ROASTING AND GLAZING. 1 89 



weight, while the loss in weight of the extract will be 

 much larger if the roasting process is continued until 

 the color becomes dark-brown or black by over-roasting. 

 New, moist and light coffees lose a larger percentage than 

 old, dry and solid ones, the average being about 14 per 

 cent. The operation of roasting coffee is one of the great- 

 est exactness, amounting almost to an art, perfect roasting 

 requiring not alone skill and judgment but experience 

 and constant practice, as not only the style, strength and 

 flavor but also the commercial value of the coffee depends 

 upon the operator deciding when it is properly parched 

 or roasted. It is also one of a crucial nature, for equally 

 by insufficient as well as by excessive roasting, much of 

 the aroma of the infusion is lost, the beverage under 

 either of these circumstances being neither agreeable to 

 the palate or exhilarating in its influence. The operator, 

 for these reasons, must judge of the exact amount of heat 

 required for the adequate roasting of the different varie- 

 ties, which, while variable, the range of roasting tempera- 

 ture proper for roasting the various grades is only very 

 narrow. In a modern, well-equipped coffee-roasting 

 establishment, the coffee is handled almost exclusively 

 by machinery, being fed into the cylinder from hoppers, 

 emptied into the cooler from the cylinder and from thence 

 into the bins by drafts of air through tubes or pocket- 

 elevators, so that the coffee is scarcely once handled 

 during the entire process. 



The entire art of coffee roasting may be summed up in 

 the following sequence: (i) Starting the machinery in 

 motion. (2) Starting a brisk fire with enough coal for a 

 single roast. (3) Putting in the coffee before the cylinder 

 becomes too hot. (4) Opening the draft and keeping up 

 a brisk fire during what is termed the steaming period. 

 (5) When the beans begin to crackle and the steam 



