COLOMBIAN COFFEES. 167 



pleasing in flavor withal, making good useful coffees for 

 blending purposes. Maracaibo coffees are packed in 

 Sisal-hemp bags averaging 130 pounds, and principally 

 shipped to the United States, where they are held in high 

 esteem for their many excellent qualities, the regular 

 grades of Cucuta being marked " C " under the importers' 

 initials, and the choicer grades " C C." Merida is indi- 

 cated by the letter " M " in the same manner, Bocono 

 by "B," Tovar by "T" and Trujillo by " To." But 

 owing to the too common practice of substituting and 

 repacking indulged in by unscrupulous dealers, these 

 distinguishing marks cannot always be relied on with 

 any certainty. 



Curagoa Is a small, yellowish, shriveled or shrunken 

 bean coffee, evidently immature or blighted in growth 

 from some unknown cause. It is generally " quakery" 

 in the roast, but yields a not disagreeable liquor in the 

 cup, making a valuable variety in combination to reduce 

 cost. 



Angostura Is a large, flabby, yellowish bean 

 variety, shapely in form but light and " chaffy" in sub- 

 stance, and invariably " quakery" when roasted, the 

 liquor being thin, watery and almost flavorless. 



Venezuela supplies about one-tenth of all the coffee 

 consumed in the United States, the total imports being 

 in round numbers about 60,000,000 pounds per annum, 

 and growing steadily. 



The coffee-producing districts in Colombia are situated 

 chiefly in the departments of Boyaca, Santander and 

 Cundamarca, these three departments having an area of 

 over 160,000 square miles, of which nearly one-half is 



