

CHAPTEK XI. 

 THE FERMENTATION AND WASHING OF COFFEE. 



As the pulped coffee is discharged from the 

 pulping machine it proceeds to the fermenting 

 tanks, accompanied by some of the water which 

 is used for pulping, the water being allowed 

 to drain off from it when it reaches the tanks ; 

 and for this purpose the fermenting tanks 

 are generally provided with two draining 

 plates and two sluice gates, one for the dis- 

 charge of the water, and the other for the 

 discharge of the coffee. The coffee is left in 

 the tanks until the saccharine matter, which 

 adheres to the parchment coffee, gets loose, 

 due to the fermentation, and the parchment 

 gets rough. The time occupied by the 

 fermentation process depends principally upon 

 the atmospheric temperature. For instance, I 

 noted in the State of Veracruz, at a tempera- 

 ture of 30 deg. Centigrade the fermentation 

 took twenty-four hours, and at 20 deg. thirty- 

 two hours. There is a diversity of opinion 

 with regard to the fermentation of coffee. I am 

 of the opinion that fermentation is necessary, 

 even if it is only from a commercial point of 



