Report of Society's Meetings. 151 
British Guiana coffee you have been kind enough to send me, and I 
now have the pleasure of giving you my report upon them : — 
No, 15, marked ordinary, J. P. Murphy, is a rather small, pale, even 
and nicely picked coffee, clean in taste, but thin and weak. Value 58s. 
to 60s. per cwt. 
Sample marked Colonial Co., Pin. Mara, is a bold pale yellowish even 
sample, clean and pure tasted, but wanting in strength. Value 63s. 
No. 16, marked N.G.D. Elephant, is a common dull brownish Libe- 
rian, it roasts badly, and tastes badly, oily and unclean. Value 45s. 
Sample marked N.G.D. , C. Arabica, pale greenish native kind, good 
size but bricky and tasting like Santos. Value 58s. 
No. 17, Liberian, W. Smith, appears to be a mixture of pale native 
kind, and of the ordinary Liberian sort, it has a common oily taste 
though not so bad as No. 16. 52s. 
The Liberian samples are so common, and roast and taste so badly, 
that I cannot sufficiently caution your colonists against growing this 
sort. It sells fairly well now, owing to the great reduction in the stocks 
of coffee and the rising tendency of the article, but with a full supply of 
Liberian (which I am afraid we shall see before long, as every one 
seems to have been going for it,) I have no hesitation in saying that 
Liberian will become very difficult of sale, and that prices will go down 
materially, even if other sorts keep their value. There is an oiliness in 
Liberian which, when roasted, becomes most offensive to the smell and 
taste. 
The N.G.D., C. Arabica, the ordinary, J. P. Murphy, and the Pin. Mara 
are a very successful class of coffee ; the first seems to have suffered a 
little in preparation, but has all the elements of good coffee, and with good 
preparation would probably be greener and nicer looking, and might be 
worth 5/ to 8/ per cwt. more : the 2nd and 3rd are nice looking, well 
picked, the Pin. Mara, especially, of very good size. 
I think planters should be warned that sugar is an enemy to coffee in 
all its stages from its growth to its preparation, and the utmost care 
should be taken to keep the two at a distance from each other ; espe- 
cially in shipping coffee, care must be taken not to put it in the same 
vessel which carries sugar, as the effluvium from the sugar almost inva- 
riably ruins the coffee which is in the same part of the vessel. The 
Royal Mail Steamers alone can be trusted, as care is taken, if any sugar 
is on board, to place the coffee in a totally different part of the vessel ; 
this is a matter of very great importance. 
