Mr. Coffee
Encyclopedia
Mr. Coffee is a registered trademark of Sunbeam Products, Inc. d/b/a
Jarden
Consumer Solutions. The Mr. Coffee brand manufactures automatic-drip
kitchen coffee
machines as well as other products.
maker was made available for home use. Unlike later models, this original offering with its distinctive yellow and white gingham decal used gravity to immediately pull water through a heating section and allowed to drip freely into carafe below. Later units used thermosyphons (similar to the principle operating geysers) to carry water up from a reservoir as it reached boiling point in the lift tube, identical to the percolator principle but without the endless recirculation and reheating of the coffee.
In 1973, Marotta convinced former baseball
player Joe DiMaggio
to become an advertising spokesman for the brand. This coffee maker revolutionized coffee and sold more than one million units by April 1974. Prior to this machine, coffee was primarily made in a percolator which often gave it a bitter and burned flavor. The new Mr. Coffee machine produced a much more uniform brewing
temperature
which resulted in a much better flavor.
A succession of products from 1992-1995, the Potato Perfect, the Mr. Coffee Juicer, Food Dehydrator by Mr. Coffee, Breadmaker by Mr. Coffee, and Mrs. Tea Hot Tea Maker, contributed about one-third of Mr. Coffee’s total annual sales of $174 million by 1995. In the 1980’s, Mr. Coffee endured a leveraged buyout
and two significant changes in ownership
before being acquired by Health O Meter Products, Inc. (eventually known as Signature Brands USA) in 1994.
In 1995, a variation was produced by the same company for tea
called "Mrs. Tea". The machine differed from the Mr. Coffee branded appliance only in detail as the company claims the drip process works equally well for tea as for coffee , although the result is often a darker, samovar
type of tea.
In 1998 Sunbeam Corporation
(eventually known as American Household, Inc.) purchased Signature Brands (Health o Meter and Mr. Coffee). In January 2005, Jarden acquired American Household, Inc.
as Mr. Fusion (which was actually made for the movie from a Krups
coffee maker), and in Spaceballs
as Mr. Radar and Mr. Coffee itself. It was also mentioned in The Bloodhound Gang's song "The Bad Touch
", in the full version of the Cheers
theme song, the Marah
song "Christian St." and in the title of Raymond Carver
's short story "Mr. Coffee and Mr. Fixit." A Mr. Coffee branded appliance also appeared in a scene in the film Apollo 13
. (However, a number of critics pointed out that this was technically inaccurate, since the film took place in 1970, and the Mr. Coffee branded appliance wouldn't be introduced until 1972.) In the Futurama
movie, The Beast With A Billion Backs, one character can be seen using a "Mr. Wino" machine to make wine
directly from grapes. In Hoyle Card Games 2011, Rhett said "That's worse than Mr. Coffee".
carafe rather than sitting and possibly being burned by a heating plate. This coffee maker engineered and designed by TEAMS Design
USA and the Jarden team, won a Red Star Award in 2010 and an Appliance Magazine EID Award in 2011.
More recently, Mr. Coffee has licensed the Keurig
K-cup technology to introduce a line of single serve hot beverage machines. Also recently introduced, the Mr. Coffee Cafe Latte
brews coffee as well as whips in steamed milk in one step.
Doing business as
The phrase "doing business as" is a legal term used in the United States, meaning that the trade name, or fictitious business name, under which the business or operation is conducted and presented to the world is not the legal name of the legal person who actually own it and are responsible for it...
Jarden
Jarden
Jarden Corporation, is an America conglomerate of many well-known consumer product brands in the areas of kitchen electronics, kitchen cookware, kitchen tools, gaming, arts & crafts, home storage, and clothing. In 2006, it was ranked #585 on the Fortune 1000...
Consumer Solutions. The Mr. Coffee brand manufactures automatic-drip
Drip brew
Drip brewing, or filtered coffee, is a method for brewing coffee which involves pouring water over roasted, ground coffee beans contained in a filter. Water seeps through the coffee, absorbing its oils and essences, solely under gravity, then passes through the bottom of the filter...
kitchen coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
machines as well as other products.
History
Vincent Marotta, Sr. and Samuel Glazer founded a company in Cleveland, Ohio focused on coffee delivery called North American Systems (NAS) in the early 70's. At this time, Marotta had an idea to create an automatic drip coffeemaker. Marotta and Glazer hired two former Westinghouse engineers, Edward Able and Edwin Schulze to engineer the idea. In 1972, the Mr. Coffee brand drip coffeeDrip brew
Drip brewing, or filtered coffee, is a method for brewing coffee which involves pouring water over roasted, ground coffee beans contained in a filter. Water seeps through the coffee, absorbing its oils and essences, solely under gravity, then passes through the bottom of the filter...
maker was made available for home use. Unlike later models, this original offering with its distinctive yellow and white gingham decal used gravity to immediately pull water through a heating section and allowed to drip freely into carafe below. Later units used thermosyphons (similar to the principle operating geysers) to carry water up from a reservoir as it reached boiling point in the lift tube, identical to the percolator principle but without the endless recirculation and reheating of the coffee.
In 1973, Marotta convinced former baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player Joe DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...
to become an advertising spokesman for the brand. This coffee maker revolutionized coffee and sold more than one million units by April 1974. Prior to this machine, coffee was primarily made in a percolator which often gave it a bitter and burned flavor. The new Mr. Coffee machine produced a much more uniform brewing
Coffee preparation
Coffee preparation is the process of turning coffee beans into a beverage. While the particular steps needed vary with the type of coffee desired and with the raw material being utilized, the process is composed of four basic steps; raw coffee beans must be roasted, the roasted coffee beans must...
temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
which resulted in a much better flavor.
