VTI. 



X| N commerce coffee is to be met with in three condi- 

 tions Raw or unroasted, Roasted and Ground 

 ^^ and, as may be inferred, it is in the latter condition 

 that it is most liable to the chief adulterations, so that with 

 the raw and sim,ply roasted coffee the public analyst will 

 have very little to -do, his services being principally 

 required in dealing with ground coffee alone. But at the 

 same time it is also subject to much manipulation and 

 sophistication in the two first conditions also, scarcely 

 any dietic article being so persistently adulterated. 

 From the time of picking and preparing coffee for 

 market until it finally reaches the table of the consumer, 

 there is probably no article of diet subjected to more or 

 as many forms of manipulation, sophistication, substitu- 

 tion and adulteration as coffee. The producer mixes one 

 variety with another, the refuse of the old and inferior 

 with the new and choice, while the commission agent at 

 the shipping ports manipulates it again by changing the 

 grade or altering the quality by running one grade with 

 another in order to complete his consignment. Again, 

 on its arrival in the consuming countries it is frequently 

 emptied out of the original packages, separated or run 

 together as required, the bags turned inside out, and the 

 marks altered in order to conceal any stained of damaged 



