by Paula McCoach as dictated by Coach The Coffee Customer Spoilers

Roastin’ their own coffee was a common activity among soldiers in War Between States. They would carry only a few items and sometimes they would have been issued green coffee that they would roast. Their tin cup was what they had to complete entire process. Some of them did have a frying pan, but for most part, they would roast beans in their tin cups.

To do this at home, use a heavy iron frying pan. Roasting in your tin cup will mess up solder joints. Pour beans in pan. You can’t just throw in and leave them. Move them around. Stir them until they start to turn brown. The green beans have moisture in them and roasting them will draw moisture out. The beans will even pop a little, not like popcorn. The roasting beans don’t jump out of pan, but they will crackle and snap some.

The beans now get a little chaff on them, but and keep stirring them. They will start to get different shades of brown. Stay away from real brown, which is like a French Roast. If you roast beans this long, they will get an oily look to them. Different kinds of coffees have different kinds of reactions. I like mine color of a milk chocolate bar not color of bitter –sweet chocolate. It’s up to your individual preference. When you have beans roasted to your taste, let them cool before grinding them.

by Paula McCoach The Coffee Customer Spoiler Civil War soldiers, Confederate and Union, used to make their coffee in pots. But on march, they just used their boilers. Remember: don’t boil coffee. Confederates and Union soldiers had a little bit of coffee, chewin tabaccie, and that was it. Moreover, Confederates usually had tobacco, and Union troops had coffee. When troops would cross paths during war, they would trade coffee for tobacco and vice versa. Soldiers would take their hardtack biscuits and soak it in coffee and get some fat and put it in a frying pan and fry a crust on hardtack like chicken…real nutritious diet.

Civil War soldiers drank from large tin cups. Hot liquid filled all way up in a tin cup will burn yer lips. Soldiers needed at least an inch or two at top. So they would only fill it two-thirds full and let it cool a little so they could tolerate it. Don’t drink from old tin cups that you might find in an antique store. They have lead solder. Buy a reproduction of one at a Civil War reenactment or from a Sutler who advertises in some of military history magazines. Coffee boilers are large tin cups with a handle on them. Some of them even have lids on them. They hold 22-24 ozs. of liquid. They look like a cup that is a coffee pot.