94 FERMENTING AND DRYING. 



the better as long as care is taken to turn the mass so 

 that the fermentation shall be equal throughout; the 

 presence of water equalizes the fermentation but retards 

 it and slightly injures the quality of the coffee. When 

 fermentation is not sufficiently prolonged, the beans will 

 assume a yellowish color — called " blankety " — and will 

 be difficult to dry, becoming liable to absorb moisture 

 at the same time. But when properly fermented the 

 separation of the saccharine matters is easily effected in 

 the washing tanks, to which the pulped beans and a good 

 supply of water is admitted. The washing cistern is 

 provided with a sluice door at the lowest corner, this 

 door commonly measuring six inches wide by three 

 inches deep. The coffee is meanwhile constantly agi- 

 tated by a wooden scraper or rake, by which the light 

 coffee and refuse matter float and may be skimmed off, 

 the dirty water flowing off through a tall cistern pro- 

 vided with a grating to catch the skins and stray parch- 

 ment, while the sound berries are placed in draining 

 boxes to remove the excess of moisture and are then 

 transferred to the drying ground with the least possible 

 delay. But should the climate be uncertain it will be 

 necessary to provide for the emergency of a succession 

 of wet days, when drying cannot be proceeded with. 

 Parchment coffee may be kept in the undried state for 

 two weeks without injury by placing it in a cistern exposed 

 to a continuous flow of cold water. 



In drying, the berries to be dried are first spread out 

 on a flat surface exposed to the heat of the sun. The 

 material forming the terrcino (terrace) or drying ground 

 varies greatly in the different coffee-producing countries, 

 but most commonly the ground is leveled and then 

 covered with a kind of concrete, sometimes asphalt is 

 laid down, but, besides being expensive it is not sure 



