Comments on: Postum, we hardly knew ye

Postum, we hardly knew ye

rtha — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:28:29 -0800

Postum, 1895 - 2008, RIP

Postum had a small but loyal following of Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, and assorted nonbelievers who just liked the taste. You can try the substitutes, or make your own. For the truly desperate, there's always ebay.

By: MrVisible

MrVisible — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:33:05 -0800

And thus begins my descent into post-postum depression. Or not.

By: lleachie

lleachie — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:34:52 -0800

I actually like the taste of Postum. I also, for what it's worth, like the taste of coffee, so I drink more coffee (and decaf) than I've drunk Postum. Still, I'll miss seeing its friendly label on the store shelves...

By: basicchannel

basicchannel — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:38:10 -0800

When I was a wee lad my sisters and I begged our mother to let us try this coffee stuff they drank all the time. She cooked-up a batch of Postum. Even at such an early age I knew that Postum was horseshit. I recently asked my mom why she'd given us Postum: "I thought it'd sate your curiosity." Ha ha ha! Oh, mother! What a long, strange caffeine-fueled trip it's been since then!

By: Faze

Faze — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:39:13 -0800

"George enters] GEORGE: Well it's over. It's definitely over. JERRY: She broke up with you? GEORGE: No, but I can tell she's going to. I can sense it. We had this terrible phone conversation. I was so nervous before I called I made up this whole list of things to talk about. JERRY: What was on the list? GEORGE: Let's see, How I'm very good at going in reverse in my car, why isn't Postum a more popular drink, JERRY: Yeah, Postum is under-rated..." "The Pez Dispenser" Seinfeld, Season 9

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:40:24 -0800

By: rtha

rtha — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:44:37 -0800

I've been a coffee-drinker since high school, but someone introduced me to Postum when I was in my 20s, and I liked it. I drank it for a while, and then forgot about it for several years. Rediscovered it a year or so ago, and it was a perfect before-bed hot drink: rich, but not sweet or caffeinated. I'll miss you, Postum.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:06:12 -0800

This gets an obit post but we were all silent when Polaroid killed instant film last month? :( Sorry, Postum, no dot for you!

By: nímwunnan

nímwunnan — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:11:49 -0800

man, that reads like an Onion article.

By: nímwunnan

nímwunnan — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:12:24 -0800

So will people be suffereing Postum Partum depression?

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:25:33 -0800

Postum? Nah, I just comment on 'em. *Brought to you by rich, chocolatey Ovaltine*

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:26:33 -0800

Bought Postum once, out of curiosity. It seemed low-level kitschy. Had about 1/4 of the jar. Left rest of jar untouched for a couple of years. Threw out. Wondered what all the hubbub had been. (I don't own a fedora.) Same thing happened to a large bottle of Moxie.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:27:26 -0800

You call this postum‽

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:28:03 -0800

If Postum posted, would postum post 'em postumostuously?

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:30:35 -0800

Man, the Arial interrobang looks horrible at this font size.

By: jedicus

jedicus — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:45:28 -0800

If you're curious about the taste and your local grocery store is already out, eBay has you covered, for now at least. My grandfather was one of those who just liked the taste. Of course he was also a life long smoker and had had his salivary glands removed, so go figure. I didn't much care for it myself.

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:45:39 -0800

My dad went on postum somewhere in his I'm switching from a balls out bottle of Bacardi, two spliffs and a Cohiba a night hippie to an old man period, he went back on the occasional cup of joe eventually. In the time Postum was featured in my house I would steal sips of it, I was curious because I was allowed weak coffee (my mom is a swede) since I was young, I thought I'd like Postum too. It tasted like depression. Bad depression and the unwashed back seat of a taxi cab.

By: LastOfHisKind

LastOfHisKind — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:51:15 -0800

Well, dang. I actually like Postum and this explains why I've not been able to find any at the store for quite a while. If people are really paying $25/bottle for leftover supplies on eBay, surely somebody ought to be able to buy the license and make this stuff at a (small) profit.

By: uncleozzy

uncleozzy — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:03:03 -0800

Same thing happened to a large bottle of Moxie. That's a waste of some perfectly good tonic right there.

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:26:57 -0800

I'm still bummed that Lawry's took Spatini off the market. I'll try to rustle up a little outrage for Postum too but I don't know if I have it in me. (I kind of want to try Postum now though. I don't drink coffee and I can't handle a lot of caffeine anymore so I'm always on the lookout for hot drink alternatives. Too late.)

