Amid the hustle and bustle of life, one is guaranteed to find peace in a cup of coffee. Now, it seems, it is also possible to find eternal rest in the tin.

Inspired by the film The Bucket List, in which Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman star as cancer patients whose ashes are interred in coffee cans on Mount Everest, consumers are turning to one of America's oldest roasting companies instead of their local undertakers to assist with funeral arrangements.

Chock Full O'Nuts, the company whose coffee features in the story, is reporting a stream of letters from fans of the film who want to use its tins as burial urns for themselves or their loved ones. The product has been marketed for 75 years as “the heavenly coffee”.

Tom Hale, 61, who has terminal colon cancer, told The Times: “I came out of this film and I said to my wife, 'You know, you should get me a coffee tin. It'll save spending money on an urn.'”

The couple live in Ontario, Canada, and were unable to buy the American brand used in the film, so Mrs Hale wrote to Chock Full O'Nuts. The company, at first reluctant to assist for fear that it would seem in bad taste, eventually sent her six cans. Mr Hale, who has three children, said: “She'll probably keep me on the mantelpiece, some place the boys don't go throwing me out.”

Heather Simpson, 34, of Michigan, wrote to the company, saying: “My dad died of cancer and it would be fitting to put him in a coffee can, as he was an avid coffee drinker.”

Mark Crain, 47, from Florida, stores his 22-year-old son Michael's ashes in a coffee tin, saying that he would have appreciated the thought: “He had a great sense of humour.”

The Bucket List tells the story of Carter Chambers, a mechanic played by Freeman, and Edward Cole, a millionaire played by Nicholson, who become friends while being treated for cancer. They compile a list of ambitions, such as skydiving and climbing the Pyramids, and embark on a quest to fulfil them.

Chambers' final remaining wish to “witness something truly majestic” is fulfilled after his death, when his ashes are buried at the top of Everest in a battered Chock Full O'Nuts tin. Cole's ashes are placed alongside years later.

John Boyle, chief operating officer of the firm's parent company, Massimo Zanetti Beverage, said: “We are humbled by the requests we have received from people wanting to incorporate our coffee cans into their personal end-of-life decisions.”

Mr Hale, who was told two years ago that he had four months to live, has now turned down a summer of chemotherapy to tour British Columbia with his wife, inspired by the film's characters.

“We're not going to get around the world in a Lear jet, but we're going to see some things we've never seen,” he said. “It's ironic that when I'm gone I'll be in a coffee can because I haven't drunk the stuff in 30 years.”

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