Coffee—the lifeblood of millions. One man turned his hobby of making the perfect cup of coffee into a business.
The Man
Once upon a time (back in 1873), Joel Cheek worked for a wholesale grocery company as a traveling salesman. One day, one of his customers asked him which of the coffees he sold was the best. Even though he had no clue, being a smart salesman, Joel named the most expensive one. For whatever reason (guilt or curiosity), that night he tested each of the coffees he sold. To his surprise, the best flavor belonged to one of the cheaper brands. He admitted this to his customer the next day and changed the store’s order, saving them money.
His Curiosity
That first coffee taste test whetted Joel’s curiosity. Over the next decade, he became a coffee aficionado, experimenting with various varieties to learn their body, acidity, flavor, and aroma. That done, he took the next logical step—develop the perfect blend by mixing different coffees. In 1884, Joel Cheek moved to Nashville, TN. There he met another coffee aficionado, British coffee broker Roger Nolley Smith. (Smith bragged he could tell a coffee’s origin by smelling the green beans.) Their passion for coffee united them, and Joel and Roger soon became best friends. Together they continued to mix coffees, searching for that perfect blend.
Did You Know…
- Coffee beans are green. Roasting turns them brown.
- Prior to the 1900s, most people purchased green coffee beans and roasted them at home.
The Hotel
In 1892, Joel Cheek decided they’d made the “perfect” coffee blend and it was time to test it. He gave Nashville’s Maxwell House Hotel food buyer twenty pounds for free. (Even a ritzy hotel doesn’t pass up free products.) The patrons’ complaints didn’t begin until the hotel’s supply of Joel’s coffee was gone, and the hotel returned to serving their usual brand. Wanting to keep their customers happy, the hotel immediately switched to using only Joel’s coffee.
The Coffee and Company
What do you do when a prestigious hotel buys your product exclusively? You name the product after them. With the hotel’s permission, “Maxwell House” Coffee was born.
Getting the Maxwell House Hotel’s account was a big deal. So big, Joel quit his day job and, with a partner, started The Nashville Coffee and Manufacturing Company. Joel’s hobby had finally become a business.
Two things set their company apart from other coffee companies: (1) they sold roasted coffee (few others did this at the time), and (2) it was fresh and delicious because they delivered it to the customers within a week of it being made. They sold other, lower-grade coffee brands, but Maxwell House Coffee remained their top product.
Did You Know…
- Construction began on the first Maxwell House coffee plant, located in Nashville, TN, in 1903.
- The popularity of Maxwell House Coffee, and the need to make sure it reached customers as fresh as possible, pushed the company to build coffee plants in Texas, Florida, Virginia, and eventually, even New York.
The Slogan and Legend
In 1917, Maxwell House’s advertising slogan, “Good to the Last Drop,” first appeared. Legend attributes the slogan to President Theodore Roosevelt, claiming it’s what he said when he drank a cup of coffee on a visit to the Maxwell House Hotel in 1907. Whether he did or didn’t say it has never been definitively established.
Did You Know…
- Coca-Cola used the same, “Good to the Last Drop,” slogan around the same time as Maxwell House.
The Last Drop Word
By the 1920s, Maxwell House was a household name. Joel Cheek’s quest for the perfect coffee blend had passed all expectations. For almost one hundred years, Maxwell House reigned as the top-selling brand of coffee in the U.S. before finally being surpassed by Folger’s in the late 1980s.
Did You Know…
- Joel sold the coffee company to Postum in 1928 for almost $42 million.
- Postum changed the company’s name to Maxwell House Products Corporation and soon sold it to General Foods. Today, Maxwell House is owned by Kraft Heinz.