[Freedom4US]

I did find some excellent, extensive articles, btw, about coffee and the civil war, with letters from home, and issued amounts, (about 1.6 oz a day was the ration) and the problems on both sides obtaining it. It was absolutely crucial by all accounts. I've found no mention whatsoever about any dried coffee or any other form of it other than bean coffee or sometimes roasted and ground. That's not to say it didn't exist, it just had to wait for later wars. It still sucks even today, coffee is one of those things that doesn't handle freeze drying very well at all.

[Cold Heart]

It wasn’t dried coffee it was called extract of coffee and had consistency of axle grease.

The coffee was brewed as normal, water was extracted from the brew and then added to Borden’s recently patented sweetened condensed milk. Packed in tins it was sent out to the troops who only needed hot water.