Oct,  i,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL 
AGRICULTL'RIST. 
239 
fashion  there  are  no  doubt  very  many  who  would 
be  converted  to  preferring  the  juice  of  the  hcrry 
to  the  juice  of  the  leaf. — d/.  Times,  Aug.  ‘21. 
THE  DECLINE  OE  COEFEE. 
F,XTIl.VOKmN.\KY  ACTION  BY  THE  OOVEUNMENT. 
ALLt'.GEn  OFFICIAL  PATIIONAGE  OF  FHAOD. 
We  all  know  that  coffee  as  a beverage  has  bee'i 
declining  in  popularity  in  England  for  the  last 
five  and  twenty  years.  The  quantit}'  of  coffee 
now  consumed  here  is  less  than  half  that  which  was 
drunk  in  187;-1,  but  the  price  is  probably  twice  as  much 
now  as  it  was  tlien.  You  cannot  buy  a pure  coffee 
in  this  country  for  less  than  Is.  2d.  a lb.,  and  even 
then  it  is  of  very  poor  quality  as  a beverage.  Tea, 
on  the  other  hand,  has  fallen  in  price  to  an  enor- 
mous extent.  When  fine  coffee  could  be  had  at  a 
ehilling  a pound  fine  tea  cost  four  shillings ; now 
coffee  has  enhanced  its  value,  and- the  average  price 
paid  per  pound  for  tea,  even  by  the  fairly  well- 
to-do  classes,  is  not  eighteenpsnce.  Tea  is  more 
than  ever  a national  beverage;  coffee  is  a receding  quan« 
tity,  chiefly,  as  the  experts  will  tell  you,  because  we 
hardly  know  how  to  make  it  in  hhigland.  For  the 
matter  of  that, we  luirdly  know  how  to  make  a well- 
seeming  tea,  but  that  is  another  story. 
Years  ago,  wdien  tea  was  oven  more  a luxury  than 
now,  the  coffee-  grow'ers  of  the  hot  climes  regarded 
London  as  their  market  or  clearing  house  for  the 
world.  They  mortgaged  their  crops  to  London  houses 
in  consideration  of  advances  given,  and  shipped 
the  coffee  to  London  to  their  order  as  return  for  the 
money.  In  those  days  they  would  not  deal  with 
any  other  than  a London  house.  But,  by  and  by 
as  commercial  credit  became  established  in  other 
countries,  a draft  on  a Dutch  or  a French  house 
gi'ew  to  be  as  accej)table  as  that  on  a London 
establishment,  and  worth  just  as  much.  Then  the 
growlers,  began  to  dally  with  other  traders,  London 
lost  its  monopolist  position,  and  the  coffee  natur- 
ally gravitated  in  largo  part  to  the  ports  nearest 
to  the  area  of  consumption.  Holland,  for  instance, 
got  the  greater  part  of  its  coffee  to  its  ow'n  ports  ; 
France  did  likewise ; and  though  the  coffee  con- 
sumed in  England  naturally  came  to  our  ports, 
that  which  England  used  to  export  dwindled  in 
quantity  before  the  direct  consignments  to  the 
Continent. 
The  English  traders  then  began  to  find  that  they 
suffered  through  their  own  honesty — don’t  smile,  that 
honesty  was  compulsory  ! The  foreigners  had  no 
scruple  in  packing  inferior  samples  in  the  casks  or 
bags  bearing  the  marks  of  much  more  valuable  brands; 
and  putting  them  on  the  market  at  vastly  enhanced 
rates  and  at  great  profits  to  themselves.  Their 
Governments  made  no  effort  to  stop  this  fraud  ; in 
fact,  I daresay,  a bland  official  smile  at  the  discom- 
fiture of  English  is  still  its  reward.  But  in  En- 
gland it  was  difficult  to  do  this  successfully  in 
the  free  warehouse,  and  quite  impossible  in  boud — 
up  to  a short  time  ago.  True,  even  well-known 
firms  have  been  suspected  of  palming  other  marks 
of  coffee  on  their  customers  as  br^uas  of  fine  qua- 
lity, but  only  when  they  themselves  had  cleared 
them  from  bond.  If  the  customer  himself  went  to 
the  trouble  of  effecting  the  clearance  he  knew  that 
the  coffee  ho  obtained  was  exactly  that  which  had 
been  cleared  from  the  ship  according  to  the  warrants. 
To  buy  coffee  fiom  bond  was  a guarantee  of  true 
description  and  quality,  until  the  Government  made 
an  order,  a month  ov  two  ago,  by  which  it  practi- 
cally becomes  the  patron  of  fraud,  and  lends  its 
warehouses  to  the  swindling  of  the  jniblic. 
