April 2, 1888.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
695 
back on the low class of coffee taverns where it is 
simply impossible to obtain a good cup of unadulter- 
ated coffei'. I can speak with some confidence on this 
matter as I have been to the trouble of visiting num- 
bers of these houses in all parts of Loudon, and in no 
oaso did I ever obtain an article even in the faintest 
way resombling genuine coffee. 
To those who entertain doubts regarding the alleged 
extent of coffee adulteration, tho following fucts may 
be quoted. An analysis of forty-three samples of coffee 
and coffee mixtures purchased in London, during 
March and April 1SH6, showed an average proportion 
of coffee in these samples of just fifty per cent added 
to fifty per cent of burnt sugar, and various vegetable 
substances, such as roasted and ground roots of dande- 
lion, carrot, and parsnip, beans, lupins, and other seeds. 
Nine of these samples contained from 62 to 93 
per cent of chicory &c, averaging 70 per cent of 
other substance thau coffee. These mixtures were 
Bold at from 10 pence to Is. 4d. per lb. Tho price of 
the pure Indian coffee sold at the Royal Commission's 
Stalls was Is. 4d. per lb. Tho enormous percentage 
of profit derived by the vendors of coffee adulterated 
as abovo, may bo seen from the figures, anil of course 
the worse tho mixture, the greater the gain, and risk of 
discovery is not very great after all. From the report 
of the Local Government Board for 1884-85 may be 
taken a story which shows adulteration in excehU. 
Coffee, says the evidence, continues to be one of the 
chief subjects tampered with, and about one-fifth of 
the samples examined were condemned. The 
peculiarity in one case was that tho berries were 
actually shown to tho inspector and wore ground in his 
presence, so that there seemed to be no likelihood of 
ad ultoration ; chicory, however, was found on analysis 
to be present, and the vendor was fined. It is possible 
that this fraud was due to tho revival of an Old prac- 
tice of compressing chicory by machinery into l..e size 
and shape of colfee berries. These Sham berries are 
mixed with real ones, and the purchnser, who sees, 
what he believes to be colfee being "round before his 
eyes, is hopelessly deceived. As chicory costs only 
8 pence or 4 pence per lb., the fraud is very profit- 
able. It is no rare thin),' for so-called coffee to he sold 
which proves on analysis to be compos, d of " one-fourth 
part of coffee added to three-four the ot'ohicoiy," 
The low prices of Indian cotfeo which have prevailed 
for so long, taken in connection with the simultaneous 
extensive falling off in production may, I venture to 
think — bo truceable iu a great measure to diminishing 
consumption amongst tho working people, resulting 
from the almost utter impossibility of tfieir being able 
to obtain anything under the name of colfee, save a 
beverage from a deleterious compouud, the sale of 
which, howevor benefioia) to unscrupulous dealers, is 
most Certainly anything but agreeable to the palate 
of the consumer, and worse than useless as an article 
of diet, as well as being highly prejudicial to the best 
iuterest of the fine industry of colfee planting. 
TeDS and hundreds of thousands of working men iu 
this great cily of London are, of necessity, compelled 
to obtain all their meals at what are commonly called 
coffee shops, and which are found almost as thickly 
planted all over London and its suburbs as are public 
houses, thus testifying to tho lucrative nature of the 
calling. 
