MaHcii 1, 1901.] THE TEOPICaL AGRICULTURIST. 
601 
growers, it must rapidly and seriously affect 
prices. A reduction of even five per cent in 
the yield frotn boDli [udia and Ceylon could not 
fail in present circumstances to lead to a marked 
advance in the value of the remaining 95 per 
cent produced. 
Crylon. — The statistical position appears rather 
more favourable than that for Indian teas. Within 
1900 there was an inciease of 15,000,000 Ih. in 
the imports, while the deliveries showed the 
marked adva nee of 1 1,700,000 lb., of which under 
2,000,000 lb. went into Export Trade. The 
large advance in home consumption has been 
-bought at a heavy cost in the level of prices 
realized. The year closed with an increased stock 
of 8^ million pounds, while the quantity shipped 
from Colombo to London within 1900 exceeded 
that received in the latter by fully 3 million 
pounds. The congested state of other large 
markets, referred to above, affects Ceylon tea 
fully as much as it does Indian, and serves to 
explain the very heavy export from Colombo to 
London during December. It may also have an 
important bearing on the volume of shipments to 
London during the early part of 1901. 
The expectations of yield for the new year again 
point to probable large increases, if no steps are 
taken in the direction of restricting output. 
COFFEE AS A BEVERAGE. 
Sir, — I notice that a great deal is being said at 
the present time in the public Press regarding the 
remarkably small consnmptiou of coffee in England. 
It appears that more than 30 times as much cofiee 
per liead is drunk in Holland as in England. It 
also appears that the United States of America is 
an extremely large consumer of coffee; in fact, 
nearly half the coffee produced in the world is 
consumed in that country. As the Americans and 
the English are practically of the same race one 
would naturally suppose that the consumption of 
coffee per head would be about the same in both 
countries. Various writers have lately been at- 
temoting to arrive at the cause of this great dis- 
parity in the consumption of coffee. Why is it 
that England consumes such a small quantity, 
and Holland, Germany and the United States such 
an enormous quantity ? One writer speaks of 
coffee in the following language : — " Coffee afford<! 
the human frame energy and vigour, and con- 
sequently ameliorates the ill-effects ot overwork 
or excessive study, and neutralises the conse- 
quences of deficient, poor, or unwholesome nour- 
ishment." 
The coffee berry in its raw state contains, on 
an average, about half of one per cent of caffeine. 
Caffeine acts as a stimulant. It strengthens the 
action of the heart, and stimulates the whole vas- 
cular system. It removes fatigue, and, in fact, 
has an exhilarating effects similar to alcohol. Caf- 
feine is the only snl)stance known which can pre- 
(luce these exhilarating effects without an after de- 
pression. When coffee is well roasted and well pre- 
pared drinkers acquire a certain coffee habit very 
much like that ot smoking. In some countries, 
like Greenland where no alcohol is either imported 
or made, tiie natives produce a species of intoxi- 
cation by drinking very large quantitips of strong 
coffee. If anyone is a habitual coffee-drinker, 
he feels great depression if he misses having his 
coffee at the usual time. 
hi the United States of America there are abso- 
lutely no restrictions on the importation of coffee 
or on its use. Even when coffee was dutiable, after 
the duty was once paid the purchaser was at per- 
fect liberty to do anything he liked with the coffee. 
But in England the case is quite different. The 
Government is not satisfied with simply receiving 
the duty ; cotl'ee is hampered in every way by 
restrictive law.°. Mo ocher adulterant is permitted 
but chicory. In France the children aie provided 
in the morning' with a large cuporbowlof cofiee 
and milk, into whichthey break theirbread, \nd eat 
it very much the same as they would eat bread 
and milk. In the United States a very cheap 
drink is prepared by mixing roasted cereals with 
coffee, which is practically the same thing as mix- 
ing bread with coliee. In this way a very delicious 
and cheap beverHge is produced, which is not only 
stimulating in propoi tion to the coffee it contains, 
but at the same time .serves as an excellent 
food. A cup of so called coffee prepared in this 
way is quite as good as a bowl of soup, and what 
is more, it is exceedingly cheap and palatable. It 
is because the Americans are allowed to use cof- 
fee in anyway they like, either as a beveiage or 
as a flavouring material, that the consumption is 
so extremely large. 
In England, on the other hand, coffee can be 
adulterated with nothing but chicory, because 
chicory pays a duty. Now it so happens that 
chicory is a root, not altogether unlike beetroot. 
It contains a large amount of very impure sugar 
similar to raw beetroot sugar. When this chicory 
is properly roasted, it communicates to the coffee 
a great deal of colouring matter. Moreover, the 
roasted impure sugar which it contains becomee 
extremely bitter ; and as an adulterant of coffee, 
as far as bitterness and colour are concerned, no- 
thing could be better. When the quantity of 
chicory is limited to one-third of the whole, it 
produces a very pleasant drink ; but unfortunately 
chicory has a medicinal effect. It is like a great 
many other things which may be quite palatable 
at first ; but if chicory is consumed day after day 
one soon tires of it, as it is like all other impure 
sugar. It produces slight nausea, and in this 
way, unless one has a very strong stomach, it 
soon becomes quite unpalatable. Therefore, as 
cofiee is always associated with chicory in England, 
coffee is discarded because the consumer finds that 
chicory causes indigestion, and does not agree 
with him. As coffee contains only half of one per 
cent of caffeine, and as a large amount of this 
is dissipated in roasting, and as the relative 
amount is still more reduced by the addition of 
chicory, it foUows that the actual amount of 
caffeins contained in an ordinary cup of coffee, 
such as one finds in England, is quite insufiicient 
to produce any exhilarating effect. On the other 
hand, tea contains sufficient caffeine to produce a 
perceptible amount of exhilaration. The result is 
that people take to tea aud avoid coffee. 
If the Government really wished to increase the 
revenue from the importation of coffee, the best 
course would be to let people adulterate it with 
anything they saw fit, instead of confining them 
exclusively to chicory. In countries where com- 
mon cereals are used for adulterating cofiee people 
never tire of it, but in England, where only chic- 
ory is used, coffee has become very unpopular. — 
Yours, &c., HiKAM Stevens Majcim, 
— London Globe. 
