H and H Coffee

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

H and H Product Line

The full range of Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company products as documented in the August 26, 1923 San Antonio Light special edition. The slogan across all products: “We roast it, others praise it.” Tea products carried the secondary slogan: “You’ll praise it, too.”

Trademark — “We Roast It, Others Praise It”

The slogan was a registered U.S. trademark:

  • Registration: No. 160,728
  • Serial: No. 161,907
  • Class: 46 — Foods and Ingredients of Foods
  • Filed: April 10, 1922 by Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co., San Antonio, Tex.
  • Use claimed since: 1917 — pushing slogan use back from the 1923 SA Light special-edition reference by about six years

The clipping (USPTO Official Gazette page) is held at assets/images/gallery/1922-04-10-us-patent-office-trademark-we-roast-it.jpg.

Coffee

  • H and H Blend Coffee — flagship blend created October 1904 by Wm. R. Hoffmann with a hand roaster; sold throughout Southwest Texas by 1920; called “vacuum packed” by 1932
  • Sam Houston Coffee — named brand; documented by December 1932 Open House ad; one of three flagship products by 1934; vacuum packed in Crystalvac
  • Menger Brand Peaberry Coffee — named brand; documented in December 1932; vacuum packed
  • Texas Girl Coffee — named brand; documented by 1933–1934; one of three flagship products
  • Master Chef Cafe Coffee — restaurant-specific brand; documented in December 1932 (“for your favorite restaurants”). Promoted to a full consumer brand by 1960 (with Master Chef Instant Coffee also added that year per 1960-05-05 article). See “Master Chef Coffee (1961 ad)” section below for the surviving radio/acetate spot.
  • H and H Drip Grind Coffee — documented by 1941 (see H and H Drip Grind)
  • Sizes: half, one, two, and three-pound tins
  • Packaging: Lithographed tins (red, white and blue), slogan embossed on side panel and top; supplied by New Orleans Can Co.

Tea

  • H and H Orange Pekoe Tea — sourced directly from Orange Pekoe fields of Ceylon, India
  • Sizes: quarter, half, and pound round tins
  • Packaging: Slogan “You’ll praise it, too” embossed on top and front
  • Market: First in sales at local San Antonio stores by summer 1923

Making H and H Iced Tea (1923 instructions)

1 heaping teaspoonful per two cups; freshly boiled water; infuse 5–6 minutes; draw off into another vessel; add ice; sweeten to taste; add lemon.

Spices

  • H and H Spices — black and white pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg; “pure and guaranteed”
  • H and H Black Pepper — ground medium fine; 2 oz tins
  • H and H Pepper — ground medium fine, “from only the choicest grade pepper”
  • Foods “flavored with H and H nutmeg or cinnamon are sure to be good”

Extracts

  • H and H Extracts — for cakes, custards, pudding, ice cream; Lemon flavor documented
  • “There is a certain goodness about it that is found only in H and H Extracts”

Cocoa

  • H and H Pure Soluble Cocoa — very high grade, soluble, guaranteed; put up by a special process for easy digestibility; young and old alike

Packaging

All products packed in tin. Tins supplied by the New Orleans Can Co. (New Orleans, Louisiana — “first to decorate metal south of the Ohio River”). Multi-color lithography in red, white and blue. Products also packed in cartons (supplied by Globe Folding Box Co., Cincinnati).

Coffee tins: “We roast it, others praise it” embossed on side panel and top. Tea tins: “You’ll praise it, too” embossed on top and front.

Roasting equipment

Monitor Coffee Roasting, Grading and Other Machinery by Huntley Manufacturing Co., Silver Creek, N.Y.

Original hand roaster capacity: 30 lbs (c.1908). By 1920: two large roasters, capacity frequently reaching 10,000 lbs/day.

