A Cuppa Joe

It’s National Joe Day. The origins of National Joe Day are as obscure as the day itself. Does it celebrate people named Joe? Or the average guy – “just another Joe”? Or, as WC chooses to interpret it, WC’s beverage of choice, a cup coffee?

But treating National Joe Day as a celebration of coffee just raises another question: why is coffee sometimes called “Joe”?

WC has heard at least five separate explanations of why coffee is Joe.

Andy Warhol’s “Martinson Coffee”

1. Joe Martinson Coffee trademarked the term “cup of joe,” suggesting that the slang term might come from the company’s early years. Martinson Coffee was founded in New York in 1898 by Joe Martinson, who reportedly had a larger-than-life personality, so possibly coffee may have locally been called “Joe’s coffee” or a “cup of joe.” As the company grew, “cup of joe” could have expanded from a local nickname to a more widely used term by the 1930s. Most people today are unfamiliar with Martinson Coffee, but the company is a classic: as you can see: Andy Warhol liked to paint their cans.

Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 1914

2. In 1914, Secretary of the Navy Josephus “Joe” Daniels banned alcohol from all U.S. Navy ships. As this was close to the start of World War I, many young men would soon find themselves aboard a ship where the strongest drink available was coffee, or a “cup of Joe.” But Daniel’s ban would have had little practical impact; alcohol wasn’t widely available on U.S. Navy ships at the time. When boarding dry ships, only men from “wet” ships serving grog would have felt the ban’s effects. Referring to coffee as a “cup of joe” would be one way to voice dissent and disapprovement without directly criticizing the Secretary of the Navy This theory is dubious because it doesn’t account for the twenty-year gap between Daniels’ ban and the rise of “cup of joe” in the 1930s.

B-25 Mitchell World War II Bomber Nose Art

3. Linguists sometimes argue that Joe is a shortened version of Jamoke. Jamoke, which was a common nickname for coffee in the 1930s, was a portmanteau of mocha and java. WC’s fellow coffee drinkers today will still be familiar with mocha (chocolate in coffee) and java (coffee from beans originating on the island of Java). Jamoke could have been shortened simply to “joe,” the kind of process that slang terms sometimes go through. Jamoke is now a trademark for coffee flavored beer. Yech. Sorry, WC has not been able to find out why the B-25 bomber was named “Big Jamoke”.

World War I Soldiers in the Trenches

4. Instant coffee was first introduced in world War I. The vendor was the G. Washington Coffee Company; G. Washington being George Washington (no relation). Soldiers would refer to their drink as a cup of George, which is what some people think is the origin of the term cup of joe. The name George was shortened to Geo, and that changed over time to Joe. This explanation ties nicely to the cognitive meaning of “cuppa Joe” today, discussed below. Apparently G. Washington instant coffee tasted pretty awful.

5. In another cognitive meaning, “Joe” refers to an average man, “the average Joe.” ” “Cup of joe” could simply be a reference to an ordinary person’s drink. The theory is that the term may have been kept alive by “joes,” or average guys, following World War II. As diners popped up in the 1940s and 50s, working men who ate their daily breakfast at these restaurants might have been served “cups of Joe.”

Take your choice among the five different origin stories to celebrate National Joe Day. WC has no preference.

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Of course, more recently, “Joe” has acquired a perjorative connotative meaning, as in very bad coffee. The t-shirt above lays it out. Mexican street coffee, for example, is mostly Joe, and approaches paint remover. A cup of Mexican street coffee from Oaxaca was so unbelievably bad WC couldn’t drink it, when it was the only coffee WC was going to get that day.

But that’s the exception. Most coffee is drinkable, and there are as many opinions of coffee quality and taste as there are coffee drinkers.

One last thing: try to drink shade-grown, bird-friendly coffee. Most Fred Meyer stores have bulk Javatopia Coffee, which is all of those things and organic besides. It makes a pretty decent brew, too. Most local Audubon chapters also sell bird-friendly coffee.

All this has made WC thirsty; WC’s gonna have to have another cuppa now.