H and H Cocoa

H and H Cocoa was part of the same non-coffee grocery extension as H and H Tea, H and H Spices, and H and H Extracts—lines the firm advertised alongside its roasted coffees from the late 1800s into the 1970s (see the Welcome post and About page). Like spices and tea, cocoa let Hoffmann-Hayman use dryers, grinders, and packaging already in the plant; collection prose on that shared factory logic — coffee equipment turned to spice, tea, cocoa, and extracts — appears in the H and H allspice tin post.

No H and H Cocoa tin, box, label, or advertisement has been photographed for this archive yet, so the line is documented here mainly as a placeholder for research and acquisitions. If you have packaging or period ads, they would close a gap called out on the site Wanted list.

Products

1924 — H and H Cocoa was packed in tins in at least these net weights:

  1. 3½ oz tin
  2. 8 oz tin

Trade dress, lid type, and whether other years used the same SKUs are not yet confirmed from labeled packaging in the collection. Other period grocery formats (cartons, paper bags) may also exist; clear photos or scans help close the gap.

Packaging

No collection photographs yet. When examples are added, place files under assets/images/gallery/ and embed them here following the pattern used on H and H Spices.

Reference photography

No labeled H and H Cocoa tin is in Our Collection yet; factory and grocery context also appears in H and H allspice tin (shared plant logic).

Newspaper & period branding

H and H Cocoa panel from the 26 Aug 1923 San Antonio Light products grid (full page).

H and H Cocoa from the 26 Aug 1923 products display

Open questions

  1. Provenance of the 1924 tin-size dating — the body asserts H&H Cocoa was packed in 3½ oz and 8 oz tins in 1924, but no 1924 source is registered in the page’s frontmatter. Whether the year is drawn from an undated catalog reference, a project notebook, or transcription drift from the 1923 Light spread is unresolved; the registered sources only cover 1923.
  2. No in-collection specimen — neither a 3½ oz nor an 8 oz Cocoa tin (nor any other Cocoa package, carton, or paper label) has been photographed for the archive. Until one is documented, the line is effectively a Wanted placeholder rather than a fully documented retail brand.
  3. Organizational placement — the November 1932 Express-News article announcing Hoffmann-Hayman’s separate Spice and Extract Department names only spices and extracts; cocoa is not mentioned. Whether cocoa was administered outside that department, transferred to a different unit, or already discontinued by 1932 is undocumented.
  4. Shared-equipment claim — the lede asserts cocoa packaging reused coffee-plant dryers, grinders, and packaging. The same claim is well-supported for spices and tea via collection prose; whether cocoa was ground / blended in-house or co-packed under H&H livery is not directly documented.
  5. Post-1924 silence — after the 1923 Light products spread (and the unsourced 1924 size reference), H&H Cocoa drops out of the project’s documented sources. The 1942 H&H wholesale price sheets cover coffee SKUs only; the cocoa line’s discontinuation date is unrecoverable.

Wanted

  1. 3½ oz or 8 oz H and H Cocoa tins (1924–era sizes or later variants with readable Hoffmann-Hayman / H and H copy)
  2. Any other retail H and H / Hoffmann-Hayman cocoa package (tin, box, bag) in photographable condition
  3. Paper labels or carton flats naming H and H Cocoa
  4. Newspaper or magazine advertisements, price cards, or photographs of store displays
  5. Factory or sales literature that lists cocoa alongside coffee, tea, and spices

See also