Distribution

  • Sold through retail grocers in San Antonio and throughout Southwest Texas
  • Demonstrated in-store by Mrs. Clara H. Allred (Special Demonstrator) and Miss Irene Brown
  • Telephone orders handled by R. A. Nagel (Office Manager)
  • City salesmen: Joachum Morales, P. J. Smith, E. E. Knous (restaurant specialist)
  • Territorial salesman: Paul Rochs (11 consecutive years by 1923)

Master Chef Coffee (1961 Broggi radio transcription disc)

A 44.5-second advertising recording — labelled by transcriber as “H and H Coffee advertising record from 1961”, TRACK 1 — survives on a digitized black lacquer transcription disc. The recording promotes Master Chef Coffee with a trading-stamps premium.

Production credits (per project’s _galleries/reference.md):

  • Agency: Broggi Advertising Agency, San Antonio
  • Disc: black lacquer transcription disc
  • Date cut: August 1961
  • Spots on disc: four — numbered A-17-61 through A-20-61
  • TRACK 1 (the file in this wiki) corresponds to one of those four spots; specific A-number not yet matched
  • Contributed by: Kevin Mackey (collector; also contributed many of the 1910s–1930s San Antonio Express newspaper clippings registered in raw-sources/)

Files:

Voice production: three voices — opening announcer (slate), a primary singer/announcer (“Speaker 2”) for product copy, and a secondary announcer (“Speaker 3”) for the premium call-outs. Format suggests a sponsored radio spot with sung jingle, structured for local-station insertion — consistent with mid-century San Antonio agency-cut transcription work.

Copy points (1961):

  • Tagline: “Wake up to flavor with MasterChef coffee.”
  • Product copy: “Enjoy the rich, full-bodied flavor of the world’s finest coffee. The same master blend that has made MasterChef famous for over half a century.”
  • Heritage claim: “famous for over half a century” — would imply use of the Master Chef name back to c.1911 or earlier, but the earliest documented Master Chef brand reference is December 1932. This is most likely marketing hyperbole conflating the broader 1899/1904 H and H heritage with the Master Chef line; treat the half-century claim as advertising puff, not evidence of an earlier brand.
  • Premium offer: “Now, your favorite trading stamps free… the stamps of your choice. Extra stamps free, when you buy MasterChef. Details with every vacuum can.” Specific quantity called out: “250 extra stamps or cash refunds.”
  • Packaging confirmed: vacuum can — a successor format to the 1932 Crystalvac glass-jar packaging; metal can with vacuum seal.

Why it matters:

  1. Trading-stamps tie-in — places H and H squarely in the early-1960s redemption-stamp economy (S&H Green Stamps, Top Value, etc.), confirming consumer-channel positioning vs. the institutional/restaurant base documented in the May 1960 succession article.
  2. Master Chef as a flagship consumer brand — by 1961, Master Chef has graduated from the 1932 “Cafe Coffee” restaurant SKU to the headline brand in radio advertising, consistent with the 1960 product slate (Master Chef Coffee + Master Chef Instant Coffee).
  3. Audio survives where print does not — first known audio-format primary source in the wiki; preserves the actual cadence, tagline phrasing, and jingle structure of late-period H&H advertising.
  4. Agency identified — Broggi (San Antonio) — adds a third documented H&H advertising vendor alongside Pitluk Advertising Co. (1923) and the in-house “largest coffee advertising campaign” of 1919. Broggi’s involvement in 1961 may indicate a vendor change after the 1960 Albert G. Menger transition.

Open questions:

  • Match TRACK 1 → specific spot number (A-17, A-18, A-19, or A-20-61)
  • Locate TRACKS 2/3/4 from the same Broggi session (one disc, four spots — the other three may exist in the Mackey collection or related holdings)
  • Exact day in August 1961 (currently dated 1961-08-01 as month-only placeholder)
  • Which station(s) aired the spot? The 1932 plant Open House used WOAI — was the 1961 buy on the same station?
  • Broggi Advertising Agency — founding/closing dates, principals, other H&H work?

See also