Coffee on the Ration

How would you feel if you couldn’t have your cup of coffee in the morning or could only have one small cup—not a mug—for the day? How about if you had to drink your cup o’ joe prepared in a different way or if you weren’t able to have any for several days?

The Second World War is one occasion in the USA when coffee became very difficult to obtain. According to LIFE magazine on November 30, 1942, “In pre-rationing days not even Brazil topped the U.S. per capita consumption of coffee.” But on November 29, only the day before this issue was released, coffee went on the ration. The amount per person was cut in half, allowing one pound of coffee per person every five weeks. They often had to withstand enormous queues to get it. Learning how to make the most of the precious supply became a hot topic among coffee addicts.

Even for those traveling or eating away from home, it was almost impossible to get enough coffee. “Bottomless cups” were no more. Restaurants and railways placed signs alerting customers they could only have one cup with a meal. Some establishments didn’t fill cups all the way full!

Cowboy Coffee the Simple Way

Finding ways to stretch the ration as far as possible while still getting a cup of strong, hot coffee and not weak coffee-flavored water was important business. Thankfully, LIFE’s article “Coffee Rationing: Hints on how to make a good brew and stretch the available supply” was on hand to help. It begins by comparing three common methods for brewing—boiled, percolated and drip—and determines boiled coffee gives the greatest yield. Not exactly the favored method for today, so how to make it work without chewing the coffee grounds along with your brew?

Cowboy coffee is essentially a boiled brew. Most of the enamelware cowboy-style pots I have seen in recent years include a percolator basket—but this is not the same method. Many of the older pots found at flea markets do not contain any filter or other way to contain the coffee grounds. These would have been the ones used for cowboy coffee. If you don’t have one, not to worry—stretching the coffee ration only requires a pot, a spoon, a heatproof bowl, a coffee filter and a strainer basket that can hang over the bowl.

First, measure how much water you need and bring it to a full boil. While the water is heating, measure one level tablespoon of ground coffee for every 8 ounces of water. Yes, I know this is half of the amount typically recommended.

When the water boils, remove the pot from the heat and wait 30-45 seconds. This will give the water time to come down to 200°F (93°C). This is very important! It will extract the most flavor from the coffee grounds while removing acidity. Then, add the coffee grounds to the pot. Stir gently, then wait 2 minutes. Stir again. Wait another two minutes.

Place the filter in the strainer basket and hang the basket over the bowl. Carefully strain the coffee into the bowl and enjoy your hot brew, knowing you saved enough beans for another day. The combination of the brewing method and water temperature gets the most flavor from the smallest amount of coffee. You may find you prefer your java stronger, but this is the way to get the fullest flavor when there aren’t enough coffee grounds to prepare coffee the ways we typically do now. It is surprisingly good and smooth.

Extra Flavorings

Of course, if you have a coffee press you can simply add the grounds to it and pour over the hot water before doing the stir-and-wait routine. However, allowing the brew to sit in the grounds could make it bitter. If you choose one of those grand old cowboy coffee pots, you could skip the filtering process altogether and simply pour the brewed grit into your cup. Beware of drinking the last sip. If you’d rather not chew your coffee, just filter when pouring.

I have heard that pouring a small amount of cold water over the brewed coffee causes the grounds to sink to the bottom. When I tried it, I got cooler chewy coffee. Filtering is the way to go. Measuring out the water and coffee grounds encourages making only the exact amount needed and would also have helped stretch the ration.

If you are looking for ways to add pizzazz to your liquid energy, try these:

• Add a dash of cocoa, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise or pie spice to the grounds before brewing.

• Serve iced with cream, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk or oat milk.

• Add a splash of flavored syrup, maple syrup, honey or golden syrup.

• Freeze any leftover coffee in ice cube trays to fortify iced coffees.

• Add a splash of rum, Kahlua, Baileys or Frangelico.

• Add a strip of orange peel.

• Make a brown sugar simple syrup by heating 1/3 cup water with ½ cup brown sugar until the sugar has dissolved. You can also add a dash of cinnamon. Cool and store in refrigerator, and add a splash to hot or iced coffee.

There are so many ways to enjoy this elixir of energy! What’s yours?

All photos in this blog post taken from LIFE magazine, November 30, 1942, pp. 64-70.

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

Proverbs 17:22