O.S.T. Old Spanish Trail Coffee

O.S.T. Old Spanish Trail Coffee

Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. coffee brand named for the Old Spanish Trail highway — the historic auto route running from Los Angeles through El Paso and San Antonio to Florida, formalized as U.S. Highway 80 and associated routes in the 1920s. The name would have resonated strongly in San Antonio, which sat along the route.

Trademark record

  • Serial No.: 261,672
  • Pending: Week Ending April 3, 1928 (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, May 1928, p. 725)
  • Registration No.: 242,965; granted June 5, 1928
  • Published: April 3, 1928
  • Class: 46 (foods and ingredients of food)
  • Goods: Coffee

Source: 1928-05-01-tea-coffee-trade-journal-may-1928-ost-old-spanish-trail-trademark; 1928-01-01-index-of-trade-marks-1928-hoffmann-hayman-four-registrations.

Connection to Broncho Coffee

The O.S.T. mark is likely connected to — or the same identity as — Broncho Coffee. Evidence:

  • Both are Western-themed San Antonio coffee brands in the H&H portfolio active in the same period.
  • The 2 March 1942 H&H wholesale price sheet lists “O.S.T. Fancy Santos Peaberry” as an active bulk line — the same sheet that shows Broncho absent from the retail package SKUs. This suggests the O.S.T. identity survived as a bulk/institutional line after Broncho’s retail exit, or that O.S.T. was always the bulk-tier name for the same product family.
  • The Old Spanish Trail highway ran directly through San Antonio — a natural naming hook for a Western-themed regional coffee brand.

Whether O.S.T. and Broncho shared label art, were the same product in different distribution tiers, or are entirely separate marks is unresolved. A surviving O.S.T.-labeled tin or jobber’s invoice would clarify the relationship.

Open questions

  • No advertising, label art, or physical specimens yet identified in the project record.
  • Is O.S.T. the same product as Broncho, or a separate brand that shared Western trade-dress?
  • The 1942 bulk-line entry “O.S.T. Fancy Santos Peaberry” — was this a premium peaberry grade sold under the OST name, and if so, what tins or bags carried the OST mark?

See also

  • Broncho Coffee — likely related Western-themed H&H brand; O.S.T. appears as a bulk line in the same 1942 price sheet where Broncho is absent from retail
  • San Jose Coffee — concurrent H&H mark filed April 10, 1928; covers a compound of coffee, cereal and chicory
  • H and H Product Line