The nature of their work, and long hours of toil pre- 
vent these men from ever having a meal at home, ex- 
cepting Sundays and holidays. Tea and Coffee are in 
great demand as a beverage amongst this class ; and 
there ean be little doubt, that could these bo easily 
obtained iu anything l>ke a palatable form and free 
bom adulteration, that the increase In the consumption 
of these two drinks and the corn spoil ling decrease in 
tlie consumption ol alcoholic liquors, w nM soon be- 
come very marked and extensive, but so long as the 
working mm is supplied with vile decoctious such as 
nre on sa' < in t'10 Loudon coffee shops, it is hard'y to 
lie woiioi rod at if ho should sometimes take beer in- 
stead. 1 have no hesitation in giving it as mv opinion, 
that in the pro i' majority of this class of coffee shop 
in London liquids are supplied to their hard working 
customers under tho names of tea and coffee, which 
are highly deleterious as an article of diet, and in very 
numerous instances totally unfit for human consump- 
tion. Workmen frequently after a few days' trial of so- 
called coffee leave it off in favour of tea, but the change 
in most cases, ia like the one of " out of the frying 
pan into the fire," the so-called tea consisting of an 
infusion of the coarsest and cheapest samples served 
up with little sugar and less milk after being stewed 
and even boiled for many hours previously iu largo 
copper urns heated by gas, and bearing as much re- 
semblance to a genuine cup of tea as a snowdrop does 
to a Banyan tree. The so-called coffee is treated in a 
similar way, and is generally placed iu the urns over 
night with water, sugar, and milk, all of dubious 
quality and left above a low gas jet to stew and sim- 
mer till the early morning, when it is served out to 
the unhappy workmen who have been obliged to 
leave home, before their wives have had time to wake, 
dress, and kindle the fire, and who nre only too glad, 
during those early hours, to obtain something to drink 
be it ever so nauseous a compound, if it be only sweet 
an 1 hot. The manner of serving up these drinks by 
the attendants as well as the general surroundings of 
these coffee "Palaces" must be repulsive even to 
the roughest man who enters them. To begin with 
the odours that regale the seuse of smell on entrance 
are not conducive to enjoyment of tho meal, or sub- 
sequent good digestion. Attendants in too numerous 
instances appear to dislike the use of water quite as 
much as a Toda doc, and indeed ih<i general appear- 
ance of many of the places would convey the idea that 
the water had for some considerable time been entirely 
cut off , save for the purpose of supplying the copper 
urns above mentioned. 
The drinks are serv. d up in cups of different sizes of 
the coarsest ware and generally quite J inch in thick- 
ness and frequently of the most curious shapes and 
patterns and with saucers to match. These are 
brought to the tables both filled with the dubious look- 
ing dark liquid, and placed before the customer with 
a bang and a rattle which is quite startling to a new 
customer and accouuts for the necessity for havir g the 
cups and saucers of such a degree of weight and thick- 
ness. As this pap6r professes to deal only with Indian 
produce in tUo shape of t>-a and coffee 1 have nothing 
to say with regard to eatables supplied to the public at 
these coffee taverns, the quality of which, and the 
manner of serving them up, I will leave to the imagin- 
ation of my readers. 
It certainly does seem a misfortune to the planting 
community of India that their products both of tea 
and coffee, produced at such cost of persistant labour 
and courage, should be doomed to such vast wholesale 
manipulation at the hands of the adulterator aud seller 
as is described above, aud that the matter is in no 
way exaggerated or coloured may be proved in Lon- 
don any day at the expense of a very- little trouble. 
All the care and trouble expeuded upon the growing, 
manipulation, curing aud packing by the planter in 
India is therefore in a measure lost and thrown to 
tho winds. True he gets a certain price for his pro- 
duce, but does he get such a good price or ready 
sale for his produce as if, on leaving his hands, it 
were never subjected to treatment that not only 
changes its high value as au article of food into one 
of no value at all, but in many instances into one 
highly deleterious, checking consumption and keeping 
down prices accordingly? 
l'erhaps it would be a difficult thing for the plant- 
ing interest to pnt a stop or even check on such n state 
of things, but if propor Ration were taken the difficulty 
might not be fouud to be insurmountable. 
There can hardly be a subject of more pregnant in- 
terest at the present time when national taste is slow- 
ly but surely turniin: from intoxicating driuk«, if «o 
aro to believe tho figures of each recurring Bttdgot— 
than tho best in nlo of supplying to the public at 
large tea and coffoo in n pure an I unadulterated form. 
The fault does not lie at the door of tho Indian planter, 
lie hrt.s ever supplied the Kuglisli market with a pure 
article. It has been the aim continually of the planter 
to pro inc. at whatever cost, uti article of superior 
quality; aud who will venture to declare that he has 
