ADULTEEATION OF COFFEE. 165 



" Another point to be taken into consideration, wMcli has 

 been almost completely lost sight of, is the rapid increase in the 

 grovmd-coffee business, which has reached its present proportions 

 within the past two years, and especially last year. 



" The six hundred coffee and spice-mills of this country use 

 over one thousand roasting-machines, with a capacity of 1,200,000 

 pounds a day. These mills grind and put up coffee, either in 

 packages or in bulki, and, as a rule, wherever grinding is done, 

 there adulteration is practised. A prominent manufacturer says 

 the average basis for this business is the following proportion to 

 every 1,000 pounds : 



Roasted peas 400 pounds. 



Eoasted rye 200 " 



Eoasted chicory 100 " 



Other ingredients &0 " 



Eoasted coffee (best qualities) 250 



u 



1,000 pounds. 



" This can be sold at a profit to the wholesale merchant at 

 twenty cents currency per pound, allowing a discount of ten to 

 twenty per cent., and is sold by retailers at twenty-five cents cur- 

 rency. 



" The determined way in which the ground coffee business is 

 being pushed, the great quantity now produced, and the low 

 prices at which it is furnished render it evident that, sooner or 

 later, the importer will find it an important element in his calcu- 

 lations determining the consumption of pure coffee in this country." 



"What was true in 1876 is true to-day, but we are happy to 

 say, not to so great an extent. This is chiefly due to a reduction 

 in the price of coffee, thus increasing the purchasing power of 

 consumers ; and to the general introduction of the coffee-mill into 

 families and also into retail stores. Extremely high prices tend 

 to increase the sale of adulterated coffee in packages, while cheap 

 coffee curta,ils the demand to very narrow limits. Many brands 

 of ground coffee that were popular from 1862 to 1870 did not 

 contain more than five or ten per cent, of pure coffee, and yet 

 they were endorsed as being of superior quality by letters of 



