- Postum
Postum was a powdered
roasted grain beverage sold by theKraft Foods company as acoffee substitute . Thecaffeine -free beverage mix was created by company founderC. W. Post in 1895 and produced and marketed by Postum Cereal Company as a healthy alternative to coffee. Post was a student of Dr.John Harvey Kellogg who believedcaffeine to be unhealthy. Postum was made fromwheat bran ,wheat ,molasses , andmaltodextrin from corn. It was discontinued in Autumn of 2007. [cite web | author=Sara Israelsen-Hartley | title=Fans in withdrawal from coffee substitute Postum | url=http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695240438,00.html | work=Deseret Morning News | date=1 January 2008| accessdate=2008-03-01] [cite news | author=Taashi Rowe | title=Goodbye to Postum | url=http://news.adventist.org/data/2008/1200610280/index.html.en | work=Adventist News | date=22 January 2008| accessdate=2008-03-01]Before being discontinued in October of 2007, it was sold in the USA and Canada. The Canadian packaging included English, as well as French, on the label. The 8 oz. (226g) glass jar contained about 75 teaspoon servings. This 10 calorie beverage was caffeine free, fat free, trans-fat free, sodium free, and Kosher. In addition to the original flavor, there was also a coffee-flavored version.
In the wake of its discontinuance, a number of replica recipes for Postum have circulated across the Internet. [http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1630,149185-250198,00.html]
Postum was sometimes marketed by an invisible cartoon ghost named, "Mister Coffee Nerves", who would appear in situations wherein normal human characters were shown in uncomfortable life-situations (e.g. irritability, lack of sleep, loss of athletic prowess) due to their use of coffee and its negative effects. These cartoons always ended with the humans switching to Postum and Mister Coffee Nerves running away until the next cartoon. [cite web | author=James Lileks | title=The Adventures of Mr. Coffee Nerves | url=http://www.lileks.com/comics/coffeenerves/index.html | publisher=Lileks.com | date= | accessdate=2008-03-01]
It was also a sponsor for the radio show "
Lum and Abner ".References
External links
* [http://www.posttexas.com/zCWPost.htm A biography of C.W. (Charles William) Post]
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