Week 21 2024

Camp Coffee

Camp Coffee has been made in Scotland since 1885 and was said to have originated when the Highlanders requested a coffee drink which could be brewed up easily by the army on field campaigns in India.

The makers of Camp Coffee had to change the label on their famous jars – after complaints of racism.

Early labels showed the Indian apparently serving the kilted soldier which provoked a storm of protest from race equality groups who claimed at the time that the label delivered “an offensive and racist” message.

As an interim move the firm removed the tray from the servant’s hand but today the label depicts the Gordon Highlander officer sitting side by side drinking coffee with a turbaned Sikh as an equal – no longer promoting the master-servant Days of the Raj message.