Rise and grind… the smell of freshly ground coffee beans is a relatively new addition to America’s morning olfactory landscape. For most of the 20th century, when America wasn’t drinking canned coffee beans, it was drinking instant. (We shudder.) Of the 300 million pounds of coffee sold in the United States in 1976, the amount sold as whole beans to consumers was so tiny, we can’t even find statistics for it.
We’ll humbly take some credit for foresight in offering the Electric Grind/Brew Coffeemaker as long ago as 1980. “New, for the first time you can grind and brew the best gourmet coffee beans using a simple coffeemaker,” our catalog copy said. “Grind and brew your own favorite coffee quickly and easily for the freshest, most aromatic cup of coffee. No flavor is lost.”
Yes, when the likes of Folger’s and Maxwell House stood guard over the boundaries of America’s coffee palate, we believed in the potential of our countrymen enough to gamble on their eventual discovery of the genuine article. At $79.95 (about $320 today), the Electric Grind/Brew Coffeemaker was not for the lukewarm.
The appliance in question was known to its maker, Toshiba, as the My Café Mill & Drip Coffeemaker. The model we offered was the HCD 550, the first in the My Café line which Toshiba would develop throughout the decade. “I enjoy a strong cup of freshly brewed coffee as much as anyone, but I don’t care to fuss too much over it,” wrote Pierre Franey of the New York Times in a positive review of a later model. “That is why the new all-in-one coffee mill and drip maker by Toshiba, called My Café, caught my eye... The coffee is kept warm automatically for two hours, after which a true coffee lover would not consider drinking it anyway.”
To drum up business for the new My Café, Toshiba purchased a billboard on Century Boulevard near Los Angeles International Airport in 1980 and announced a contest. The first 50 entrants correctly guessing the number of beans on the billboard would win their own My Café. We presume contestants counted beans in LA traffic at their own risk.
Of course, no good idea goes uncopied. Within a few years of its Hammacher debut, the Toshiba machine would be but one in a growing grind-and-brew field. The evolution of America’s coffee tastes would make the subcategory a reliable seller to the present day. The result is better coffee in our homes, and thus better mornings.
One aspect of the My Café we’re thankful didn’t catch on? The term “mill & drip”. Against the much more potent “grind & brew”, “mill & drip” feels a bit, shall we say, watered-down.
The mention of Pierre Franey brought back memories of great recipes and meals. Pierre is missed. At least by me.