Eight O'Clock Coffee - Everything Old Is New Again

When you see a resurgence in popular culture of the things that you have known about all your life, does that mean you're getting older or hipper?

The "Mad Men" television series is giving rise to a whole new generation of folks who are discovering things we already knew about - like Eight O'Clock Coffee.

When I started drinking it in the '80s, it was referred to as "Eight O'Clock Bean," and it was pretty hard to find outside of the East Coast and South.  Now, it's all over the country.

And I'm not complaining.  While a bit pricier than your typical grocery store brand, I love the fact that I can get it in whole bean variety and also the fact that it's always fresh.  It's also always good.  You could say it's "dependable."

This Saturday morning as I enjoy the original roast, I'm playing a little game with myself, trying to remember what I was doing when I used to drink it regularly.  That's the fun part.  The not so fun part - I can't remember a whole lot about what I was doing when I was drinking Eight-O-Clock Coffee in the '80s, because after all, it was the '80s.

So, the really fun part is that now I get to recreate new memories of Eight-O'Clock.  Feels good.

Trivia:  Eight O'Clock Coffee is the brand name of the light roast of coffee introduced by the American supermarket chain A&P in 1859. In 1919, the roast was renamed and given its current trademark.  The company supposedly derived the name by conducting a survey asking people what time of day they drank coffee most. The majority of those surveyed reported that they typically drank coffee at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., which is why company went with the name "Eight O'Clock Coffee."

In 2005, Eight O'Clock was acquired by India's Tata Coffee. 

The Eight O'Clock Coffee company is headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey and manufactures its coffee in Landover, Maryland.  (Source:  Wikipedia)