68 The Cultivation and Preparation of Coffee 



view, and in this respect I would ask people 

 to compare the prices of unwashed coffee (coffee 

 treated in the dry cherry without pulping, 

 fermenting, or washing) and coffee such as 

 Costa Rica. 



In some plantations in Mexico and Guate- 

 mala the fermenting tanks are lined inside with 

 cedar wood, and there is a very good reason for 

 this, because I have found for myself that the 

 coffee gets fermented sooner. Further, I have 

 seen in some plantations in Central America 

 the coffee in the tanks during the course of 

 fermentation covered with some empty jute 

 bags. It is claimed that by doing so the 

 fermentation is accelerated. To ascertain if the 

 coffee is properly fermented, a handful should 

 be taken from the tank, and if it is found that 

 there is no saccharine matter on the surface 

 of the parchment, and this feels rough, this 

 may be taken as an indication that the coffee 

 is ready for washing. As mentioned above, the 

 duration of fermentation depends principally 

 on the atmospheric temperature, and, there- 

 fore, a planter should not take for granted that 

 his coffee will always ferment during the same 

 period of time. He should try two or three 

 times during the course of fermentation to see 

 if it has reached the desired stage, because if 

 the coffee is too much fermented it will be 



