Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) and Eight O’Clock Coffee Company) announced on 3 May a multiyear agreement to make Eight O’Clock coffee, Tetley tea, and Good Earth tea available in K-Cup and Vue packs for Keurig Single Cup Brewing systems. In a joint
statement, Eight O’Clock Coffee Company and GMCR said that they plan to make a select offering of Eight O’Clock coffee K-Cup packs available through in-home and away-from-home channels, as well as on GMCR’s consumer direct websites, www.Keurig.com and www.GreenMountainCoffee.com, throughout the U.S. and Canada beginning in Fall 2012. In the U.S, Tetley teas, and in the U.S. and Canada, Good Earth teas intend to join the K-Cup pack collection in 2013.
“For generations, millions of coffee lovers have enjoyed brewing the fresh taste of high-quality Eight O'Clock coffee. Now they will have a whole new, convenient way to make America's original gourmet coffee with Keurig, America's favorite single cup brewing system,” says David Allen, Sr. VP, Sales & Marketing at Tata Beverage Group’s US Region. “We look forward to working with GMCR to make the top-selling whole bean coffee brand into a successful single cup coffee.”
Eight O’Clock coffee is best known for its #1-selling whole bean coffees in grocery, according to a Nielsen poll of 52 weeks ending 31 March 2012.
“This new relationship will provide Keurig brewer owners with additional choice by having Eight O’Clock coffee, Tetley tea, and Good Earth® tea readily available for their brewers,” says Lawrence J. Blanford, GMCR President and CEO. “With this agreement, we are excited to once again deliver upon our promise of supplying unsurpassed quality, variety, and convenience in the Keurig system.”
GMCR’s Keurig Single Cup Brewers for in-home and office use utilize patented, innovative brewing and single-cup technology to deliver a fresh-brewed, perfect cup of coffee, tea, or cocoa every time at just the touch of a button. According to the NPD Group, Keurig Single Cup Brewers were the top four bestselling coffee makers during GMCR’s fiscal second quarter 2012 by dollar sales.
Eight O'Clock Coffee Company is a member of the Tata Global Beverages family of brands, the same company that announced a retail partnership with Starbucks to enter the Indian coffee chain market.