94 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[Aug. 2, 1886. 



TEA, CINCHONA BARK AND COFFEE IN 

 THE UNITED STATES OF AMElllCA. 

 London, 4th June 1S80. 



Enclosed are extracts from the annual reports 

 of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New 

 York for the year IS.'^S-SC) which can hardly fail 

 to be of interest to the growers of tea, bark and 

 coffee in Ceylon. While these papers were being 

 transcribed, your Wecllij paper of 11th ult. came 

 to hand with the report of the special general 

 meeting of the Colombo Chamber of Commerce 

 Riimmoned to consider a letter from Mr. Thomas 

 Dickson on Coffee Adulteration. 



In view of the present position of the coffee 

 enterprize in Ceylon, it is not surprising that the 

 Chamber should be lukewarm in this matter. The 

 chairman apparently felt that some apology was 

 due for this, saying that the ground taken up, viz., 

 that the question does not now materially affect 

 Ceylon, is not a very high one. To one reading 

 the enclosed extracts and comparing the relative 

 positions of tea and coffee in the United States 

 and the United Kingdom, it would seem that if 

 the Chamber is to consider the material interests 

 alone of Cej-lon (and what other interests fall 

 rightly within its province ?), it would be suicidal 

 to raise a finger to help the great rival of tea to 

 supplant the latter in the United Kingdom also. 



The story of the consumption of tea " this once 

 overshadowing industry," as it conies from the 

 United States, has indeed " a melancholy tinge." 

 If cheap and pure coffee has carried all before it 

 on the other side of the Atlantic, why not on this 

 side also ? 



In the interests of temperance, by all means let 

 all of us take the side of tea and coffee against 

 alcoholic drinks. But the fact must be recognized 

 that there is, beside the great temperance struggle, 

 domestic strife in the temperance household. Tea 

 and coffee are open rivals for the affections of 

 drinking humanity. In this rivalry, the interests of 

 Ceylon and those of the Colombo Chamber have 

 passed since 1880 from coffee to tea, and there 

 need be no coyness in avowing the fact. W. M. L. 



{Extracts referred to ) 

 The Coffee Trade.— "With very low prices for sugar, 

 a large consumption of coffee may always be looked 

 for. With low prices for both, its cheapness as a 

 good staple increases the favom- in which it is re- 

 garded by the laboiiring man. It has already taken 

 the place" of tea, the "poor man's diet." The im- 

 proved methods of roasting have greatly contributed 

 to this result. The per capita consumption of the 

 United States is now estimated at 9-31 pounds, against 

 7-Gl in 1879, an increase of -I'l per cent. The aver- 

 age price of Brazil cargoes for 1S79 was 11-85 cents ; 

 that for last year 9-01, a decrease of nearly 10 per 

 cent ; the price of last year was the lowest since 

 18.')2, and the consumption greater than ever before re- 

 corded. The variations in the market have been slight. 

 The highest point, lOi cents, was in January; the 

 lowest, Hi in December; the average 9-Ul for 

 fair '*io, the standard ■ for comparative quotation. 

 Experience has shown that the Exchange wliicli 

 opened two or three years since with great flourish 

 of speculation, has proved, as open markets always 

 have and always will prove, an equalizer of prices. 

 The electric system of communication and the cheap- 

 ness of transportation are now such that the mar- 

 gins for profit between cost of production and price 

 to the consumer are extremely small. The tendency 

 is, therefore, to the concentration of the trade 

 into few and strong hands. The total re- 

 ceipts ef coffee at all tlie ports of the 



United States was two hundred and forty-seven 

 thousand tons in 1885, against two hundred and thirty 

 thousand tons in 1881 ; an increase of seventeen 

 thousand tons. The total deliveries for consumption 

 were two hundred and thirty-five thousand tons in 

 1885, against two hundred and twenty-four thousand 

 tons in 1884 ; an increase of eleven thousand tons, 

 or 5'3 per cent. The increase over the consump- 

 tion of 1879 has been more than fifty thousand tons, 

 or about 25 per cent. 



The Tea Trade. — The reports of this once over- 

 shadowing industry have still a melancholy tinge. 

 The causes of the continued depression are plainly 

 stated to be that our supplies have far outrun our 

 consumptive requirements. Unfortunately tins staple 

 does not grow in value with age, like its great rival 

 coffee. Stocks must be marketed. To this, rather 

 than the general stagnation in commerce, is the 

 distrust of the future to be attributed. The Im- 

 porters' and Grocers' Exchange has not as yet proved 

 to be more than a convenient place for the acquis- 

 ition and distribution of statistics, but sooner or 

 later will play an important part in the trade. 

 The exclusiveness which governed the China trade 

 is already of the past. 



Annual Review of the Coffee Trade of the United 

 States. — The more prominent featjires of the coffee 

 trade of the United States during 1885 have been, first, 

 a further increase in consumption as compared with 

 previous years ; second, an extremely low range of 

 values throughout the year ; and third, the change that 

 has become established in the methods of conduct- 

 ing business, more particularly with respect to the 

 product of Brazil, which constitutes the bulk of our 

 supply. Increased consumption has been due partly 

 to the growth of population, but unquestionably the 

 most important element has been the increasing 

 popularity of coffeee as a beverage among all 

 classes, while its relative cheapness to consumers 

 as a food staple has not been without its influence. 

 The extent to which roasted coffee is now prepared 

 and distributed bas had much to do with its in- 

 creased popularity. So long as this preliminary pre- 

 paration had to be accomplished in the kitchen, 

 the loss and labour that was entailed deterred many 

 from its use. A lack of care or experience in this 

 important process was apt to cause waste, in addi- 

 tion to the uniform and imperfect results ob- 

 tained, but this has been entiiely obviated by the 

 erection of large roasting establishments through- 

 out the country, where, with the aid of improved 

 machinery and by the utilization of many ingenious 

 inventions, this labour is all performed perfectly and 

 satisfactorily, and consumers are enabled to obtain 

 from retailers an article that is thoroughly pre- 

 pared for cooking. This fact together with the 

 relatively low prices that have been established 

 during the past two years, has made coffee pecu- 

 liarly the poor man's diet, and greatly popularized 

 and extended its use with all classes. The extent 

 to which low prices have influenced consumption 

 may be readily appreciated from the fact that the 

 axerage price of fair Rio during the year under 

 review is the lowest since 185'2. The changed 

 methods of doing business relate to the manner of 

 importation and sale. Jobbers and roasters now 

 supply their wants chiefly by purchases made direct 

 in Kio ; that is instead of coff'ee being imported 

 here for sale, its sale has been accomplished in 

 most iustances before it is shipped, and the sea- 

 coast ports have become clearing-houses and distrib- 

 uting centres rather than marts where actual 

 merchandise is bought and sold. The net results 

 of low prices and new methods of business have 

 been narrow profits to importers and dealers, and 

 a year of trade that, wliile in no sense disastrous, 

 has not proved one of singular prosperity to those 

 engaged therein. These features have not been con- 

 fined, however, to the coffee trade alone, but have 

 characterized, to a greater or less extent, the 

 operations of the year in almost every de- 

 partment of commercial activity, and may be 

 readily traced to the natural development of the 

 tendencies of the times, after experiencing a long 

 period of trade depression and the practice of close 