A succession of products from 1992-1995, the Potato Perfect, the Mr. Coffee Juicer, Food Dehydrator by Mr. Coffee, Breadmaker by Mr. Coffee, and Mrs. Tea Hot Tea Maker, contributed about one-third of Mr. Coffee’s total annual sales of $174 million by 1995. In the 1980’s, Mr. Coffee endured a leveraged buyout
Leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...
and two significant changes in ownership
Ownership
Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive rights and control over property, which may be an object, land/real estate or intellectual property. Ownership involves multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different parties. The concept of ownership has...
before being acquired by Health O Meter Products, Inc. (eventually known as Signature Brands USA) in 1994.
In 1995, a variation was produced by the same company for tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
called "Mrs. Tea". The machine differed from the Mr. Coffee branded appliance only in detail as the company claims the drip process works equally well for tea as for coffee , although the result is often a darker, samovar
Samovar
A samovar is a heated metal container traditionally used to heat and boil water in and around Russia, as well as in other Central, South-Eastern, Eastern European countries,Kashmir and in the Middle-East...
type of tea.
In 1998 Sunbeam Corporation
Sunbeam Products
Sunbeam Products is an American brand that has produced electric home appliances since 1910. Their products have included the Mixmaster mixer, the Sunbeam CG waffle iron, Coffeemaster and the fully automatic T20 toaster. Sunbeam is owned by Jarden Consumer Solutions after Jarden's acquisition in...
(eventually known as American Household, Inc.) purchased Signature Brands (Health o Meter and Mr. Coffee). In January 2005, Jarden acquired American Household, Inc.
Popular culture
There have been several cultural references to the easily-parodied name. It has been parodied in the Back to the Future trilogyBack to the Future trilogy
The Back to the Future trilogy is a comedic science fiction adventure film series written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, directed by Zemeckis, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The main plot follows the adventures of a high school student Marty McFly and...
as Mr. Fusion (which was actually made for the movie from a Krups
Krups
Krups is a German kitchen appliance manufacturer, named after its founder Robert Krups.It is often confused with the Krupp conglomerate.The company also produces a large variety of household appliances...
coffee maker), and in Spaceballs
Spaceballs
Spaceballs is a 1987 American science fiction comedy parody film co-written by, directed by, Mel Brooks and starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, Mel Brooks & Rick Moranis. It also features, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, and the voice of Joan Rivers. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on...
as Mr. Radar and Mr. Coffee itself. It was also mentioned in The Bloodhound Gang's song "The Bad Touch
The Bad Touch
"The Bad Touch" is the first single by the Bloodhound Gang of their 1999 album Hooray for Boobies. It was released in 1999 internationally and, a year later, in the US and UK. The song was also remixed by God Lives Underwater and Eiffel 65. Like much of the Bloodhound Gang's other music, the song...
", in the full version of the Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
theme song, the Marah
Marah
Marah may refer to:* Marah or Manroot, a kind of wild cucumber* Marah , an American country band* Marah , one of the locations which the Torah identifies as having been travelled through by the Israelites during the Exodus...
song "Christian St." and in the title of Raymond Carver
Raymond Carver
Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr. was an American short story writer and poet. Carver is considered a major American writer of the late 20th century and also a major force in the revitalization of the short story in the 1980s....
's short story "Mr. Coffee and Mr. Fixit." A Mr. Coffee branded appliance also appeared in a scene in the film Apollo 13
Apollo 13 (film)
Apollo 13 is a 1995 American drama film directed by Ron Howard. The film stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan and Ed Harris. The screenplay by William Broyles, Jr...
. (However, a number of critics pointed out that this was technically inaccurate, since the film took place in 1970, and the Mr. Coffee branded appliance wouldn't be introduced until 1972.) In the Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
movie, The Beast With A Billion Backs, one character can be seen using a "Mr. Wino" machine to make wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
directly from grapes. In Hoyle Card Games 2011, Rhett said "That's worse than Mr. Coffee".
Mr. Coffee Today
Recently, the Mr. Coffee product development team reinvented how a drip coffee maker works with their new Optimal Brew. This coffee maker does not use the traditional method of routing the water over a heating coil under the warming plate that Marotta, Able, and Schulze invented so long ago. Instead, a small flash boiling chamber flash heats the water to deliver the water to the beans within the ideal temperature range of 195-200 degrees F. This new way of heating the water allows 10 cups to be brewed in generally less than 8 minutes for a great tasting cup of coffee. Once brewed the coffee stays warm in a thermalThermal
A thermal column is a column of rising air in the lower altitudes of the Earth's atmosphere. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of the Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example of convection. The sun warms the ground, which in turn warms the air directly above it...
carafe rather than sitting and possibly being burned by a heating plate. This coffee maker engineered and designed by TEAMS Design
TEAMS Design
TEAMS Design is a multinational industrial design firm headquartered in Germany founded in 1956 by industrial designer Hans Erich Slany. As of July, 2009, TEAMS has five design studios on three continents. They have been ranked second by the International Forum Design , or 14th in an international...
USA and the Jarden team, won a Red Star Award in 2010 and an Appliance Magazine EID Award in 2011.
More recently, Mr. Coffee has licensed the Keurig
Keurig
Keurig is a Reading, Massachusetts-based coffee machine manufacturing company, known for its K-Cup single-serving brewing system.- Company :Keurig was founded in 1992 by Olaf Keurig...
K-cup technology to introduce a line of single serve hot beverage machines. Also recently introduced, the Mr. Coffee Cafe Latte
Latte
A latte is a coffee drink made with espresso and steamed milk. Variants include replacing the coffee with another drink base such as masala chai, mate or matcha...
brews coffee as well as whips in steamed milk in one step.