After Eight Mints (History, Pictures & Commercials)

The real name of this candy product is After Eight Mint Chocolate Thins, but most people know them as, “After Eights”. This product is really well-known in the UK, but it is also sold in the US. Chocolate after dinner mints like this are always really popular, but this mint product stands out more than others on the market. The After Eight mint does not ooze or run when bitten into, a design feature that will remind you of York Peppermint Patty products.

After Eight Mints were sold in the original recipe version for many years but some people in the US are more familiar with some of the alternate flavors of this product that are offered in the US. If you love minty chocolate treats, this is a really good choice to make.

History

After Eight Chocolate Mint Thins are often known as “After Eights”. They were created by Rowntree Company Limited in 1962. They have been manufactured by Nestle since they acquired the Rowntree company in 1988. The mints were originally crafted at Rowntree’s York location and then later Castleford in West Yorkshire.

The creator of After Eight mints was Brian Sollitt. He also made other well-known products like Yorkie Bars, Matchmakers, and Lion Bars. He enjoyed a long career at Rowntree’s, but his most memorable product is the After Eight. He was recruited by the company at 15 to hand pipe Black Magic chocolates. By the 1960s he was asked to come up with new flavors and varieties of the chocolates that the company was already making.

The timing of his creation was perfect because the 60s were a time when the middle class was reaching for a better future with more style and class. After Eight mints became associated with luxurious living and their excellent flavor and affordable price point helped to confirm their popularity. Nearly all of the ads for this product were associated with good taste, luxurious living, and a leisurely way of life.

Chocolate products also were finally able to survive summer weather due to refrigerators and climate control in buildings. Chocolate products had always been a bit impractical for companies selling candies because of the melting point of chocolate. Chocolate products were necessarily luxurious because it was hard to keep them fresh and edible, especially during the hottest part of the year. This made chocolate products a perfect vehicle for this sense of luxury and lush living because it was so affordable and brought with them this former glory related to extravagant living.

In the UK, After Eights are currently made in Halifax because the Castleford factory closed in 2012. There is a limited-edition version of the product that is made in Germany with chocolate that has been sourced from other locations. The original recipe included dairy-free dark chocolate, but since 2002, butterfat has been added to the recipe by Nestle because of the risk of chocolate bloom. Chocolate bloom happens when chocolate gets a dusty appearance. This is caused when the chocolate is exposed to heat or warm temperatures and the surface of the chocolate changes.

Chocolate bloom will not make your candy unsafe to eat, but it can impact the texture and flavor of the product. This is particularly common with chocolates that are quite thin and chocolates without the standard butterfat or sugar content. Dark Chocolate blooms fairly easily, and Nestle decided that there was no need to continue with the original recipe if it was going to be susceptible to this kind of outcome when After Eight mints got too warm. Since After Eight mints are so thin, when a chocolate bloom happens, all of the layers of the chocolate can become dusty, gritty, and flaky. The texture of this product is everything so avoiding chocolate bloom is important.

These mints are sold across the US and Europe and Nestle states that they make one billion of these mints each year. The fondant that is in the center is flavored with mint or might be flavored with another flavoring for alternate varieties. The fondant is made in a specific process that includes an enzyme that stabilizes the sugar so that it will not leak out of the center of the mint. This process is said to take three days before the mint core is ready to be dipped in chocolate. The mints are then wrapped individually and sold in large boxes to businesses that sell these mints.

These mints are certified kosher, but they no longer meet the vegan requirements due to the butterfat that has been added to the recipe by Nestle. This mint is a bit bigger than other similar mint products on the market and the texture is smoother than some of the other mints that are made with a similar flavor profile.

Once Nestle came into the picture, new flavors were added to the mix. Thin mints were added that came in orange, lemon, strawberry, blackcurrant, and more. There are also marzipan products that are sold in Germany. Straws, Delights, and other versions of this candy are sold in some marketplaces as well. There are seasonal products too, so you can get your After Eights in various different formats during specific seasons and holidays.

After Eight Mints was recently sold to Ferraro along with other candy products that Nestle parted with as a group. This has raised some concerns about the future of this popular after-dinner mint product. There has not been a statement from the company about the future of the candy product, but Ferraro has made some major changes to some of their other newly acquired products. It is hard for people who love these classic mints to imagine them changing. For those who love this product as it has always been sold, it must be hoped that Ferraro will continue to honor the old recipe.

Nestle still shows the product on their website and they still advertise that you can get the mints in bulk format for restaurants and hotels or even wholesalers. Their seasonal products are still listed in the items that they offer as well. This is a good sign for lovers of these products who are concerned that they might be going away.

Logo

After Eights Products

• Thin Mints
• Marzipan- Sold in Germany
• Mint & Blood Orange -special edition sold only in the summer of 2011
• Delights- round candies with dark chocolate mint fondant filling
• Straws- Long, thin sticks of soft dark chocolate with mint fondant filling
• Bars- dark chocolate bar with creamy mint center
• Biscuits- dark chocolate with mint inside a biscuit
• Chocolate Santa Claus – white or dark chocolate
• Easter Bunny- peppermint-flavored chocolate
• Bitesize- plain chocolate with mint filling also sold under the name Mintola and Mint Munchies before being purchased by After Eight.
• Mousse
• Dessert
• Strawberry and Mint- Special edition for spring and summer of 2020

Some products have been fully discontinued:

• Chocolate truffles
• Dark chocolate Irish creams
• Ice cream dessert

Ingredients

From the Nestle listing for the product:

• Sugar
• Cocoa mass
• Glucose syrup
• Cocoa butter
• Butterfat (from milk)
• Emulsifier (sunflower lecithin)
• Natural peppermint oil
• Citric acid
• Stabilizer (invertase)

Nutrition

Serving Size:	1 mints (8.5g)	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories	37.5
Total Fat	1.1g	2%
Saturated Fat	0.6g	3%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	0mg	0%
Total Carbohydrates	6.5g	2%
Dietary Fiber	0.3g	1%
Sugars	5.8g
Includes Added Sugars	5.5g	11%
Protein	0.1g
Vitamin D	0mcg	0%
Calcium	0mg	0%
Iron	0mg	0%
Potassium	20mg	0%

• The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Similar Products to After Eights

There are other products on the market that are a lot like this after-dinner mint. Royal Mints were made by a company called Halloren to compete with After Eights. Mint Nights was another product that was intended to be a competitor that was made by Poundland. After Dinner Mints were made in Australia to compete with After Eights as well. These mints are made by a company called Red Tulip which was bought out in the 1980s and which was recently bought by Cadbury in the 1980s.

Livery

After Eight Mints still continues to be associated with upper-class living. The boxes for this mint are very beautiful and the dark green background and the fancy white lettering are very complementary. The box shows the mint itself and then all the writing is clustered around the image. The marketing that is offered by this kind of upscale appearance is very clearly associated with the brand vision for this product.

The After eight mints themselves are all individually wrapped. The wrappers are dark brown for the original flavor and there is a light gold scrolling design on the wrapper. There is a sense of mystery about the product communicated by the livery as a whole. This is one of the most unique candy brands on the market because of this classy, understated, and elegant styling.

The variations of this product that are flavored such as the mint & blood orange, are sold in the same classic box but with an orange ribbon design around the box and next to the image of the chocolate on the front of the box. The styling is remarkably consistent between the various varieties of this candy which is not typical for a candy company.

Pictures

Ads:

An ad from the 80s:

An ad from the 70s:

A collection of older ads:

Another classic ad: