A. Because over time, consumers realized its aromas and flavors were the perfect antidote to morning “coffee breath”
B. Because it goes well with white spirits like vodka and can thus be made into morning cocktails like mimosas
C. Because orange growers created a marketing campaign to convince us that orange juice was especially good at breakfast time
D. Because in the 1950s, scientists determined that high-acid, vitamin-C-rich juices, drunk in the morning, could help alleviate morning drowsiness
C.
In the early 1900s, several cycles of massive over-production of oranges in both Florida and California lead to a nationwide orange glut. At the time, oranges were mostly eaten whole. Juicing provided a logical solution for orange growers. But what to do with all that juice? Canning it was an option, but the flavor of canned orange juice (which often tuned viscous and brown) was a far cry from the flavor of actual oranges. The next innovation—canned frozen concentrate that could be mixed with water—was better. Growers launched enormous advertising campaigns extolling the virtues of orange juice. But if orange juice was to become a staple (capable of using up a lion’s share of all the oranges produced), more demand for it had to be created. Advertisers decided it needed a “place” in everyday eating behavior. The answer was breakfast. As everyone in America now knows, no breakfast is really “complete” without orange juice.