Maxwell House Coffee: An American Tradition with American Origins

Maxwell House Coffee is still one of the top US coffee brands in the market place, and is well recognized with its blue packaging as its theme!

Though Maxwell House does not sell coffee beans per se, you'll find over 500 coffee related products for sale!

Given that Maxwell House is such a popular brand of coffee, it's impossible not to include it here.

Popular Coffee: Maxwell House

Let’s face it, we can't always have our favorite coffee unless we never leave our home and that's just not practical. Usually, we are served mass-produced commercial coffee when we are on the road, stay in motels or working at the office. Sometimes we have a choice of which coffee we'd like, so millions of Americans choose Maxwell House, both at home and away from home.

From the first drop to now

Until the late 80s, Maxwell House was the most popular coffee in America but it is now second as Folger's now has that honor. Maxwell House Coffee was started in 1892 in Nashville, Tennessee. Two brothers that owned the Maxwell House hotel, Joel and Leon Cheek, served it there and later partnered with John Neal to set up a manufacturing concern to market their own brand.

Presidential Taste

Its signature phrase, "good to the last drop", was reputedly uttered by President Theodore Roosevelt as he finished his first cup of Maxwell House coffee in 1917 and is now a registered trademark. The very successful company was then sold to Postum in 1928.

General Foods took over the company in 1942 and began making instant coffee, a novel idea that people eagerly accepted and a product that was very useful to the military. They also made decaffeinated coffee and even coffee packs. In 1966 they created a blend called Electric Perk.

One of the originators of product placement ads, Maxwell House coffee it was often visible on the television show Mama (1949-1957) as family gathered around the table for coffee near the end of most episodes. Most people, however, remember Margaret Hamilton (Oz's Wicked Witch) as Cora. The lively, homey general store proprietor swore it was the only brand she would ever carry in her store.

Modern Tastes: Modern Coffee

Maxwell House is actually one of the better mass-produced brands of coffee. It has very low acidity and avoids the burnt aftertaste that many store shelf coffees seem burdened with.

It has a pleasant, inoffensive flavor and is very consistent in quality and taste, thanks to Maxwell House blending and roasting techniques. Over the years they've developed seven basic ranges of coffee products:

• Ground coffees, Ground Decaf Coffee, and Flavored Coffee
• Instant Coffee in Jars, their 'convenience' range, and Coffee Powders
• Tassimo T Discs

Ground Coffee

You'll find that Maxwell House Ground Coffee is now available in ten varieties, from their mild roasted Breakfast Blend through to their medium dark Colombian and Dark Roast. Their are several unique takes on this that includes the 'Slow Roast' and the 'South Pacific Blend' that I'd like to try!

You'll also find their ground flavors in decaff mode, too! Though the choice is limited to three, you'll find that each roasting point is covered: Master Blend is mild, Original medium, while French Roast is (obviously!) Dark.

Flavored coffee is a more recent variation that comes in two variations: Vanilla and Hazlenut. Both are medium roasted coffee, too.

Tassimo T Discs

With the massive interest in single cup brewing systems, Maxwell House Coffee jumped into the market making eight different packages of discs:

• Traditional Coffee Blends: House, Morning and French Roast
• Flavored Coffee: French Vanilla (no Hazlenut?)
• Barista Coffee Drinks: Cappuccino, Skinny Cappuccino, Caramel Latte Macchiato, and Latte

While I might try the first four, I'm not sure how the others would taste. Have you ever tried them?

Convenience Packs

Maxwell House Coffee Filter Packs (in regular and decaf) are one of two variations that they make for those needing coffee in an even easier format than Tassimo T Discs! You get one pack of coffee, measured out and packed. Just slip this into your drip coffee maker, and you're good to go! These cans contain 10 pre-packed bags of coffee, and are ideal for those on a caffeine drip!

You can also find Maxwell House Coffee Singles which is ideal for one cup. Throw the coffee bag in your cup, and you'll get a quality cup of coffee as quick as you can make tea! I don't recommend adding boiling water (it scorches the grounds) but add freshly boiled hot water and wait a few minutes! Easy to make and easy to clean make it a good solution for an office kitchen or busy SOHO worker.

Instant Coffee

Yes, and Maxwell House also makes Instant Coffee, Sanka, etc. But I'm sure that you don't want to read about those here, do you?

Overall, one of their selling points is that they use 100% Arabica coffee beans. This is unremarkable to knowledgeable coffee lovers until you learn that most mass-produced ground coffee is a blend of Arabica and the inferior Robusta beans.

This practice sacrifices quality to save production costs. So Maxwell House is one of the few large distributors of coffee that has tried to make their coffee better by choosing the best beans they can afford.

What Maxwell House Coffee have you tried? Did you like it or not?

And finally...

Wherever you are, remember "Only Great Beans Make Great Coffee"!

Return from Maxwell House Coffee to coffee brands.

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