900 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 
Average price of coffee from 1878 to 1890, inclusive. 
Value Value 
Year. per Year. per 
pound. | pound. 
L878 SR SE POATGS | ASS5 2 o-eeori eer $0. 082 
TS cet ae we die E195 Ht POSER he uae tek es rane . 076 
AS QOe aes eae Coe ee eee BIRRS || sO Bey pate seer ee 107 
bse) Oe a eS ae AB |) S88. 222 oe ee eee . 140 
NB BON Takes lees ee tae = LOOZ| PERS Oss she hele ange oe . 129 
IGS3 se es eee es 1082 41 NS90e At EET mts we . 160 
NS Sa eas ee ee ee 093 | 
The coffee consumed in the United States is principally supplied by 
Brazil, Venezuela, the Central American States, Mexico, and Colombia. 
The quantities supplied by these countries are respectively 63, 12, 64, 
4, and 34 per cent of the total imported. Very little coffee is imported 
directly from Africa. 
GENERAL STATEMENTS. 
Of the following statements those in quotation marks are from the 
observations of Lascelles :' 
‘“West India coffee is for the most part even-sized, pale, and yellow- 
ish, firm and heavy, with fine aroma, losing little in weight by the 
roasting process.” 
‘Brazil coffee is larger, less solid, greenish or white, usually styled 
by the brokers ‘low’ or ‘low middling.’” 
“‘ Java coffee is smaller, slightly elongated, pale in color, deficient in 
aroma and essential oil, and light.” 
‘““Ceylon produces coffee of all descriptions, but the ordinary planta- 
tion coffees are even-colored, slightly canoe-shaped, strong in aroma 
and flavor, of considerable gravity, and admit better of adulteration 
than most other kinds.” 
Mocha is usually considered the best coffee of commerce. Itis stated 
that East India coffees are sometimes shipped to Arabia and exported 
from this latter country as genuine Mocha coffee. The seeds of the 
Mocha are small and dark yellow. 
Java coffee when new is a pale yellow and is then cheaper than when 
old and brown. ‘This color is partly a result of the method of curing 
in addition to the effects of age. 
The high price of Java has led to the coloring of cheaper grades 
with mineral pigments or otherwise, in imitation of this favorite coffee. 
It may be well to state that this practice can not be general, since no 
foreign coloring matters were found in the Javas examined in the course 
of the investigations treated of in this work, though it is probable that 
coffees colored by exposure to a high, moist heat may have escaped 
detection. 
1 The Nature and Cultivation of Coffee, Arthur R. W. Lascelles. London: Samp- 
son Low, Son & Marston. 
