Off Topic: "We smash 'em hard"

[Pat Holscher]

The Great War in advertising.

[Pat Holscher]

Another odd one.

[mnhorse]

More "instant" coffee, it seems what we call instant today came along much later than 1918. Yes. I'm aware the US Army had some sort of instant coffee during the American Civil War. I also understand the soldiers didn't like it at all.
Dad would drink stuff like POSTUM & SANKA, but weren't these two coffee substitutes?
I drink tea and that always "instant".
Richard

[Brian P.]

More "instant" coffee, it seems what we call instant today came along much later than 1918. Yes. I'm aware the US Army had some sort of instant coffee during the American Civil War. I also understand the soldiers didn't like it at all.
Dad would drink stuff like POSTUM & SANKA, but weren't these two coffee substitutes?
I drink tea and that always "instant".
Richard

As you said, dehydrated coffee in some form pre-dates WWI by some years. George Washington Instant Coffee was first marketed in 1909, and is considered the first successful commercial venture in that area. As I understand it, the manufacturing process was not much different from what goes on now. The GW company purchased a seed packaging plant during the Great War to package its coffee for use in the trench ration packages. By all accounts, it still tasted lousy, but soldiers liked it for its convenience and caffeine. They called it a "Cup of George."