197 



Messrs. A. S. Lascelles & Co. to Messrs, Lascelles de Mercado <fc Co.. 

 Kingston. 



New York, U. S. A., 



April 2 1st, 1899. 



Pbar Sirs, 



Jamaica Liberian Coffees. 



In response to the request of Products Co. to report on two bags 

 of this variety of coffee which reached us this week we have to inform 

 you that the universal consensus of opinion among the experts, jobbers 

 and dealers is that these coffee - would sell here at from 1\ to 7^c.f the 

 latter being probably the outside valuation for to-day, We have also 

 submitted the samples to the expert in these coffees to-day and he 

 reports as follows : — 



" We hand you with this green and roasted samples of 275 bags 

 u genuine Liberian Java J which we are jobbing out in a small 

 u way at 8£c. We are confident we can buy this coffee at 7|c. 

 " In fact we are offered much handsomer coffees at the former 

 u figure. The sample of Jamaica Liberian which you showed 

 " us to-day is of inferior style, the colour being much against it. 

 u We doubt if such coffee would sell to New York jobbers at 

 " from 7 to 7£c. and we are confident that no jobber would make 

 " a profit on it 7-Jc. We have tested both of these coffees in the 

 " cup and while our coffee is much superior coffee in the roasted 

 " bean, we must say frankly that your coffee possesses superior 

 " drinking merit, having a fine flavour and clear acid which we 

 " do not think our coffee possesses. We do not know, however, 

 rt that this favourable feature would overcome its poor appear- 

 " ance in the green as the consumer apparently cares very little 

 " for the drinking quality of this sort of coffee." 



And in order that you may understand his letter we send you by 

 this opportunity two sample bags of his sample in the green and two 

 cans of his sample roasted, also two sample of your own Liberian coffee 

 roasted so that you can, if necessary, make trie comparisons which he 

 does in his letter. You will see that, whilst your coffees are inferior in 

 style and colour in the green, they nevertheless make a superior flavour 

 roasted to those which are now on sale in this City. 



We are, Yours faithfully, 



A. S. Lascelles, & Co. 



Highland Coffee of Sierra Leone. (Coffea stenophylla.) — This coffee 

 grows on the hills about Sierra Leone at from 500 to 2,000 feet. The 

 coffee is sold by French merchants as " best Mocha," but the interest 

 connected with it, is not so much the relative value as compared with 

 Arabian coffee / as the possibility of its being able to resist the Hemileia 

 vastatrix. The Director of Kew Gardens has distributed seed to Botanic 

 Gardens in the tropics. It has succeeded fairly well at Hope and Cas- 



f [That would be 26/ to 27/ per cwt., in Jamaica.] 



