Arbuckle was the only name the cowboys knew in regard to coffee.
Arbuckle was the first coffee to be packaged in crates and sent out on rail for the cowboys on the open range. It became the choice of men of honor who lived by the code of the west.
Prior to 1859, Americans roasted their own coffee beans in a pan. One burnt bean would ruin the whole batch! Then, John Arbuckle patented a process for glazing roasted coffee beans that sealed in their flavor and aroma.
Fast forward to 1974, visionary Denney Willis, a history major and highly successful restauranteur, began interviewing his restaurant patrons and discovered that they loved the food, but he served the worst-tasting coffee. He set out on a mission to find or create the best coffee ever and discovered Arbuckle Coffee. The brand had been off the shelf for 50 years, but Denney bought the trademark in the late seventies and rekindled the pioneer spirit by delivering only the finest coffees. Sadly, we lost Denney this past March, unexpectedly of a brief illness, but nearly half a century later, his son Josh is now at the helm. He is committed to carrying on the amazing brand history and his father’s expertise and passion for coffee.
“It is specialty-grade, top-of-the-line Arabica coffee -- bold body, low in acidity, a hint of smoke and a subtle chocolate finish," said Denney's wife, Pat, and son, Josh, of the essence of Arbuckle coffee. "That’s the profile used to select the beans and the roasting process. We only buy top-of-the-line coffee beans, sourced from the finest beans of Bolivia, Peru, Nicaragua, Brazil, Sumatra, and Guatemala."
Arbuckle only roasts Specialty Grade Arabica beans. The arabica trees take longer to grow, have less caffeine and lower acidity. Robusta trees grow very quickly and produce 5 times more beans than Arabica trees, while also having a higher level of acidity. "Arbuckle has never and will never purchase and roast Robusta coffee beans," said Josh. Arabica beans are considered well worth the extra time and cost.
Josh is committed to his father’s vision for Arbuckle: to sell only the very best specialty-grade coffees. As Denney always said, “they didn’t need to be the biggest, just the best.”
Josh misses being able to take a new coffee blend to his dad for his opinion. But his dad’s passion for coffee and the uncanny ability to pick up flavors in the coffee lives on in his roasting team. Their roast masters share the passion for creating the finest coffee, with each team member having 2 to 3 decades of roasting experience.
The team carries on the practice of cupping and comparing notes to validate the taste profile. Once roasted, the team allows the coffee to cool down properly in a proprietary method different from most commercial-grade roasters. Each varietal coffee gets a custom roast with a carefully selected temperature that brings out the very best traits in that particular coffee’s flavor profile.
“With some of the competition’s coffees, the flavor profile changes after cooling. Some competitors’ coffees will turn sour, others get an undesirable woodsy aftertaste. Our coffees maintain their superior flavor as they cool down.”
The roasting team keeps a database going back 25 years for every coffee they have ever roasted and continue to refine their expertise.
Tucson is fortunate to have the brand history, expertise and trade secrets for producing the finest coffees. Arbuckle was the first distributor in Tucson to be roasting their own coffee and is still the largest roaster in Southern Arizona. Not only is it served in many of Tucson’s premier restaurants, it is also shipped to locations throughout the United States and even to some international customers. For more information, visit www.arbucklecoffee.com