Missouri Life September 2023

I t’s a good bet that most—if not all—of the urbanites sipping lattes at MoKaBe’s Coffeehouse in St. Louis can’t name the patriarch behind Chauvin Coffee, the local business that supplies the shop with its roasted beans. But when asked, many could name a member of the beer family who gave them Bud Light. St. Louis is known as a beer and baseball town, but coffee has played as big a role in shaping the city’s culture. Yet, few people know the men who helped to make St. Louis the “coffee capital of the United States” in the 1920s. These kings of coffee were risk-takers, visionaries, and hard workers. Some were immigrants. Most have faded deep into the city’s culinary history. So, pour yourself a mug of java and let’s meet some of the coffee kings of St. Louis.

THE FIRST TO ROAST Since its beginnings as a French fur-trading post, coffee has been present in St. Louis. When steamboats opened the riverways to trade, coffee became less expensive and plentiful. And with a robust grocery trade in place, coffee became a common household item. In 1845, St. Louis had more than 50 coffeehouses. It’s believed that grocer David Nicholson was, in 1853, the first to roast coffee commercially in St. Louis. Less than a year later, Nicolson sold his business to fellow grocer James H. Forbes, the city’s first coffee king. NO MORE BURNED BEANS James Forbes, a Scottish immigrant, ran a successful grocery business at 11th and Morgan Streets. When he bought Nicholson’s Franklin Tea & Coffee, he believed the idea of commercially roasted coffee could be a suc cess, although he knew it would be a challenge convinc ing the consumer. In 1853, green coffee cost 12 cents per pound, but at-home roasting methods often resulted in burned beans and bitter coffee. Forbes marketed his bags of 25-cent, professionally roasted coffee as a product that would save housewives money and time. He also roasted coffee for wholesalers at a penny a pound. According to a company history published in 1953, Among Ourselves , those early days were a struggle for Forbes, but after a few years, the coffee-roasting business became profitable. At the time of James’s death in 1890, his sons were running the company, and in 1901, it was incorporated as the James H. Forbes Tea and Coffee Company. One of the brands Forbes sold in the early 1900s was Martha Washington Coffee, “a coffee worthy of the name,” as noted in an early advertisement. Over the years, Forbes Coffee grew and moved to larger locations, including Locust Street and Clark Avenue. A side business was providing roasted peanuts to the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns. In 1956, the com pany was sold to a Chicago firm, and only a few months later, it was sold to Woolson Spice Company of Ohio.

THE OLD JUDGE As a young man from South Wales, David G. Evans worked in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for W. & J.G. Flint Company coffee roasters in the mid-19th century. The company opened a plant in St. Louis in 1858, with Evans as an employee who would soon rise through the ranks to a partnership. The firm’s name was changed to Flint Evans Company, which sold teas and spices as well as roasted coffee. In those early days, Evans visited the St. Louis river front to bid on the coffee coming into the city. He blended and stored his coffee in warehouses. Salesmen in horse drawn wagons visited grocers and other wholesale cus tomers to sell the roasted beans. Evans’s company gave St. Louis the iconic Old Judge brand. When Evans died in 1916, his son, Gwynne, became president and the company name was changed to David G. Evans Coffee Company. In December 1917, a fire destroyed the company’s building on North Second Street, but in just a few months, Evans Coffee Company was operating in a new location on the same street. Like other coffee companies of the time, Evans Coffee Company sponsored radio shows that advertised their product. Early television ads featured Don Lawton as the “Old Judge Magician,” who shared sleight-of-hand tricks on the air before pitching coffee to viewers. After nearly 100 years in business, the company—by

Above, an advertising card from 1910 touts the Martha Washington blend made by Forbes Coffee.

MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ST. LOUIS

45 / SEPTEMBER 2023