H and H Coffee

Dedicated to the history of the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. founded 1899 in San Antonio, Texas.

Hoffmann-Hayman ran premium programs across its retail era — objects offered alongside or in exchange for H and H product purchases. The collection and reference corpus documents six distinct premium types: a wooden sliding-block puzzle, a cast leaf-form metal ashtray, a Texas Centennial seed packet, a paper sampler cup, Border Brand cup-and-saucer pails, and a documented 1958 iced-tea-glass offer. For the coupon-redemption program structure, five premium eras, and brand-tier segmentation, see Premiums and Coupon-Redemption Programs.

Quick ID:

  • H and H Puzzler — 3¼×4 in cardboard box, nine wooden sliding blocks; copyright 1927, Frederick E. Aaron; box lid shows full H&H brand grid (H and H Coffee, H and H Spices and Extracts, H and H Tea, Sam Houston Coffee, Texas Girl Coffee); price 25 cents; “601 Delaware Street, San Antonio” address = post-1932 print run
  • Leaf ashtray — cast metal, leaf-shaped bowl; “EAT / SMOKE / DRINK / H & H / COFFEE” embossed on underside; coupon-redemption premium; Witte Museum accession KS 193
  • Texas Centennial seed packet (1936) — small paper envelope; “Compliments Sam Houston · Texas Girl Coffees · Honoring the Texas Centennial”; bluebonnet seeds; tied to the 1936 Texas Centennial promotion
  • Paper sampler cup — cream and red; “Ask Your Grocer for H and H Coffee”; small cup for in-store sampling demonstrations
  • Border Brand premium pails — cylindrical tin pail, red-white-blue vertical-striped, wire bail handle; side cartouche reads “THIS BUCKET CONTAINS CUP & SAUCER PREMIUM / Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. / SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS”; 3 lb and 4 lb sizes; cup-and-saucer illustration on label
  • Slide whistle — light wood, quail-call form; kraft label “H. and H. coffee” in block capitals; attribution uncertain (see Open questions)

Premium types

H and H Puzzler (c.1927, distributed post-1932). A nine-piece wooden sliding-block puzzle in a 3¼×4 in cardboard box. Copyright 1927, Frederick E. Aaron. The box lid serves as a brand inventory: “H and H Products / H and H Coffee / H and H Spices and Extracts / H and H Tea / Quality / All Texas Homes / All Texas Stores / Sam Houston Coffee / Texas Girl Coffee.” Footer: “HOFFMANN-HAYMAN COFFEE COMPANY, 601 DELAWARE STREET, SAN ANTONIO - TEXAS / PRICE 25 Cents.” The 601 Delaware address dates the printed box to post-1932; the 1927 copyright may be the design date only, predating the Delaware Street plant. Two examples in the collection: one nearly complete (HH-COLL-2015-0015, Austin estate sale) and one damaged with missing pieces (HH-COLL-2015-0024).

Cast leaf-form ashtray. A cast metal, leaf-shaped ashtray issued as a coupon-redemption premium — customers mailed in saved coupons from H and H products to receive the piece. Embossed stacked capitals on the underside: “EAT / SMOKE / DRINK / H & H / COFFEE.” Not in the project collection; held at the Witte Museum (accession KS 193). A 2015 group photo (HH-REF-2015-0003) shows the ashtray alongside the open Puzzler box. Manufacturer undocumented.

Texas Centennial seed packet (1936). A small paper envelope containing bluebonnet seeds, distributed as a Texas Centennial promotional premium. Text: “Compliments Sam Houston · Texas Girl Coffees · Honoring the Texas Centennial.” Front and back documented in reference photos (HH-REF-1936-0001, HH-REF-1936-0002). A group shot (HH-REF-0000-0020) shows the packet beside a paper sampler cup and H and H Blend and Sam Houston tins.

Paper sampler cup. Small cream-and-red paper cup printed “Ask Your Grocer for H and H Coffee.” Likely used for in-store sampling demonstrations coordinated with the 1923-era special demonstrators (Clara H. Allred, Irene Brown). Documented in the group shot at HH-REF-0000-0020; cup fabricator undocumented.

Border Brand cup-and-saucer premium pails. Cylindrical tin pail with wire bail handle and press-fit lid, red-white-blue vertical-striped livery. The pail itself is the retail package (3 lb or 4 lb of Border Brand coffee), and inside it sits a cup-and-saucer set — the premium. Side cartouche explicitly states: “THIS BUCKET CONTAINS CUP & SAUCER PREMIUM / Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. / SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.” Front cartouche: cup-and-saucer illustration with “BORDER · BRAND · SAUCER · PREMIUM · COFFEE” and “STEEL CUT” banners. Not in the project collection; two examples held at the Witte Museum (HH-REF-2019-0004: 4 lb, HH-REF-2019-0008: 3 lb). An Alamy stock photo (HH-REF-2023-0003) shows a third example alongside H and H Blend tins.

