EAST-INDIAN COFFEES. 121 



appearance, it is usually moist and soft in substance, 

 losing heavily in the roast, and yielding a flat, almost 

 insipid liquor. 



Travancore — Grown in the extreme south, is a low- 

 land variety having an average-sized, flat, but whitish 

 bean, soft or " spongy " when new, but becoming light 

 and brittle as it dries. It is invariably " quakery " in 

 the roast, thin and watery in the cup, and lacking in even 

 an approach to fragrance. 



Burmall Coffee — Is a comparatively new variety to 

 commerce, being only recently introduced, and very 

 limited in supply to the present. The bean is fairly 

 large and regular in form, greenish in color and soft 

 in texture in the natural state, tough or " leathery " when 

 roasted, and wild or "grassy" in the infusion — defects 

 due to its newness, which may, however disappear in the 

 later crops. A very large portion of the surface of Burmah 

 is admirably adapted for the cultivation of fine coffees, but 

 it still remains in its primeval state of unproductive jungle, 

 owing to the entire absence of natural energy on the part 

 of the natives, who have been described as the laziest under 

 the sun. At the present time, however, the government is 

 making liberal offers to Europeans and others who under- 

 stand the art of coffee-planting in order to develop the 

 industry in that country ; such settlers being offered free 

 grants of land in the celebrated Tavoy district, the only 

 conditions being the cost of survey and demarcation. 



India coffees are classed in the English market as 

 "Bold," "Middling "and "Small," the bulk of the 

 small-bean Mysore, Malabar and Wynaad being shipped 

 to Aden and Alexandria, where they are repacked and 

 sold as Mocha. The average quantity and value ol 

 the coffee product of India is about 40,000,000 pounds. 



