San Antonio Coffee

SAN ANTONIO COFFEE is a Hoffmann-Hayman package-retail line documented on the 2 March 1942 typewritten wholesale package-coffee price sheet: 1-lb bag (24-count, 23¢), 3-lb bag with white cup (“no coupon,” 24¢), and 3-lb vacuum jar (6-count, 73¢), regular or drip grind. The artifact alt-text reads the section header as “SAN ANTONIO Coffee,” but the typewritten letterforms are partially faded and in-hand verification is recommended — see 1942 H&H Wholesale Price Sheets § Reading note.

The name overlaps with San Antonio Coffee Co., a separately owned San Antonio roasting firm documented in a 25 March 1932 San Antonio Light “Fresh Coffee” cooperative ad as roasters of the ALL GOLD brand — a different company from Hoffmann-Hayman. Whether H&H’s 1942 “SAN ANTONIO COFFEE” line is an acquisition from that firm, an H&H-original line named for the city, or (per a possible reading of a 21 Nov 1937 Light phrase, “H and H San Antonio and Texas Girl coffees”) an earlier H&H wordmark, is undocumented. This page is a placeholder pending further primary-source evidence — see 1942 H&H Wholesale Price Sheets § Open questions for the full analysis.

Open questions

  • Is “San Antonio Coffee” an H&H acquisition of the separately-owned San Antonio Coffee Co., an H&H-original city-named line, or something else? (Full analysis at 1942 H&H Wholesale Price Sheets § Open questions.)
  • Does the section header genuinely read “SAN ANTONIO” rather than “SAM HOUSTON” — a higher-resolution scan or in-hand read of the price sheet would settle the transcription.
  • No specimen (bag, jar, or ad) has been catalogued for this line — is any known to survive?
  • When did the line launch, and when did it retire (sometime between 1942 and the 1960 roster, which drops it)?

See also