MJB is an American brand of 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,...

 currently owned by Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA, a company in the Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group

Massimo Zanetti

Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group is an Italian coffee company that owns brands such as Segafredo and MJB. With turnover of around US$ 1.2 billion per year, it claims to be the biggest private company in the coffee industry....

. MJB is popular in the western United States, western Canada and Japan.

MJB is named for Max J. Brandenstein, an importer of coffee, 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...

 and spice

Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...

s in San Francisco in the late 19th century. After the Gold Rush

Gold rush

A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...

, San Francisco became a center of coffee importing and roasting in the western United States, and coffee was an important part of the local economy. Aside from MJB, San Francisco was home to the Folgers Coffee Company (Folgers) and Hills Brothers Coffee, Inc. (Hills Bros.)

Hills Brothers Coffee, Inc.

-History:The company has its origins with the sons of Austin Hills , who was born in Rockland, Maine, in 1823. Austin Hills' business in California was building clipper ships. His three sons were Austin Herbert Hills , Earnest Hills, and Reuben Wilmarth Hills I , although Earnest was involved in...

.

The production of MJB began in 1881. In 1899, Max Brandenstein established the M.J. Brandenstein Company, a spice and coffee import business that took over the brand, with his brothers Mannie, Charlie and Eddie. The company's name was later changed to the MJB Co. to minimise sibling rivalry and disguise their German-Jewish origins.

In 1910, Mannie Brandenstein developed what was to become a well-known advertising campaign: "MJB Coffee Why?". The campaign began with promotional fans given out at a boxing match in Reno

Reno

Reno is the fourth most populous city in Nevada, US.Reno may also refer to:-Places:Italy*The Reno River, in Northern ItalyCanada*Reno No...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

 and later signs with the slogan were painted all over San Francisco.

MJB created a temporary "ultramodern" coffee house

Coffeehouse

A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...

 for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915

Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915)

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California between February 20 and December 4 in 1915. Its ostensible purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase its recovery...

, featuring a giant cup and saucer on the roof with the illuminated word "WHY".

Nestle

Nestlé

Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...

 acquired MJB in 1985.

In December 1999, Sara Lee Corp. acquired MJB, along with Hills Brothers and Chase & Sanborn, from Nestle.

In December 2005, Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group acquired several US retail coffee businesses, including MJB, Hills Brothers, Chase & Sanborn, and Chock Full o' Nuts, from Sara Lee for US$82.5 million.