Iced tea glasses (1958, no surviving specimen). A San Antonio Light advertisement (12 July 1958, p. 6) promotes “Giant Iced Tea Glasses Are Premium with H & H Items” — a glassware premium tied to purchases of H & H packaged goods. No physical example is known to survive in any documented collection. The newspaper clip is filed as HH-REF-1958-0001 (cross-listed with the tea tin item HH-ITEM-0004).

Wooden slide whistle (uncertain attribution). A small quail-call-form slide whistle in light wood with a kraft-paper label reading “A package of / H. and H. coffee” in block capitals. Acquired 2014 for $18 on the basis of a possible Texas roaster connection; the body text acknowledges that “H. and H. coffee” is generic enough to belong to another regional packer. Filed in the collection pending a corroborating grocery circular or trade ad. See Open questions.

Premium program eras

Three eras, detailed in Premiums and Coupon-Redemption Programs:

Era Period Premium delivery
Direct-sale era c.1912–c.1935 Premiums bundled in pails (cup-and-saucer in Border Brand pails); sold or offered at retail
Coupon-redemption era c.1937–c.1959 Coupons packed in H&H tins; customers accumulate and mail in for premiums (ashtray, iced tea glasses)
Trading-stamp era c.1957–c.1962 “Free 250 Trading Stamps” sticker on Master Chef tins (see HH-ITEM-0005) replaces in-pack coupon

Manufacturer

Most premium objects carry no manufacturer mark. The only documented attribution is the Puzzler copyright: Frederick E. Aaron (1927). Aaron’s relationship to Hoffmann-Hayman (in-house designer, outside vendor, or licensor) is not established. No manufacturer is documented for the ashtray, seed packet, sampler cup, or Border Brand pail bodies.

Artifacts

In the collection

  • HH-COLL-0000-0005 — Wooden slide whistle with kraft “H. and H. coffee” label (uncertain attribution)
  • HH-COLL-2015-0015 — H and H Puzzler, 1927 — complete example (Austin estate sale, via Gypsies Antiques)
  • HH-COLL-2015-0024 — H and H Puzzler, 1927 — damaged, missing pieces (San Antonio)

Reference

  • HH-REF-0000-0020 — Texas Centennial seed packet + H&H sampler cup group shot (with H&H Blend and Sam Houston tins)
  • HH-REF-1936-0001 — Texas Blue Bonnet seed packet, 1936 Texas Centennial — front
  • HH-REF-1936-0002 — Texas Blue Bonnet seed packet, 1936 Texas Centennial — back
  • HH-REF-2015-0001 — H and H Puzzler (1927) — box lid and instructions photo (601 Delaware, 25 cents)
  • HH-REF-2015-0003 — Leaf ashtray (“Eat / Smoke / Drink / H&H / Coffee”) + open Puzzler box — group shot
  • HH-REF-2019-0004 — Border Brand Premium Coffee 4 lb pail, cup-and-saucer trade dress (Witte Museum, 2019)
  • HH-REF-2019-0008 — Border Brand Premium Coffee 3 lb pail, pair to 4 lb (Witte Museum, 2019)
  • HH-REF-2019-0011 — H&H coupon-premium leaf ashtray, underside embossing (Witte Museum KS 193, 2019)
  • HH-REF-2023-0003 — Alamy stock photo: H&H Blend tins + Border Brand Premium pail with legible side cartouche

Wanted

None documented.

Open questions

  • Is the wooden slide whistle (HH-COLL-0000-0005) a Hoffmann-Hayman premium? “H. and H. coffee” on the label is ambiguous — no grocery circular or trade ad yet links this specific form to the San Antonio roaster.
  • HH-COLL-2014-0005 (Household Institute percolator, gallery: collection) is cataloged as nomenclature_term: "premium" but the artifact body text establishes it is not an H&H item — the “HH” mark is Household Institute’s twin-H monogram, not Hoffmann-Hayman’s. A duplicate is correctly filed at HH-OTH-2014-0002 (gallery: not_our_h_and_h). HH-COLL-2014-0005 may warrant removal from the collection gallery.
  • Who was Frederick E. Aaron, and what was his relationship to Hoffmann-Hayman? The 1927 Puzzler copyright is the only documentation.
  • Are any cup-and-saucer sets from the Border Brand pail premium documented? The cartouche confirms the sets were packed inside the pails, but no surviving cup-and-saucer example is yet known.
  • What was the full coupon-redemption catalog? The leaf ashtray and iced tea glasses are the only coupon premiums named in surviving sources; the catalog likely contained additional household items.

See also