August i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



117 



As my experience is confined to a single lowcountry 

 estate, it cannot bo taken as a general rule, but I find 

 that others have fared much the same, and some even 

 worse than myself in these regions. 



Whether shade may be an ultimate advantage, I 

 am not prepared to say; but, judging from the little 

 I have seen of it, it appears to me to retard the 

 growth of young plants and defer the period of 

 cropping, and probably the amount of the crops will 

 be less under shade than when sheltered from wind 

 but open to sun. W, B. L. 



[Our correspondent's experience, therefore, largely 

 confirms our views, that shade may or may not be 

 useful, but that shelter from wind and good soil are 

 essential. The virulence of the disease, this year, is 

 traced to abnormal weather, while the fly is believed 

 not to be responsible for the disease, although it at- 

 tacks the trees when they become diseased. Helopeltis 

 Antonii carries on its work so secretly, that of course, 

 it is possibly responsible for much attributed to un- 

 suitable sod and want of shelter. But all views, the 

 rrtsult of honest and careful observation, are entitled 

 to respectful consideration. — Ed.] 



♦ 



OOFFEE MANIPULATION. 



The following article has been sent to us, specially 

 reprinted. — Ed. 



If a large part of the coffee produced was left longer 

 upon the tree it would reach the consuming markets of the 

 world in a riper condition thati at present. The result 

 would be coffee with a better or more mellow flavor, larger 

 bean, and of much more desirable color. The berries, how- 

 ever, are picked at or close to maturity ; by artificial means 

 the outer coverings, consisting of the skin of the berry, the 

 pulp, mucilaginous surroundings and the inner skin are 

 removed. The bean improves by age at the expense of 

 weight, gaining in color aud flavor, and therefore in com- 

 mercial value. Popular prejudice accepts a dark brown or 

 rich golden color as an evidence of age, and hence an 

 index of drinking quality, and as a result such coffee 

 commands a higher price. 



Producers hurry their coffee to market. In many 

 countries, owing to a lack of machinery, it reaches the 

 shipping port poorly cleaned ; in a raw or unripe condition ; 

 beans of irregular size and of varying flavor. From ship- 

 ping ports it is hurried to the distributing ports of con- 

 suming countries, generally by steamer, instead of, as for- 

 merly, by sailing vessel. The result is that the coffee 

 loses the benefits that resulted from a long sea voyage, 

 viz. : improved color and flavor due to the fermentation 

 or sweating process it undergoes while confined in the 

 hold of a vessel subject to a high and moist temperature. 

 A six month's voyage via Cape of Good Hope imparts 

 to the large green Java bean a dark brown color, and 

 gives to it the mellow flavor so popular with consumers. 



Various artificial means are now employed to give 

 to coffee color and flavor, some of which are legi- 

 mate and others fraudulent or illegimate. In that 

 standard authority, "Coffee from Plantation to Oup," 

 attention is called to the report in 1879 of the 

 chemist of the Agricultural Department, "Washington, D. 0., 

 wherein he states : " The foolish demands of the people 

 are the direct cause for the manipulation of coffee." He 

 proved by chemical analysis that six samples of faced berries 

 contained the following per cent, of foreign adulterants : — 

 Per cent. Per cent. 



No. 1 0.68 No. 4 0.64 



No. 2 0.19 No. 5 0.63 



No. 3 0.08 No. 6 058 



The mixtures used are known as orange powder ; lackb 

 powder ; olive green powder. They contain chromate of 

 lead ("chrome yellow"); sulphate, of barium ("heavy spar"); 

 burnt bones or crude bone black. 



