900 



FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



Average price of coffee from 7,v;,v /<> IW, 



The coffee consumed in the United States is principally supplied by 

 Brazil, Venezuela, the Central American States, Mexico, and Colombia. 

 The quantities supplied by these countries are respectively 03, 12, (>.}, 

 4, and 3 per cent of the total imported. Very little coffee is imported 

 directly from Africa. 



GENERAL STATEMENTS. 



Of the following- statements those in quotation marks are from the 

 observations of Lascelles r 1 



"West India coffee is for the most part even-sized, pale, and yellow- 

 ish, firm and heavy, with fine aroma, losing little in weight by the 

 roasting process." 



"Brazil coffee is larger, less solid, greenish or white, usually styled 

 by the brokers 'low' or 'low middling.'" 



"Java coffee is smaller, slightly elongated, pale in color, 'deficient in 

 aroina and essential oil, and light." 



"Ceylon produces coffee of all descriptions, but the ordinary planta- 

 tion coffees are even-colored, slightly canoe-shaped, strong in aroma 

 and flavor, of considerable gravity, and admit better of adulteration 

 than most other kinds." 



Mocha is usually considered the best coffee of commerce. It is stated 

 that East India coffees are sometimes shipped to Arabia and exported 

 from this latter country as genuine Mocha coffee. The seeds of the 

 Mocha are small and dark yellow. 



Java coffee when new is a pale yellow and is then cheaper than when 

 old and brown. This color is partly a result of the method of curing 

 in addition to the effects of age. 



The high price of Java has led to the coloring <>l cheaper grades 

 with mineral pigments or otherwise, in imitation of this favorite coffee. 

 It may be well to state that this practice can not be general, since no 

 foreign coloring matters were found in the Javas examined iu the course 

 of the investigations treated of in this work, though it is probable that 

 coffees colored by exposure to a high, moist heat may have escaped 

 detection. 



1 The Nature ami Cultivation of Coffee, Arthur R. W. Lascelles. London: Samp- 

 8on Low, Son & Marston. 



