There are a few cooking substitutions I learned growing up, as well as through my own experiences, that I would consider “everyday” or “easy” substitutions..… flax meal or applesauce instead of eggs, milk and lemon/vinegar instead of buttermilk, and endless ways to replace sugar in a recipe. Something we no longer think of as needing a substitute for however, is coffee. Coffee shops around every corner in even small towns, whole aisles in the grocery store dedicated to coffee, creamers for coffees, and the fancy devices to make coffee (I wouldn’t consider myself a hardcore coffee drinker, but even I have 4 different devices of my choosing for the brewing of coffee!). Coffee is part of our everyday lives… How many of you have had a cup, or multiple today? And as it’s autumn, a few coffee chains have started up the beloved Pumpkin Spice Lattes (PSLs) again, boosting traffic to major name shops by almost 30%!
Americans have always loved our coffee, even back to the frontier. Thinking about coffee in the Old West for me conjures up images of cowboys around a fire in the early gray of twilight and into dawn, grumbling and offering nods of acknowledgement to their compadres. Over the fire sits a blue enamel (what other color could there be?) coffee pot, boiling Arbuckle’s coffee they’d probably have to chew. But what if coffee ran out for these working men or the pioneers on their way West? Turns out, Americans now aren’t so different to how we were then – you gotta get your coffee fix!
Being in New Mexico, the first substitute that comes to my mind is pinon coffee. Another substitute that is easy to conjure up is chicory, in which the root (not unlike that of dandelion, which can also be used) is roasted and ground. For the pioneers, it seemed that they preferred to chase the flavor of coffee rather than the caffeine it provided (maybe not the same for the cowboys). With the arrival of the Civil War, many more coffee substitutes were found: acorn, sweet potato, rye, corn, barley, okra, mesquite beans, and probably countless others. With so many people seeking ways to “get their fix,” newspapers began to print recipes. As read in the San Antonio Herald on March 7, 1863, “How to Make a Good Article of Coffee: Take coffee grains and pop-corn, of each an equal quantity. Roast the same together. The corn will hop out, and what remains will be unadulterated coffee.” Readers beware though, there were sometimes jokesters like this recipe supplier from the Arkansas True Democrat on October 17, 1861, perhaps trying to catch a gullible Union soldier unaware, “Take tan bark, three parts; three old cigar stumps and a quart of water, mix well, and boil fifteen minutes in a dirty coffee pot, and the best judges cannot tell it from the finest Mocha.”
For our recipe today, I’ve taken inspiration from Philmont’s “Advisors’ Coffee.” A time in the evening at staffed camps where the kids are kicked off the porch and the adults of the crews can partake in the comforting fix of the day. Much like the cowboys in my imaginings above, depending on the camp, you might be able to chew the coffee, but the advisors were typically desperate, so they didn’t complain much (especially if staff stuffed a green scrubby (clean!) in the spout to catch grounds). I’ve chosen to write this recipe in the antiquated way because I think it’ll make more sense.
For “Coffee:”
Take your coffee substitute and dry or roast them either in the sun or by the fire (I suppose you could use modern technology like a low oven! Sun-dried probably the best for things like sweet potato), and then grind the same as coffee. Take whatever portion of this with your coffee to your palate. Bring water to a boil in a coffee pot of your choosing and add about 1 tablespoon of grounds per cup of coffee you wish to make. Boil for an additional 2-3 minutes. Pour a small amount of cold water on top to settle the grounds and pour slowly, or use a strainer. Add any mix-ins you desire (Pumpkin Spice perhaps? Molasses would be a tasty, and more traditional choice!).
What is your go-to coffee order? Share below!
See you latte,
Mountain Girl
For more fun newspaper “coffee” recipes from the Civil War, here’s a link! https://web.archive.org/web/20151228090436/http://www.uttyler.edu/vbetts/coffee.htm
Mountain Girl Goes 
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