H and H Drip Grind Coffee

A ground coffee product sold by Hoffmann-Hayman, documented from November 1937 and positioned specifically for glassbrewers and drip coffee makers. By December 1942 the vacuum-can format was replaced with Flav-O-Tainer paper bags under wartime tin rationing.

Product

  • Full name: H AND H DRIP GRIND Coffee
  • Positioning: “the correct grind for all glass brewers”
  • Guarantee: “8 EXTRA TABLESPOONFULS PER POUND OF GUARANTEED HIGHEST GRADE COFFEE” (under the “New Special Roast” branding)
  • Ad reference: F-1231

November 1937 — glassbrewer positioning and packaging formats

The News (San Antonio), 12 November 1937, p.29: full ad — “H AND H DRIP GRIND IS ESPECIALLY DESIGNED FOR GLASSBREWERS AND DRIPMAKERS.” Key details:

  • Grind specification: ground “VERY FINE” to extract “the essence of the coffee bean… quickly” and give “ALL the flavor”
  • Positioning tag: “Because It Is Ground Just Right for Dripmaking”
  • The ad names three simultaneous H&H packaging formats:
    1. VACUUM TINS
    2. RE-USABLE VACUUM GLASS JARS (Crystalvac)
    3. THE ECONOMICAL CELLOPHANE-WRAPPED PAPER BAGS
  • Slogan: “We roast it, others praise it” (shown as a banner at the bottom — confirms slogan in continuous use through 1937)
  • Contact: “Ask your grocer for H and H drip grind TODAY”

The left-side package illustration shows “H AND H Fresh Coffee” (tin; includes “PERC-O-DRIP GRIND” and “NEW SPEEDY [SERVICE]” label options); the right-side illustration shows H AND H BLEND Coffee in a Crystalvac glass jar. This is the earliest documented ad positioning H&H Drip Grind explicitly for glassbrewers and dripmakers, four years before the 1941 Vaculator promotion. Source: 1937-11-12-h-and-h-drip-grind-glassbrewers.

1941 Vaculator Promotion

A promotional offer ran in the San Antonio Light, May 23, 1941 (Page 32):

  • Item: Latest Model 8-Cup Vaculator Glass Coffee Brewer, made with Genuine Pyrex Brand Glass
  • Retail value: $2.75
  • Promotional price: $1.29 cash with purchase of 2 pounds or more of H and H Drip Grind Coffee
  • Mail order option: $1.50 cash + 2 coupons, mailed to H and H Coffee Company, Box 1509, San Antonio (brewer sent postpaid)

Vaculator features (as advertised)

  • New Wide Mouth — easy to clean, fill, and pour
  • Beaded Pouring Lip — drip-less pouring
  • Dubl-Grip Bushing — eliminates shoving and twisting of top bowl
  • Snap-In-Filter — no heavy weight to break glass, no wire or springs
  • Filter Cloth — double thick for crystal clear coffee, easily replaced

June 1941 — package sizes and NCRA recommendation (The News, 6 Jun 1941)

A second Vaculator promotional article in The News of 6 June 1941 adds details not in the May ad:

H&H package sizes and their market equivalencies (as stated in the ad):

H&H package Size Claimed equivalent
Family Size vacuum can 28 oz = most 2-lb vacuum cans
Standard vacuum can 2½ lb = most 3-lb cans
Vacuum sealed crystal jar varies = most 3-lb can equivalent

G. P. Menger quoted on why drip grind is correct for glass brewers: “The National Coffee Roasters’ Association have recently recommended the use of drip grind instead of pulverized grinds… experts discovered that when coffee is too finely ground, it loses flavor quicker and does not make a satisfactory brew in glass coffee makers.” Source: The News, 6 Jun 1941.

Company contact (1941)

H and H Coffee Company, Box 1509, San Antonio, Texas

Wartime packaging substitution (1942–1943)

By December 1942 the H&H Drip Grind vacuum-can format that the 1941 Vaculator promotion above is built around had been substituted with Flav-O-Tainer — a heat-sealed, cellophane-lined paper bag pitched as a tin-saving wartime alternative. Three full-page News ads (23 Dec 1942, 30 Apr 1943, 23 Jul 1943) document the substitution explicitly, with the 30 Apr 1943 ad running side-by-side illustrations of the Flav-O-Tainer bag and the vacuum tin it was replacing under the headline “No More Vacuum Cans But ‘Flav-O-Tainer’ Takes Their Place!” The wartime packaging substitution is bracketed to 1942–1943 and the bag drops out of the documented record after July 1943; presumably H&H Drip Grind returned to vacuum cans postwar as tin-rationing ended. See the Flav-O-Tainer brand page for the wartime-packaging documentation.

Open questions

  1. Brand vs. grind variation — the 1937 and 1941 ads present “H AND H DRIP GRIND Coffee” as a labeled retail SKU with distinctive grind-size positioning (“especially designed for glassbrewers and dripmakers”). Whether this was a separate brand in H&H’s lineup or a grind variation of the H and H Blend house line is undocumented; the 1942 H&H wholesale package-coffee price sheet does not name “Drip Grind” as a distinct SKU, which favors the grind-variation reading. The 1937 ad also names “PERC-O-DRIP GRIND” as a distinct label option alongside Drip Grind, suggesting a grind menu rather than distinct brands.
  2. Wartime substitution endpoint — the Flav-O-Tainer documented substitution ran December 1942 through July 1943; the body’s “presumably H&H Drip Grind returned to vacuum cans postwar” is unsourced. Whether the line returned to its prewar Crystalvac packaging, transitioned to a different format, or was discontinued is undocumented.
  3. Postwar continuation — after the July 1943 Flav-O-Tainer ad, H&H Drip Grind drops out of the project’s documented sources. The 1957/1959/1960/1964 postwar attestations and the 1960 corporate roster focus on Master Chef Coffee / Master Chef Instant and the four named retail wordmarks; none mention Drip Grind.
  4. F-1231 ad reference — the F-1231 code in the 1941 Light ad has no associated documentation; whether it was an agency tracking number, in-house file reference, or syndication identifier is unresolved.

See also