I have in my kitchen, sitting on the top of the fridge, an antique can. I laugh in thinking that it is listed as antique, collectible and nostalgic. This can once held Folgers coffee. The coffee has long since been used and that can repurposed. Well, the truth is it was waiting to be repurposed until I got it, then I repurposed it. How many years it had sat empty I couldn't say. I came into possession of that can after the passing of my Wifes' Uncle George. How long he had it I can't say, and whether he was even aware that it was there for that matter. You see Uncle George was legally blind and many things sat in cabinets and corners of his house that I'm certain he had forgotten about. My thinking this can is one of them.
I drink Folgers coffee. It's my brand, for whatever reason. My grandmother always has Maxwell House because it was good to the last drop. I think the best part about waking up is Folgers in your cup. The thing we have in common is I still use a percolator. That can of Folgers I got from Uncle George has it proudly displayed on the can, it's for electric percolators!
That can could be from as early as 1968 according to what I was able to find on the internet. I won't claim to have done any research on that, research implies a more thorough investigation. In the right light, at just the right angle I can see the price that was marked on that can. It was placed there by a marking gun, in blue ink. It was priced at $2.69 for a one pound can. The current price for Folgers is about $9.00 a pound. I smiled when I saw that because I remember using those pricing guns when I worked at the grocery store. It hung in a holster from my apron strings like a six shooter! A small detail that most would not know these days. That just adds to the nostalgia of that can. At least nostalgia for me.
Folgers makes the claim that it is mountain grown. That's a good thing as I read where the altitude at which coffee is grown has a big effect on quality and taste. It's also good that coffee grows best at higher altitudes on land not really suited to traditional farming. Turns out the majority of your premium brands are mountain grown, although noy necessarily on an actual mountain. Juan Valdez was the spokesperson, although I don't recall Juan ever saying a thing, for Columbian grown coffee beans. It wasn't for any particular brand of coffee just those beans grown in Colombia. Today when we hear about Colombian grown we don't think of coffee. Well, times change.
Did you know that instant coffee was first produced in 1890? I was surprised by that, but it wasn't well received until WW2. It was after WW2 that electric percolators became popular in America. Percolators had been in use on stovetops for generations prior to that. The cowboys just put the beans in a pot and boiled the water. They usually ground the beans just before placing them in the pot, everyone had a coffee grinder. In 1972 Mr. Coffee burst on the scene and changed everything. Automatic drip coffee makers began replacing those percolators. The reason was simple enough, they were faster, easier to use and easy to clean. There only real competition came from an instant coffee, Tasters Choice! That coffee was advertised as freeze dried, so it would be as fresh as the day it was brewed.
Sometimes it is just the littlest thing that brings a smile to your face. I often crack a smile when I see that coffee can sitting on the fridge. I may think of Uncle George, the little stamp on the bottom, the percolator and Grandma's house. I smile because that can is made out of metal. It has a soldered seam down the side that I'm sure some would say was leaking hazardous lead into the product. It does have a plastic lid to reseal the can after opening, a modern invention I'm sure for 1968. I couldn't find any information on that.
At other times I smile when I think, after I'm gone the kids or their kids will say, why did Grandpa have an old coffee can? It will mean nothing to them. Of course, it is possible that the opposite will be true. Could be one day they will want that can, set on their fridge and tell stories about it. You just never know about these things. I think they are amused that I use a percolator, drink my coffee black, no sugar, no cream, no flavors, no foam or anything! They laugh when I tell them a dollar for a cup of coffee is a bit steep. Folgers electric perk, mountain grown coffee was $2.69 cents for a pound. Today it is $9.00, and I suspect it isn't even grown on a mountain in Colombia. Juan Valdez has most likely retired, and his kids migrated to America. Wouldn't be surprised.
But that can has been repurposed. Its purpose now is in storing memories. I do have some 35MM slides that belonged to Uncle George in that can. The grandkids may be surprised when they find those. I guess they know what they are. The memories I have of Uncle George are with that can as well, although I don't recall seeing it in his home, it's enough to know that is where it came from. The little stamp on the bottom, memories of when I was the one stamping those products. Yeah, sometimes it is the littlest thing, something you think inconsequential that ends up being a treasure.
I have a can like this one only in better condition. For some mysterious reason my phone isn't transferring pictures to the computer si I can't share the actual can I have. Grr, technology.
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