I ought  to  explain  several  things  about  !he 
coffee  trade  before  I go  further.  Coffee  comes 
into  the  market  from  many  sources.  There  is 
the  Mocha  coffee,  the  taste  for  wliich  is  prob- 
ably, in  most  cases,  acquired,  because  there  is  a pecuH;ir 
rank  flavour  about  the  beverage,  which  does  not  com- 
mend itself  to  everyone.  Then  there  is  the  Mysore 
coffee,  which  gives  a rich,  thick  liquor,  as  though 
you  had  infused  too  much  of  it } and  . the  Jamaica, 
very  thiiiinliqiior,  hut  very  fragrant;  and  Die  Costa  Ricri 
coffees,  very  plentiful  and  fine  in  quality;  and  the 
Ceylon  coffees,  decliuii,g  in  quantity  every  year, 
owing  to  the  duvasiafious  of  the  leaf  disease  or  blight, 
from  which  tlie  Costa  llicas  ere  yet  free  ; aud  the 
Guatemala  and  other  Central  American  growt’ns,  as 
well  as  large  quantities  of  Brazil  coffees  aud  se- 
veral others.  Hiirtfly  any  • coffee  of  these  coun- 
tries could  be  sold  direct  for  oonaumption,  ex- 
cept, perhaps,  Costa  Hicas ; tliey  have  all  marked 
characteristics,  but  very  few  imleed  have,  of  them- 
selves, precisely  the  desirable  flavour  or  qn'lit.y.  It 
i.3  the  duty  of  the  expert  coffee  blender  to  take  a 
coffee  with  one  characleristic,  another  with  a quality 
lacking  111  the  first,  oud  anoiher  with  a fl.avour  yet 
lucking  in  the  other  two,  and  mix  them  a:l  together 
to  get  the  properly  fr.sgraut  bhind  whicti  the  coffee 
drinker  likes.  Tli-o  coffee  blender  in  large  houses^  acta 
upon  his  knowledge  acquired  by  long  study  of  coffees, 
Bat  the  grocer  who  sells  coffee  generally  makes  his 
own  blend  according  to  a more  or  less  fixed  foniiula ; 
he  may  send  out  Uie  two  01  three  bags  of  each  sort 
he  buys  to  be  ground,  but  probably  h ; inalces  his 
popular  blend  of  a portion  of  Plantation  Ceylon  coffee, 
so  much  Jamaica,  and  so  much  Co.sta. 
Plantation  Ceylon  coffee  comes  over  here  in  large 
casks  weighing  10  orl2cwts.;  but  it  is  now  a scarce 
commodity,  and  the  piice  is  p.ccordingly  greatly  en- 
hanced; Jamaica  is  imported  in  barrels  of  about  2 
cwis.,  is  more  plentiful  than  the  other,  and  accord* 
iugly  is  cheaper — though  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  Jamaica  is  considered  to  be  the  finest  coffee 
grown,  and  a choice  lot  will  always  bring  a big  price  : 
the  scaicity  of  Ceylon  alone  -makes  it  dearer.  Costa 
Eica,  having  complete  freeJom  from  disease,  grows 
many  fine  coffees,  quite  as  good  as  .Jamaicas  in 
many  cases,  quite  as  skillfully  grown,  and  as  well 
cured,  but  owing  to  the  plenitude  of  the  supply,  the 
price  of  Co.sta  Eicas  may  be  some  16.s.  less  per  cwt. 
than  Jamaicas.  These  marks  will  suffice  for  illus- 
tration. There  are  tricks  in  all  trades,  aud 
there  are  some  in  the  coffee  trade.  It  is  a profit- 
able trick,  for  instance,  to  sell  Costa  Eicas  as 
plantation  ; and  it  has  been  done.  Coffee  has 
been  shipped  from  Costa  Rica  to  Ceylon,  iu  its 
“ piw’chmeut,'’  or  husky  stage,  cleaned  in  Ceylon,  and 
prepared  for  market,  packed  in  Ceylon  casks,  and 
shipped  to  England  and  sold  as  “ Plantation  ’’ 
coffee.  It  paid  to  take  all  that  trouble  and  cost  to 
secure  tho  enhanced  price.  Again,  the  Jamaica  coffee 
berry  has  a very  delicate  bloom,  which,  might  al- 
most, it  seems,  be  rubbed  off  by  a touch  of  the 
finger ; the  Costa  Ricans  have  invented  a method 
of  drying  their  coffee  seeds  which  produces  an 
exact  imitation  of  the  Jamaica  bloom,  so  that  even 
an  expert  may  oft-ou  be  deceived  by  a sample  of 
coffee  thus  faked,  unless  he  is  able  to  trace  the 
cargo  to  the  port  of  issue.  This  is  done  to  get 
tho  higher  price  for  Jamaica  coffee.  There  are 
other  ways  of  faking,  such  as  that  practised  abroad, 
of  dyeing  the  berries  with  indigo  to  give  them 
the  blue  hue  which  is  indicative  of  the  “London 
cleaned  ’’  coffee,  but  we  must  let  this  pass  with 
the  explanation  that  the  Loudon  cleaned  coffee  h s 
not  the  same  quantity  of  water  dried  out  of  it  as 
coffee  clean  abroad,  and  when  polished  has  a deeper 
colour  consequent  on  the  moisture  left  in.  The 
point  is  that  by  trickery  even  experts  may  be  de- 
ceived ; and  that  by  false  marks,  without  auy  faking, 
the  nou-expert  grocer  may  be  done  again  and  agiiin 
in  his  pur.fliases. 
The  Goverunieut  was  besought  some  time  ago  by 
the  coffee  merchants  and  exporters  iu  London  to 
give  them  concessions  which  would  uut  teem  on  a 
level  footing  with  foieigucrs  in  their  trickery.  The 
Govern luetu  consented,  as  tho  following  order  I'ela- 
tive  to  the  Imiking  and  mixing  of  coffee  and  cocoa, 
jirintcd  in  the  ‘‘Public  jjodger’’  show.s.  The  order 
is  dated  May'  1.5  l i.st  Iroin  llio  Cu  t itn  House,  and 
amends  the  fcxi.-,tiiig  regulations  thus: — 
“ Coffee  or  Cocoa,  whether  from  the  same  or  diffe- 
rent countries,  or  of  the  same  or  different  impona- 
tious,  may  be  bulked  or  mixed  for  home  consump- 
tion, exportation,  or  ships’  stores,  011  condition  that 
