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A biography of C.W. (Charles William) Post
Vintage Postum radio advertisements
{{Authority control Products introduced in 1895 Drink brands Coffee substitutes Post Consumer Brands brands Utah cuisine Hot drinks
Postum () is a powdered
Postum quickly became popular, making Post wealthy. The aggressive advertising, with the slogan "There's a Reason", warned against the alleged dangers of coffee and caffeine, and promoted the benefits of Postum. When imitations appeared, the company introduced a cheaper drink called Monk's Brew that was identical to Postum, but discontinued it after competitors left the market. Instant Postum appeared in 1911.
Although the Post Cereal Company explicitly stated in its advertising that Postum did not taste like coffee and was not a coffee substitute, the drink enjoyed an enormous rise in sales and popularity in the United States during
for many years because Mormons abstain from coffee. It was also popular with those following religious dietary restrictions of roasted grain beverage
A cereal coffee (also known as grain coffee, roasted grain drink or roasted grain beverage) is a hot drink made from one or more cereal grains roasted and commercially processed into crystal or powder form to be reconstituted later in hot wat ...
popular as a coffee substitute
Coffee substitutes are non-coffee products, usually without caffeine, that are used to imitate coffee. Coffee substitutes can be used for medical, economic and religious reasons, or simply because coffee is not readily available. Roasted grain b ...
. The caffeine
Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine class. It is mainly used recreationally as a cognitive enhancer, increasing alertness and attentional performance. Caffeine acts by blocking binding of adenosine to ...
-free beverage was created by Post Cereal Company founder C. W. Post in 1895 and marketed as a healthier alternative to coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
Seeds of ...
. Post was a student of John Harvey Kellogg
John Harvey Kellogg (February 26, 1852 – December 14, 1943) was an American medical doctor, nutritionist, inventor, health activist, eugenicist, and businessman. He was the director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. The ...
, who believed that caffeine was unhealthy. Post Cereal Company eventually acquired General Foods
General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895.
The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...
, then merged to Kraft Foods Inc.
Kraft Foods Inc. was a multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It marketed many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earned more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell H ...
in 1990. Eliza's Quest Foods now owns the trademark rights and secret recipe of Postum.
The "instant" drink mix version was developed in 1912, replacing the original brewed beverage. Postum is made from roasted wheat bran
Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the hard outer layers of cereal grain. It consists of the combined aleurone and pericarp. Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap). Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains ...
and molasses.
In addition to the original flavor, coffee-flavored and cocoa-flavored versions have been introduced.
History
Postum quickly became popular, making Post wealthy. The aggressive advertising, with the slogan "There's a Reason", warned against the alleged dangers of coffee and caffeine, and promoted the benefits of Postum. When imitations appeared, the company introduced a cheaper drink called Monk's Brew that was identical to Postum, but discontinued it after competitors left the market. Instant Postum appeared in 1911.
Although the Post Cereal Company explicitly stated in its advertising that Postum did not taste like coffee and was not a coffee substitute, the drink enjoyed an enormous rise in sales and popularity in the United States during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
when coffee was rationed
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...
and people sought a replacement.
Postum was sometimes marketed by a cartoon ghost named Mister Coffee Nerves, who would appear in situations wherein people were shown in uncomfortable life situations (e.g., irritability
Irritability (also called as crankiness) is the excitatory ability that living organisms have to respond to changes in their environment. The term is used for both the physiological reaction to stimuli and for the pathological, abnormal or excessi ...
, lack of sleep, lack of athletic prowess) due to their use of coffee and its negative effects. These cartoons always ended with the afflicted people switching to Postum and Mister Coffee Nerves fleeing until the next cartoon. The company sponsored the radio shows ''Lum and Abner
''Lum and Abner'' was an American network radio comedy program created by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff that was aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the show proved ...
'', '' Beulah'' and ''The Aldrich Family
''The Aldrich Family'', a popular radio teenage situation comedy (July 2, 1939 – April 19, 1953), was also presented in films, television and comic books. In the radio series' opening exchange, awkward teen Henry's mother called, "Hen-''reeeee ...
'', and the radio version of ''Father Knows Best
''Father Knows Best'' is an American sitcom starring Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray and Lauren Chapin. The series, which began on radio in 1949, aired as a television show for six seasons and 203 episodes. Created by ...
''.
Postum was popular with members
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
and part of Mormon culture #REDIRECT Culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints #REDIRECT Culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints {{R from other capitalisation ...
{{R from other capitalisation ...Seventh-day Adventists
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and i ...
.
The U.S. government used Postum as a code name for polonium
Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84. Polonium is a chalcogen. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character ...
, used in the Urchin-style nuclear weapon initiators.
Kraft discontinued production of Postum in 2007. In May 2012, Kraft sold the Postum trademark and trade secret to Eliza's Quest Food, with Postum sold through the Postum.com website. As of January 2013, Eliza's Quest Food succeeded in returning Postum to many grocery stores across the United States and Canada.
Gallery
See also
*Barleycup
Barleycup is an instant cereal drink, available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Malta and Hong Kong. Barleycup was manufactured by the British company Ridpath Pek Ltd., until it was acquired in 2004 by the American firm S ...
* Caro (sold as Pero in the United States)
* Coffee substitute
Coffee substitutes are non-coffee products, usually without caffeine, that are used to imitate coffee. Coffee substitutes can be used for medical, economic and religious reasons, or simply because coffee is not readily available. Roasted grain b ...
* Inka
* List of barley-based drinks
This is a list of barley-based drinks. Barley, a member of the grass family was one of the first domesticated grains in the Fertile Crescent and drinks made from it range from thin herbal teas and beers to thicker drinkable puddings and gruels.
...
* Ovaltine
Ovaltine (also known by its original name Ovomaltine) is a brand of milk flavoring product made with malt extract (except in the blue packaging in the United States), sugar (except in Switzerland), and whey. Some flavors also have cocoa. Ovalt ...
* Roasted grain drink
A cereal coffee (also known as grain coffee, roasted grain drink or roasted grain beverage) is a hot drink made from one or more cereal grains roasted and commercially processed into crystal or powder form to be reconstituted later in hot water ...
References
Further reading
* * * * *External links
*A biography of C.W. (Charles William) Post
Vintage Postum radio advertisements
{{Authority control Products introduced in 1895 Drink brands Coffee substitutes Post Consumer Brands brands Utah cuisine Hot drinks