A Self Serve Coffee Bar

This coffee bar was created as part of a sponsored post for Eight O’Clock Coffee as part of the Mom It Forward Blogger Network.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy National Coffee Day!  As one of the world’s biggest coffee lovers, I plan to celebrate all day long with a cup of coffee in my hand {which is not so unlike most other days}!  Coffee dates with friends are one of my favorite things to do but I also love entertaining friends at home and this self serve coffee bar is a simple but cute way to do just that!

Before I show you the details of the coffee bar, let me share my inspiration.  Remember when Friends first hit the air?  You’re already humming the theme song, aren’t you?  And remember how much we all loved Central Perk, the trendy coffee shop where they all hung out?  Perfect, right?  Well, my coffee bar is a bit of Central Perk at home!

This year, Eight O’Clock Coffee is celebrating National Coffee Day and the 20th anniversary of the Friends premiere in style with a Limited Edition Central Perk Roast inspired by our favorite coffee shop.  The Central Perk Roast is a medium coffee house roast made with the same high quality beans for which the brand is known.  Friends fans can celebrate the anniversary and enjoy the roast in their own homes by purchasing the limited edition coffee at grocery and mass merchandise stores nationwide and online at EightOClock.com/friends for approximately $6.99.

Eight O’Clock Coffee is America’s original gourmet coffee and has been brewed for over 150 years.  It’s made with 100% Arabica beans, and expertly blended, roasted, and packaged in whole bean and ground form at their facility in Landover, Maryland.  The brand offers fourteen varieties and blends ranging from light to dark roasts.

So grab some Eight O’Clock Coffee and few close friends and set up your own self serve coffee bar!

Friends should always pour straight from the pot but cute disposable cups or bright and colorful mugs make a simple coffee date feel festive.

And no coffee shop, at-home or otherwise, is complete without some delicious flavors to add to the coffee.

Hosting friends doesn’t have to be time consuming or over-the-top … it just has to happen.

Grab a cup of coffee, frame the peephole on your door {c’mon, we all loved that, right?} and sit back with a friend or two.  Catch up on the latest news, share the good and the bad, and be intentional about friendships.  Isn’t that one of the things we all learned from Friends?

Want to visit a real Central Perk?  Also headlining the anniversary celebration of Friends is a pop-up replica of Central Perk!  Located in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood at 199 Lafayette Street, the commemorative pop-up shop will serve free cups of Eight O’Clock coffee and feature authentic memorabilia including the iconic orange couch and improv musical acts reminiscent of Phoebe’s “Smelly Cat”.  I’m totally wishing I could swing a quick trip to New York right now!  If you’re in the area, be sure to visit.  The pop-up shop will be open September 17-October 18.

And today, on National Coffee Day, there’ll be a variety of fun activities and giveaways at the pop-up shop.  But don’t worry!  You can join in the fun even if you aren’t in New York City!  Visit Eight O’Clock Coffee’s facebook page for a chance to win coffee prizes and a trip to LA to visit the Warner Brothers studios!

And if you love a special offer, right now you’ll save $3 when you buy one 11 oz or larger bag of Eight O’Clock Coffee along with one complete season of Friends on DVD.  Or, you can purchase any three bags of Eight O’Clock Coffee and receive a free special limited edition Eight O’Clock Coffee Central Perk mug!

To keep up to date, be sure to follow Eight O’Clock Coffee on facebook and twitter!