8 O'Clock Coffee
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Eight O'Clock Coffee is an American brand of coffee products currently manufactured by the Eight O'Clock Coffee Company, of
North Bergen, New Jersey North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 63,361, an increase of 2,588 (+4.3%) from the 2010 census count of 60,773, ...
, a subsidiary of
Tata Consumer Products Tata Consumer Products Limited is an Indian fast-moving consumer goods company and a part of the Tata Group. Its registered office is located in Kolkata while its corporate headquarters is in Mumbai. It is the world's second-largest manufacture ...
; its coffee production plant is in
Landover, Maryland Landover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 25,998. Landover is contained between Sheriff Road and Central Avenue to the ...
. It has owned Eight O'Clock Coffee since 2006. Eight O'Clock Coffee was created by
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain store, chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States (and, until ...
(later A&P) in 1859, in the latter company's founding year. Despite selling off the brand in 2003, A&P continued to sell Eight O'Clock Coffee in its family of stores until the supermarkets closed in late 2015. Eight O'Clock is also sold in other supermarkets across the country.


History

A&P was established as "Gilman & Company" in 1859, and began selling bags of whole bean coffee, in time informally referred to as "Eight O'Clock Breakfast Coffee". In 1919 the coffee was finally given an official name, "8 O'Clock", alongside the two other brands in the A&P line, premium
Bokar Lhoba (English translation: ; ; ) is any of a diverse amalgamation of Sino-Tibetan-speaking tribespeople living in and around Pemako, a region in southeastern Tibet including Mainling, Medog and Zayü counties of Nyingchi and Lhünzê Count ...
and mid-level Red Circle. A&P had supposedly conducted a survey asking people what time of day they drank coffee most, with the highest responses being 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.. A&P then smartly removed the word "Breakfast" from the informal name. 8 O’Clock coffee received a Gold Medal at the 1926 Sesquicentennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, distinguishing it from its competition. This resulted in A&P shifting its advertising emphasis to it, and the first major redesign in packaging. The 1927-1933 design changed the '8' to 'Eight' and prominently displayed a reproduction of the Sesquicentennial gold medal. By 1930, Eight O'Clock was the most popular brand of coffee in the United States, with over a quarter of the nation's market share in that decade. In the autumn of 1933, packaging was redesigned again to reflect the then-popular
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
style. These changes introduced the distinctive font used on the packaging for nearly 70 years. To boost sales and reinforce the repackaging effort, similarly-styled coffee mills were installed in stores, a great convenience for customers.) By the late 1950s, however, A&P began a decline it was never to recover from. The deaths of George L. and John A. Hartford, the last two surviving children of George H. Hartford who shepherded the chain to prominence, failed to yield a capable successor. The next two decades were marked by contraction, including closing stores and leaving some mass U.S. markets to more vigorous competition. Seeking to expand its revenues in spite of the contraction of its
bricks-and-mortar Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory product ...
stores, in 1979 the company licensed its branding division, Compass Foods, Inc., to sell Eight O'Clock Coffee to other retailers, ''including competing supermarket chains''. Interested in the cash, A&P's investors spun off the Eight O'Clock Coffee brand in 2003 to Gryphon Investors, a private equity firm based in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, which then established the independent Eight O'Clock Coffee Company. After introducing its own line of coffee, the company was sold by Gryphon to
Tata Global Beverages Tata Consumer Products Limited is an Indian fast-moving consumer goods company and a part of the Tata Group. Its registered office is located in Kolkata while its corporate headquarters is in Mumbai. It is the world's second-largest manufacture ...
in 2006. In 2009
Consumer Reports Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded ...
rated Eight O'Clock Coffee's 100 percent Colombian brew as the "best buy" for ground brews, not only beating well-known mass-market brands such as
Folgers Folgers is an American brand of coffee produced and sold in the United States, with additional distribution in Asia, Canada and Mexico. It forms part of the food and beverage division of The J.M. Smucker Company. Folgers roasts its coffee in ...
and
Maxwell House Maxwell House is an American brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Heinz in North America and JDE Peet's in the rest of the world. Introduced in 1892 by wholesale grocer Joel Owsley Cheek, it was named in honor of the Ma ...
but high-end industry bar-setting
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...
. On August 8, 2013, the entire Eight O'Clock Coffee line was revamped with new packaging and new flavors.


Coffee products

Until 2003, Eight O'Clock Coffee only came in original whole bean. Packaged in an all-red bag, the coffee could be ground at A&P stores by consumers using convenient grinders.


The 2003 lineup

From 2003 until August 8, 2013, Eight O'Clock Coffee line included eleven variants, including decaffeinated and flavored, all in bags, both whole bean and ground. Originally in all-color bags, the packaging was changed in 2010 to white bags with color coding. The 2003 coffee line, which was refreshed in 2010, was as follows: * Original * Decaf Original * 100% Colombian * Decaf 100% Colombian * Bokar (discontinued in 2012) * French Roast * Dark Italian Roast * 50% Decaf * Hazelnut * French Vanilla * Mocha


The 2013 lineup

The lineup as of August 8, 2013, was split up into three categories:


Beginnings

* The Original – whole Bean, ground and K-Cup * Dark Italian Espresso – ground * Dark Italian Roast – whole bean and K-Cup * French Roast – whole bean and ground * The Original Decaf – whole bean, ground and K-Cup * 50% Decaf – whole bean and ground


Explorations

* Colombian Peaks – whole bean, ground and K-Cup * Central Highlands – whole bean * African Plains – ground


Expressions

* Hazelnut – whole bean, ground and K-Cup * French Vanilla – whole bean and ground * Caramel Macchiato – ground * Chocolate Mint – ground * Dark Chocolate Cherry (Seasonal) – ground * Cinnamon Bun (Seasonal) – ground In 2013 flavors were packaged in identical red bags, returning to Eight O'Clock's traditional pre-2003 look.


References


External links

* {{The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company Drink companies of the United States Coffee brands Products introduced in 1919 The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company Food and drink companies based in Maryland Food and drink companies based in New Jersey Tata Consumer Products American subsidiaries of foreign companies