Dr. Cyrus Edson, of the New York Board of Health, 

 has been paying special attention to the fraudulent 

 colouring of coffee, and not only corroborates the 

 above, but has discovered that mineral poisons are 

 freely used by several of the companies operating in 

 Brooklyn, N, Y, aud which are to answer for their wrong 



practices to the Board of Health of that city. Arsenic, 

 Venetian red, chromate of lead, ferro-cyanide of potas- 

 sium, and umber are used to color the beans. The bean 

 being porous, or spongy, absorbs the arsenic and lead so 

 thoroughly that it is almost impossible to remove it by any 

 roasting or chemical process. If these mineral poisons re- 

 mained upon the outside of the bean it would require a 

 white heat to destroy them ; and every dealer knows that 

 coffee is roasted in closed cylinders'at a temperature which 

 fails to volatilize any poisonous coating. It is incompre- 

 hensible how any firm of good standing can be a party 

 to such frauds.* 



The polishing of cotfee, by subjecting it to friction in 

 either upright or horizontal cylinders, is legitimate. 

 Neither can any reasonable objection be made to the 

 use of soap-stone in polishing. The separation of small 

 from large beans, or the improvement of the look* of the 

 coffee by mechanical appliances, are proper, adding to its 

 commercial value, but there is no defense that will excuse 

 the use of mineral poisons. 



Any artificial method, whether legitimate or illegitimate, 

 can be used to deceive, and we regret that so many 

 reputable firms are practising fraud upon retailers by 

 using existing processes of manipulation. Large bean coffee 

 of Mexican, Central American, Venezuelan or other growth 

 is made to imitate Java so closely as to defy detection 

 except by experts. That sort of swindling has become very 

 common, and we caution the trade against "bargains" in 

 old brown Government Java. 



Some years ago a patent was taken out for the ripening 

 focotfee by a natural or 



LEGITIMATE METHOD. 



This subjects the coffee to the equivalent of a long 

 sea-voyage through the tropics. The coffee is placed in 

 compartments similar to the hold of a vessel, and sub- 

 jected to a moist and rising temperature for about one 

 week. The rise in temperature is gradual, and the suc- 

 cess of manipulation depends upon the skill of the operator, 

 whose experience enables him to determine from the con- 

 dition of the green bean the degree of heat aud moisture 

 to which it can be subjected, and the time necessary to 

 secure a certain result. The operation removes from the 

 bean a large amouut of caffeo-taunic acid, causes some 

 varieties of the bean to expand and change color, and 

 become mellow in flavor. 



The process causes a permanent change, specimens four 

 years old showing no loss of color. The flavor, as is 

 natural, will continue to improve, by age, notwithstanding 

 the treatment to which it is subjected. The caffeo- 

 tannic acid of coffee has the property of taking up oxygen 

 aud oxidizing rapidly, forming other acids. The color of the 

 bean is supposed to depend more or less upon the changes 

 in these acids. If live steam is allowed to act directly upon 

 raw coffee it would partially cook it, the action being sudden 

 and violent ; but this method, once in vogue, is little practised 

 at present. 



It is unimportant to the consumer whether the changes 

 which improve coffee are wrought on sea or land, so long as 

 they are obtained without the use of chemicals or by any 

 methods likely to be injurious to health. The method 

 above described is now extensively used to give to green 

 Java a rich, brown color, and to green Kio and 

 Santos that much desired and beautiful golden color. 

 It is also possible to establish and maintain a uniform 

 standard of color. This process has also afforded addi- 

 tional proof that soil, climate, and condition of bean 

 at the time of harvesting affect the flavor. It serves to 

 lessen the rank and bitter flavor of Brazil sorts and bring 

 some varieties of Santos and fine Kios so that they ap- 

 proximate in mellowness to an O.G.Java or fine Maracaibo. 



In brief, fermentation under certain conditions improves 

 some sorts of coffee. It undoubtedly improves by age, 

 some claiming that it will gain in flavor for ten years, 

 if kept in a dry. warm, well ventilated warehouse at as 

 near an even temperature as possible. It loses or absorbs 

 moisture, according to existiug climatic conditions. 



Buyers should guard against fraud, and when they 

 are deceived return the goods or claim an allowance for 

 damages. 



* Any man convicted of mixing such a poison as arsenic 

 with cotfee ought surely to be sentenced to penal servitude 

 for life. — Ed. 



