hope you enjoy my westerns as much as I enjoyed writing them!

Happy trails,

Nick