San Jose Coffee

Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. brand covering a compound of coffee, cereal and chicory — one of at least two named chicory-blend products the firm documented in the trademark record. The San Antonio and South Texas market was historically receptive to chicory-blended coffee (a tradition common across the Gulf South from Louisiana westward), making a named chicory-compound brand commercially plausible for H&H’s regional distribution footprint.

Trademark record

• Mark: “San Jose” with design (specific design art not recovered from the OCR; original USPTO drawing would show the mark)
• Serial No.: 261,671
• Pending: Week Ending April 10, 1928 (Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, May 1928, p. 725, partial entry — beginning of entry garbled in OCR; confirmed by Index of Trade-Marks, 1928)
• Registration No.: 243,281; granted June 19, 1928
• Published: April 10, 1928
• Class: 46 (foods and ingredients of food)
• Goods: Compound of coffee, cereal, and chicory

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.

Context

The San Jose filing documents that H&H maintained a dedicated chicory-blend line under a named brand as early as 1928 — distinct from the pure-coffee brands (H and H Blend, O.S.T. Old Spanish Trail). This is consistent with regional coffee-trade norms: Gulf South roasters routinely offered a pure line and a chicory-compound line in parallel.

The “cereal” component in “compound of coffee, cereal and chicory” indicates a three-way blend: roasted grain (likely roasted rye, wheat, or barley), chicory root, and coffee. This type of blend was common as a coffee extender or economy product, particularly in Depression-era markets. Compare the (much later) Jav-O Coffee chickpea-compound blend of 1954.

Open questions

• No advertising, label art, or physical specimens yet identified.
• What San Jose design mark was used? (Original USPTO drawing not yet retrieved.)
• What was the cereal component — rye, barley, or another roasted grain?
• Whether the brand reached sustained retail or was a specialty/wholesale-only line is undocumented.

See also

• O.S.T. Old Spanish Trail Coffee — concurrent pure-coffee H&H brand filed same week
• Jav-O Coffee — later H&H coffee-compound brand (1954), chickpea-based
• H and H Tea — parallel tea line; see also the 1924 “You’ll Praise It Too” tea trademark
• H and H Product Line
• Tea and Coffee Trade Journal