It's Eight O' Clock

Eight O' Clock Coffee

How many of you remember this? How many of you remember where it came from? That's right, the A & P - short for the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. The stores still exist, mostly in the northeast - Pennsylvania up through Connecticut. If there's no store near you, though, you can still shop online. Which is a good thing, especially if you like their coffee.

Consumer Reports recently ranked the Eight O' Clock 100% Colombian coffee #1 in a taste-test of 19 coffees. I didn't even know it still existed, but I found some yesterday at Target. Instead of the 100% Colombian beans, however, I bought the regular blend - it's the one I remember. When I was growing up, my mother always had a percolator full of it on tap, and she almost always had a cup of it in her hands.

This morning, I decided to make a pot for myself. I also decided to make something to go with it - a gluten-free vanilla cake. I had a mix that I had not tried, so this was a good time to test it. I also went berry-wild at Costco yesterday (more on that in my next post), and had some fresh raspberries to put on top of the cake.

Costco had strawberries, too.

While the coffee was brewing (I don't have a percolator), I decided to fancy things up a bit. I got out a china cup, and a nice plate. I would have a tea party of one (no relation to the one being planned in Chicago).

Cake and Coffee

It was a great success. The cake and raspberries were delicious and the coffee tasted as I had remembered. In fact, it reminded me of the kind of coffee one gets at fancy hotels or resorts. Which is not to everyone's taste, I know. Sort of on the mild side. Which was perfect for my breakfast retreat.