Postum was invented by Charley Post as a coffee alternative. Post, also the inventor of Grape-Nuts and the founder of Post Cereals (Not Post Consumer Foods) hated caffeine and wanted Americans to drink his Postum instead. In fact, Post originally began his company, the Postum Cereal Company to market Postum, made from wheat bran and molasses. Amazingly, the genesis of his idea was owed to Kellog and Post’s time at Kellog’s Battle Creek Sanitarium. Using slogans such as “If Coffee Don’t Agree, Use Postum Food Coffee,” Post called coffee a poisonous drug, erroneously comparing caffeine to cocaine, morphine, nicotine, and even strychnine. The inventor had a dark little secret though. He was never able to kick his own caffeine habit.
Can You Still Get Postum?
Postum was discontinued in 2007 when Kraft acquired General Foods. In 2012, Eliza’s Quest Foods, out of Charlotte, North Carolina, purchased Postum, and is now marketing the product in an original, cocoa, and “coffee” flavor. The plain version is forumlated a bit different than the original.
Postum, in its day, actually tasted quite good, in my opinion. It was no coffee substitute, though, which explains why old Charley was never able to give up his morning joe.
Other Coffee Substitutes
There is more than one coffee substitute, of course. Chicory has long been used as a substitute for coffee. In fact, you may want to try coffee with chicory. Pero is a coffee-like beverage make from barley, malted barley, chicory, and rye. Pero is the only product mentioned on this page beside Postum that I have tried and it has become a regular hot beverage for me. I would recommend it for those who really want to quit drinking coffee or just for anyone who wants a different kind of hot beverage to enjoy. While it is definitely coffee-like, more-so than the original Postum, I would point out that those who have always put sugar and milk in their coffee, as I have, may have an easier time accepting this and other such products as “coffee” than those who prefer their coffee black. However, I enjoy it for its own sake. For Pero or any other such product, you must adjust the amount of powder you use to get the taste you prefer. Don’t be a stickler for instructions!
Kaffree Roma has a similar formula to Pero, without the rye, while Cafix contains roasted barley, rye, chicory, and sugar beets. There are several others, all of which use barley as a base grain, along with rye, chicory, and additional ingredients. Inka coffee drink contains the same ingredients as Cafix, above.
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