After writing a column this week about Peet's Coffee, I was surprised at the reader interest and feedback about the line and its connection to Starbucks.
In fact, a few readers who attended my recent Star Plaza Theatre Cooking Show and Book Launch Party asked about Eight O'Clock Coffee since a canister was part of the set decor in our retro farm kitchen. And because I gave away a beautiful gift basket of the coffee with vintage mugs and other goodies courtesy of this age-old company.
Why this nod to this particular coffee for the launch of my third cookbook, "Further From the Farm: Family Recipes and Memories of a Lifetime?"
This happens to be our longtime favorite at the farm.
My Grandma Potempa and Auntie Lilly always preferred it, especially since the A&P store in town would grind the beans to assure the coffee was fresh and ready to be stored in the trademark Eight O'Clock Coffee red tin.
There were lots of those red metal coffee tins, later used to store all kinds of odds and ends. My parents still use them to store loose change for games of Michigan Rummy (remember that card game?) and for kibble to "feed the Kitty."
As for the history of the Eight O'Clock brand, the light-roast line was introduced by the American supermarket chain A&P in 1859. The coffee was renamed and repackaged in 1919 after the company surveyed people about "what time of day they drank coffee most."
The majority reported that they typically drank coffee at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., hence its now-famed tag.
By the 1930s, Eight O'Clock Coffee held over a quarter of the U.S. market share. In 1979, A&P finally licensed its division Compass Foods to sell Eight O'Clock coffee to other retailers including competing chains. India's Tata Coffee acquired the brand in 2005.
Today Eight O'Clock Coffee bills itself as the third largest seller of whole bean coffee in the U.S. The company is headquartered in Montvale, NJ and produces its coffee in Landover, MD.
Some favorite coffee bean personalities to "perk up" readers for the weekend:
* Actress Margaret Hamilton, famous for her role as The Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), spent her final years as a commercial pitchwoman for Maxwell House coffee. She played Cora, a shopkeeper who ONLY sold that particular brand of coffee in her store. In 1981, the 78-year-old Hamilton visited our area and stopped by The Yellow Brick Road store in Chesterton to see Jean Nelson, founder of The Wizard of Oz Festival. Nelson always says one of her greatest honors was meeting Hamilton.
* Only one other coffee-pushing character could give Hamilton's Cora a run for her money. Actress Virginia Christine, who died in 1996 at age 76, spent 21 years playing Folgers pitchwoman Mrs. Olson. She would comfort young married couples and pour them her favorite brand of coffee.
* While actor Robert Young was playing TV physician "Dr. Marcus Welby M.D." in the 1970s, he also served as the spokesman for Sanka, the decaf coffee with the bright orange label (which led restaurants to adopt orange handles on coffeepots to distinguish decaf options). In the commercial spots, Young would approach young people and ask, "Why so nervous and irritable?" He would then offer to switch their regular coffee to Sanka. With the words, "One week later. . ." appearing on screen, Young would mysteriously reappear in the person's home and find them calm and happy because of their new discovery.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at philip.potempa@nwi.com or 219.852.4327.
Today's Celebrity Birthdays
Movie critic Judith Crist is 88. Actor Michael Constantine ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "Room 222") is 83. Actor-director Richard Benjamin and actor Frank Converse are 72. Actor Michael Sarrazin and news anchor Bernard Shaw are 70. Actress Barbara Parkins ("Peyton Place," "Valley of the Dolls") is 68. Songwriter Bernie Taupin is 60. Singer Morrissey is 51. Actress Ann Cusack ("Jeff Foxworthy Show," "A League of Their Own") and bassist Dana Williams of Diamond Rio are 49. Guitarist Jesse Valenzuela of Gin Blossoms is 48. Singer Johnny Gill is 44. Bassist Dan Roberts of Crash Test Dummies is 43. Model Naomi Campbell is 40. Actress Anna Belknap is 38. Singer Donell Jones is 37.
