Historical photos of goods coming in and out of the Port of Corpus Christi aren’t unusual. In nearly a century, many different products have traveled to Corpus Christi to ship out or were sent on their way via rail or road after their arrival. The unusual thing about this image is it’s ordered specifically for local production.
The banners announce this delivery as the “Largest Cargo of Coffee ever received at Port Corpus Christi” and thank the citizens for their patronage of Nueces Coffee Co. The imported green coffee beans were moved from the port to the company’s factory on Lester Avenue for processing. In this era, it was roasting 5,000 pounds of beans a day.
T.B. Martin started the company as Martin Tea and Coffee in 1915; it went through several sales, but always stuck close to downtown Corpus Christi. In 1929, D.B. Yarborough stepped to the helm. One of his major accomplishments was when the beans started to come through the new port locally instead of by rail after arrival at the Port of New Orleans. The optics of the fresh beans being pulled through the streets straight to roasting no doubt strengthened Yarborough’s efforts to grow the company. In fact, one of the blends was the aptly named Nu-Port Coffee.
Nueces Coffee Co. stayed in the family until D.B.’s son Frank renamed it Yarborough Coffee Co. in 1958 and sold it in a merger in 1959. Some veteran residents may remember Yarborough Coffee on the shelf at the grocery store into the 1970s before its new owner, Cain’s, dropped the line.
