1881—Steele & Price, Chicago, are the first to introduce all-paper cans (made of strawboard) for coffee.
1881—C.S. Phillips, Brooklyn, is granted three patents in the United States for aging and maturing coffee.
1881—The Emmericher Machinenfabrik und Eisengiesserei at Emmerich, Germany, begins the manufacture of a closed globular roaster with a gas-heater attachment.
1881—Jabez Burns is granted a United States patent on an improved construction of his roaster, comprising a turn-over front head, serving for both feeding and discharging.
1881—The Morgan brothers, Edgar H. and Charles, begin the manufacture of household coffee mills, subsequently acquired (1885) by the Arcade Manufacturing Co., Freeport, Ill.
1881—Francis B. Thurber, New York, publishes the second important American work on coffee, Coffee from Plantation to Cup.
1881—Harvey Ricker, Brooklyn, introduces to the trade a "minute" coffee pot and urn, known as the Boss, name subsequently changed to Minute, and later improved and patented (1901) as the Half Minute coffee pot—a filtration device employing a cotton sack with a thick bottom.
1881—New York Coffee Exchange is incorporated.
1882—Chris. Abele, New York, is granted a atent in the United States on an improvement on a coffee roaster, similar to the original Burns machine (on which the 1864 patent had expired) known as the Knickerbocker.
1882—The Hungerfords, father and son, bring out a coffee roaster, similar to the first Burns machine, in competition with Chris. Abele.