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Long before Starbucks became shorthand for coffee culture, Americans were opening cans of coffee from brands like Gold Shield, Savarin and Schilling. This National Coffee Day, many of those once-familiar names exist mostly in memory.
But that may be exactly why they still resonate.
“I think there’s a lot of nostalgia and romance around coffee because I do think it’s such an important part of daily life,” said Wendy Pojmann, a professor of history at Siena University who has studied coffee culture and wrote “Espresso: The Art and Soul of Italy.”
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For people who grew up with those brands, Pojmann said the connection often goes beyond what was in the cup.
“So, I do think that, especially if you grew up and you smelled the coffee in the kitchen and maybe your mom and dad or your grandparents were preparing a certain kind of coffee, those memories are important and we associate memory with smell,” she told Fox News Digital.
Coffee culture has evolved from the 1970s to today. (H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images)
Coffee culture looked different then, too. Convenience helped define the American coffee routine, from instant coffee to the automatic drip machines that became fixtures in American kitchens.
“Americans, again, were interested in ease, efficiency, things being relatively quick,” Pojmann said, describing a routine that might include grabbing a big can of Folgers from the grocery store and brewing it at home.
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Folgers and Maxwell House endured, but plenty of other familiar names did not. Smaller regional and local coffee brands were often acquired by larger companies, Pojmann said, part of a cycle of consolidation that has played out repeatedly in the coffee business.
Gold Shield, a once-popular West Coast brand, and Savarin, a longtime East Coast favorite, were among the coffee labels that eventually disappeared after changing hands.
Gold Shield is a defunct coffee brand. (Buyenlarge/Getty Images)
Their fate reflected a broader consolidation in the coffee business, as larger companies acquired smaller regional and local brands, Pojmann said.
Then came another shift. Chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin’ helped reshape American coffee culture, followed by the rise of specialty coffee and a new generation of small roasters and boutique brands.
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More recently, specialty coffee has created another generation of small roasters and boutique brands.
Folgers is among the coffee brands to have stood the test of time. (Denver Post via Getty Images)
Pojmann said today’s coffee market includes everything from huge national brands to tiny small-batch roasters.
Still, a coffee brand doesn’t necessarily disappear when its cans leave supermarket shelves.
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Pojmann said she sometimes spots tins from bygone brands in vintage and antique stores, where an old label can unexpectedly reconnect someone with the past.
Old coffee cans, which can sometimes be found in antique stores, serve as reminders of a forgotten era of coffee brands. (George Rose/Getty Images)
“Maybe you hadn’t thought of it in years and then you see that label on the can and you think, ‘Oh yeah, I remembered my grandfather used to make that coffee for us,'” Pojmann said.
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For some coffee drinkers, a favorite old brand may be long gone from the supermarket aisle. But the smell of a pot brewing can still bring back memories of the people who once poured it.