Maxwell House Coffee
It started in 1892 when a coffee blend that Joel Cheek came up with for the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee became so popular that the hotel owner allowed no other coffee to be served to his guests. The special blend soon came to be known as Maxwell House coffee.
Years later, specifically on August 27, 1901, Joel Cheek and John Neal, his partner, decided to form the Nashville Coffee and Manufacturing Company and started producing Maxwell House coffee even to non-guests. The company was later renamed the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company.
1907 saw the birth of the legend that President Theodore Roosevelt, while on a visit to “The Hermitage” home of Andrew Jackson in Nashville, Tennessee, was served a cup of Maxwell House coffee. His comments became catch phrase for Maxwell House coffee that it is “good to the last drop.”
On August 1, 1928, after the Cheek-Neal Company sold its assets to the Postum Company, the company changed its name to the Maxwell House Products company. But later, it changed its name again and this time, to General Foods Corporation.
General Foods Corporation became responsible for making new improvements in food packing. One of its significant developments was “vita-fresh” a new vacuum packing technique for coffee that General Foods Corporation later used on Maxwell House coffee in 1931.
A year later, General Foods Corporation purchased the Sanka Coffee Corporation and started making the instant coffee version of the Maxwell House coffee. In 1942, the U.S. armed forces received their coffee provisions with the Maxwell House coffee mark on them.
In 1950, roughly three years after the launch of the Sanka caffeine-free instant coffee, General Foods Corporation introduced a new and improved formula of Maxwell House coffee, which uses “flavor buds” to enhance the taste.
With the emergence of commercial coffee makers some time in the 1970s, General Foods Corporation also released the Maxwell House coffee (A.D.C.). In doing so, it became the first company to eve release a nationally available brand of coffee that is especially ground, blended, and roasted for use in automatic drip coffee makers.
General Foods Corporation soon joined with Kraft, Inc. to form Kraft General Foods, the largest food company in the U.S. In 1990, the Maxwell House coffee had its 100th anniversary. In line with this joyous celebration, it launched its 1892 coffee and introduced its Lite 50% Reduced Caffeine Coffee. The result was a rich, full flavor regular coffee that coffee lovers drink but with only half the caffeine.
In 2004, Maxwell House coffee presents its Café Collection coffee pods made from 100% premium Arabica beans. The pods are custom designed for the single serve home brewer, a development that represents the biggest home brewing innovation in three decades.