128 The Fermentation of Cacao 
the coffee may very likely be damaged and 
so be less valuable. Although it is true that 
the acid cannot apparently penetrate the 
parchment-like covering of the coffee beans 
as easily as it does the shell of the cacao bean, 
since fermenting the coffee greatiy facilitates 
its being washed, it is practically impossible to 
avoid having to prepare the coffee in that way.’ 
In San Thomé a method that completely 
differs from the above is employed as a rule. 
The coffee fruit is spread out on cement floors 
in the open air in fairly thick layers. There 
it is left for weeks, only being occasionally 
turned over with shovels. The beans gradually 
die, and only after they have done so does the 
actual drying commence. The beans are not 
left spread out, but are gathered up into heaps 
or rows in the evening, and spread out again 
the next morning, and during this process a 
' According to Dr. Ure, coffee contains: vegetable 
fibrine, fatty matter, caffeine, legumine, and it is 
claimed that owing to the pressure and friction which 
take place in some of the mechanical peelers and 
polishers, the coffee gets excessively heated, and the 
oil or fatty contents are brought to the surface of the 
“beans, and gradually evaporate when the coffee comes 
out of the peeler and is exposed to the atmosphere, 
losing thereby its natural colour very quickly. Accord- 
ing to Messrs. McKinnon and Co., Ltd., of Aberdeen, 
this excessive heating can be avoided, as by the simple 
though effective method, introduced in their machines, 
of circulating cold air between the internal parts of the 
machine, a brilliant and lasting polish and colour is 
imparted to the beans.—H. H. S. 
