At the peak of its business, Commonwealth Foods Inc.,
producer of Instant CAFÉ PURO, held the distinction as the First and Largest
Coffee Plant in the Far East, with the Biggest in Sales in the Philippines.
It’s flagship brand CAFÉ PUROand its variants Le Café and Café Bueno, was a
market and industry leader, known for its professionally-done advertising, and
the regular consumer promotions.
Instant CAFÉ PURO was a leader in packaging innovation,
the first to come out in glass jars with plastic caps—that were actually,
usable decorative drinking glasses. These premiums had added-appeal to
consumers, as you not only get coffee, you also get to keep the glass that you
can use daily, so you can be regularly reminded of the coffee brand that gave
it away to you—Free.
The most popular CAFÉ PURO collectibles that added
immensely to the brand’s success were exclusively designed glasses that often
came in sets. Chief among these were the CRYSTAL GLASS Collection, which
featured applied “starlight” designs, with a flip-off plastic cap. These first
came out in 1966, advertised on weekend and women’ magazines.
The CRYSTAL GLASS promo was so successful that the next
year, the FOLK DANCE glass series was launched, which proved to be their
biggest packaging promo ever. These were the first truly collectible glasses,
that also came with matching shakers and pitchers. Each carried an ACL (applied
color label) design of the country’s famous folk dances, rendered in stylizes
drawings.
Singkil, Tahing Baila, Maglalatik, Itik-Itik and
Tinikling were among the illustrated dances that were featured on the glass. To
this day, these Café Puro FOLK DANCE series are sought after by advertising collectibles
fans. (see separate article about these glasses on this blog.)
In 1968, a more premium-looking glass set was offered;
The Instant Café Puro RAINBOW GLASS collection. The colors of the rainbow are
all aglow in the glasses with gradating vivid hues of Orange, Yellow, Blue,
Violet, Green and Purple.
Unfortunately for CAFÉ PURO, Nescafe, which initially
came out in unsightly tin cans, improved on the packaging idea, and came out
with their own glass collection that became truly classic—the straight-sided clear
diamond-cut glass. Where Café Puro was giving out large glass jars with tin
caps, Nescafe was offering classy 4-sided mutli-purpose glass canisters with
glass and plastic stoppers. Simple and durable, sales took off for Nescafe, and
the drinking glass and glass canisters became ubiquitous in homes, office canteens, food stalls and wayside
carinderias. With its massive market budget, product line extensions, and
coffee expertise, Nescafe would bypass CAFÉ PURO by the 70s.,
That being so, CAFÉ PURO remains a beloved brand,
remembered for its full-bodied aroma and taste, as we as for its glass
giveaways, which, in their time, were
the most attractive, well-made utilitarian tableware that every housewife would
be proud to own.
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