MJB Coffee: Coffee Perfect for Your Coffee Break

These include their basics:

• MJB Morning Roast
• MJB Decaffeinated
• 100% Colombian

and their 'premium coffees:

• MJB Premium
• MJB 1/2 Caff
• MJB European Roast
• MJB Hawaiian Blend

It's unlikely that you have ever heard of Massimo Zanetti Beverages! Right? But the brand MJB coffee is certainly more familiar to you now! Massimo Zanetti's is actually the owner of this popular brand.

MJB: West Coast Start

MJB Coffee was named after a 19th century coffee importer, Max J. Brandenstein. Coffee was an important part of the economy in those days and Brandenstein saw an opportunity after the Gold Rush for San Francisco to become the center of coffee importing and roasting in the United States.

So in 1881, he began producing coffee and in 1899 he established the M.J. Brandenstein Company. It was later shortened to MJB in order to disguise the German-Jewish origins of Max and his brothers Charlie, Eddie and Mannie.

Although originally based in San Francisco, MJB coffee was and is very popular mainly throughout the Western United States and Western Canada.

MJB: Driving Force

MJB coffee was a driving force in the coffee industry in its day. It was famous for its ad campaigns that gave out prizes such as tickets to boxing matches and painted signs all over San Francisco. The company built an ultramodern coffee house to display and the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition that featured a huge cup and saucer on its roof.

MJB is no longer owned by the Brandenstein family. Nestle bought it in 1985 and sold it to Sara Lee Corporation in 1999. In 2005, Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group bought MJB along with several other coffee companies.

MJB Range of Coffee Blends

MJB produces its Premium blend along with Hawaiian Blend, European Roast and 100% Columbian.

The Hawaiian coffee has 10% Kauai coffee beans grown in rich volcanic soils, roasted to an beautiful amber color. It is sweet with notes of fruit that are barely there but tease the palate. It is a solid cup of coffee with no nonsense, no real intensity but ultimately satisfying. Professional coffee cuppers have said that they could easily mistake this coffee for a fine, whole bean specialty blend.

MJB's Premium blend is a medium-light roast with a wood and cocoa aroma when brewing. It makes a bittersweet brew that tastes just like it smells. It has a salty sweet finish that doesn't linger.

The European roast is a smooth, pleasant coffee with a wonderful aroma. It has been compared to Starbucks without the burnt-bean taste and is even better if you use one scoop per cup; you get a strong, full-bodied cup of coffee with a great flavor and no bitter aftertaste.

MJB is a medium priced coffee that is quite good. Good coffee like MJB doesn't have to be expensive—most coffee companies use beans from the same plantations and estates but market it with different graphics and prices.

The less expensive coffees just tend to put less cost into their packaging. The main thing to look for is 100% Arabica beans; coffee that blends in low-quality Robusta beans will not taste as good as the cheapest coffee that uses only Arabica beans. MJB has a reputation for buying good beans and roasting them properly.

Found in...

Although MJB ground coffee is found mostly in the Western United States and Canada, it is available by special order through most large chain grocery stores. You can also order it online through various retailers.

Have you ever found MJB coffee in your supermarket? What kind of coffee did it make for you? How did you like it?

And finally...

Wherever you are, remember "Only Coffee Beans Make Great Coffee"! And enjoy that cup of coffee!

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