H and H Coffee

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

Big Dime

Hoffmann-Hayman 10-cent-package coffee line. Documented in the 19 August 1917 San Antonio Express H&H wholesale roster (“Vol. 52, No. 231”): the line card lists “Big Dime in ten-cent packages only” alongside Wesco, H. & H., Texco, Double H, Border, Broncho, Juanita, and Fancy Peaberry as the firm’s full package roster at the consolidated 307 N. Medina plant.

The “ten-cent packages only” wording places Big Dime in the economy / single-serving retail tier — the same price-point segment as similar Depression-era and pre-Depression “dime brands” that grocers stocked for value-conscious customers.

Open questions

  • Earliest and latest documented attestations (1917 is the surfaced earliest; no post-1920s mentions in the project record yet)
  • Pack format — paper packet? Small foil? The 1917 wording is silent on physical format
  • Whether Big Dime was H&H-created or Morrison-acquired (it doesn’t appear in the 28 Jan 1917 Morrison-acquisition Announcement, suggesting H&H-created; cross-check 1912/1915 wholesale columns)
  • Did Big Dime persist into the 1942 wholesale price sheets, or drop out earlier?

See also