By: 445supermag

445supermag — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:35:28 -0800

There's always Chickory (or Ovaltine, which I only drink because of Young Frankenstein)

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:17:46 -0800

rtha, even though I didn't like Postum, I sympathize with your and others' loss in having a liked product discontinued. There've been a number of things I really enjoyed over the years and when the product was radically changed (Paul Mitchell's The Conditioner is now like cheap glue with that damn awapui bs and it used to incredible stuff with real keratin) or went off the market, like the one liquid blush I ever used, or the perfect stain remover, FDS Clean and Gentle now gone, it was so disappointing. Top 5 Coffee Substitutes l Java without the Jive I mainline a teaspoon of instant Cafe Bustelo (the cocaine of coffees) once in the morning. True rocket fuel. Not advisable after noon or one won't sleep till 4am. At night I recommend black tea, or milk with Indian seasonings (cardamom, pepper, clove), (available at Kalustyans, 331T434 Tea Masala), one bag lasts a year. Or there're those ancient faves, Horlicks and Ovaltine

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:23:08 -0800

well, i'm glad you managed to find a story about this, as my hometown paper's website doesn't seem to have a word about it god, the battle creek enquirer sucks

By: tellurian

tellurian — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:29:26 -0800

My Mormon auntie was more of a Carob gal. The death of Postum has certainly given this blog post a new lease of life.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:26:26 -0800

Never even knew what it was. Until now it existed in my mind wholly undefined, as a part of the phrase "Cafix and Postum", with an association of being old-fashioned, maybe a Monty Burns kind of thing? I just looked up Cafix. A night of education.

By: breezeway

breezeway — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:39:14 -0800

I just bought the last two cases of Postum in Queens. See you in hell, motherfuckers!

By: oncogenesis

oncogenesis — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:51:12 -0800

Noooooooooooo! Like some others here, as a child I was given Postum in lieu of coffee. Apparently, Postum was big with the WWII generation due to coffee rationing. I continued to drink it through adolescence and young adulthood, much to the amusement of my sophisticated friends. I have about half a jar sitting in the pantry now. One of my favorite bedtime snacks is a slice of buttered raisin toast and a cup of Postum with milk and sugar. True comfort food. The world I growed up in is gone. :-(

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:10:18 -0800

Wherever will Mr. Coffee Nerves find employment now?

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:17:22 -0800

Maybe he can be Mr. Faces of Meth, or something like that.

By: 1

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:41:40 -0800

Good lord, $40 for an eight ounce jar on Amazon right now. FIVE LEFT IN STOCK. This is going to break my parents' hearts.

By: Tube

Tube — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:13:11 -0800

I thought Postum was what you used to wash down Ayds diet candy.

By: ph00dz

ph00dz — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:11:11 -0800

My folks also drank that stuff when I was growing up. I've gotta tell ya -- never tempted to try it. Ever.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:25:19 -0800

Hmmm. I've got a jar of this stuff in a kitchen cupboard, I think -- bought it on a whim and never got around to trying it. Forty bucks for an eight-ounce jar? It's a start....

By: uncleozzy

uncleozzy — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:11:24 -0800

instant Cafe Bustelo There's something about "instantáneo" coffee that makes it sound muy macho. Certainly more so than "instant" coffee.

By: malaprohibita

malaprohibita — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:49:07 -0800

I vaguely remember Postum from my hybrid Seventh Day Adventist childhood. Put some cream and sugar in it, and it might not have been that bad.

By: ObscureReferenceMan

ObscureReferenceMan — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:51:03 -0800

I remember my parents had a jar of Postum in the kitchen cabinet when I was a kid (60's). Never tasted it, though. When I got my first "real" job, I noticed one of the engineers had a jar at his desk. And there was a reference to Postum in the Shel Silverstein poem "Don't Bump the Glump". This is oddly sad news.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:22:02 -0800

"instantáneo" uncleozzy, you're right. Bustelo is genuinely macho, it's Cuban. It's probably what kept Fidel chugging. Ayds diet candy Omg, Granny's bedroom night table came back in a flash. I remember those caramels! Just wikipediaed it, yikes, The active ingredient in the candy as reported by the New York Times was phenylpropanolamine, presumably to reduce the sense of taste to reduce eating. It stopped one from tasting? That's sad. This posthumous Postum partum post has offered so much fun mileage. Can't believe there's been so many laughs in an obit thread about a vintage "nighttime beverage". It's lovely to read the down memory drain comments of either old fart MeFites like myself or people who remember the old farts. I wonder how many of us there are in the blue woodwork? In a way the web is so cool in transcending age and yet once in a while when people remember stuff from a few decades ago, it's so cool to feel a sense of continuity, the river of time or whatever. Oh man, lol with aww, Divine_Wino, that was a Charles Bukowski of a comment. It tasted like depression. Bad depression and the unwashed back seat of a taxi cab. When I was writing my comment last night about discontinued products, I was mourning the loss of Fracas perfume by Robert Piguet, which did a Lazarus after a few years off the market, except now it smells like the Woolworth's version. Another thing that poofed off the market was an absolutely marvelous, unlike any other perfume I've smelled, favorite perfume of the last five years (fir balsam, lavender, bergamot, cedar, patchouli and vanilla), something called Plateau by Carapan. In checking out the spelling I discovered that it's on the market again, spoke to the owner on the phone, it's the exact same ingredients as before. Oh frabjous day! er *ahem* regains mourning posture for Postum.

By: msalt

msalt — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:48:18 -0800

Thank the Goddess that Tab still survives. College for me will always conjure up Sobranis and rum and TaBs. I thought they were both disgusting, but still....

By: nanojath

nanojath — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:55:58 -0800

While ObitFilter has often given me that "wow, I had no idea they were still alive!" feeling, this is the first time I've experienced it on behalf of an inanimate object. Totally thought Postum went out some time around 1958.