H and H Coffee

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

H and H Blend Coffee Tin

The house blend in metal — the most common H and H tin form in the collection, spanning half a century of litho and paper-label evolution.

Form

Standard round cylindrical coffee tin with friction or keywind lid. Lithographed in the H and H red-and-cream house colors; earlier examples use paper labels over plain tinplate. The “We Roast It / Others Praise It” slogan (USPTO Reg. 160,728, 1922) appears on most label eras as embossed lid text or label copy.

Size variants

Size Label name Notes
½ lb “Light Housekeepers Size” Distinctive small litho tin; 1920s–1930s era; two examples in collection
1 lb Standard / Regular Most common form; keywind from 1930s onward
2.5 lb Unlabeled size description Paper-label era only; one example (Comfort, 2014)
3 lb Three-pound Round and rectangular forms; paper-label and litho eras
~28 oz “Family size” Houston-address variant; keywind; one example

Label eras and dating

Paper-label era (c.1910s–1920s): Plain tinplate with applied paper label. Look for “Perc-O-Drip” grind callout on 1920s–1930s labels; “High Grade” name on pre-H&H-Blend transition tins. Address reads Burnett Street.

Early litho era (c.1920s–1930s): Red and cream lithography applied directly to the tin body. Rectangular three-pound tins in the collection carry the painted “We roast it — Others praise it” slogan. Address transitions from Burnett to Delaware Street after 1932.

Keywind era (c.1930s–1960s): Keywind opening strip replaces slip-lid. Grind callouts (Drip, Regular, Medium Ground) appear on the label panel. One-pound keywind with lid is the most common surviving form.

Grind callouts

Documented on collection tins: Regular Grind, Medium Ground, Drip, Perc-O-Drip. The grind system was standardized with the Crystalvac/glass-brewer era of the 1930s.

Collection accessions

11+ tins in the H and H collection. Key examples:

  • Half-pound Light Housekeepers litho (1920s paper-label layout) — with lid
  • Half-pound Light Housekeepers litho (Medium Ground; lid missing)
  • Three-pound round tin with intact paper label
  • Three-pound rectangular tin (painted slogan)
  • 2.5 lb paper-label Perc-O-Drip (Comfort, 2014)
  • One-pound keywind (multiple examples)

See also