we americans know what we like and we really do like coffee did i say like well we use more than three billion pounds of coffee every year where does it all come from mostly from south america so let's fly down and get the story firsthand there the typical plantation now many of the remote villages depend upon the plantations for their existence life is pretty much the same as it has been for generations today of course each village has its own school and the standard of living is immeasurably higher with increased knowledge naturally the education of its youngsters include learning all about coffee at an early age they learn that coffee begins with a little plant or a tree these trees thrive best in rich red so i went transplanted from the nursery there about two years old set in shallow holes eight to fourteen feet apart the tree must grow for another two or three years before bearing its first crop brazil alone has more than a million square miles of coffee country an area larger than all the united states east of the mississippi this is a coffee blossom eight to nine months after this blooming the coffee fruit right and looks very much like a ch picked by skilled workers who know just when the right berry should be plus the average tree bears enough coffee beans to make about one pound of roasted coffee a year each plantation has its assembly points where the day's take is brought into the wait and there this is just one step in more than twenty four major operations required in bringing your cup of coffee to the table the berries must go through a crushing and washing process which takes place on the plantation crushing removes the protective red covering with which nature has enclosed each coffee bean the beans float while skin or pulp sinks to the bottom providing adequate water facilities on a tropical plantation is a necessary and costly requisite in producing high quality coffee encased only in its final parchment the coffee beans are spread out to dry in the sun this takes from eight to ten days men must rake and turn the beans so that they all will dry e then packed in bags the dried green coffee is ready to be sent into the city here it is unloaded at a warehouse where it will be inspected sorted and graded for quality this initial grading is one of the most important operations in the selection of copy today mechanical methods are so perfected that coffee is sorted by machines with  each bag after it is stamped with its country of origin name grade and destination is ready to go to the seaport where final tests are made before shipment to the united states using an instrument like an apple corer a check or stabs each bag and withdraws a sample for testing li a and p has its own coffee experts right on the spot to test engrave the contents of each bag to see that it made the company's quality standards samples of clones of the united states together with the experts testing also includes roasting samples of the green coffee and actually taste testing it for strength and flavor today many of the great cities of latin america have been built largely upon the business of exploiting coffee which is one of their most valuable commodity when the coffee crop is good business is good but coffee means the same to these people and their ability to buy the things they need as wheat to a farmer in the brassica or caught on to iowa and kansas its miles of beautiful beaches and modern cities lure thousands of people to latin america nothing intrigues the tourists more than a visitor was a problem to watch the ships loading coffee for shipment to the united states us now a cargo of coffee is loaded aboard ship with the same care you would use in storing food in your home you know some food must be kept dry a sudden drop in temperature upon leaving the tropics could cause dampness in the ship's hold this moisture could injure the copy unless the beams are carefully still so loading a cargo of coffee is also an important operation in getting this beverage on its way new york new orlando and san francisco are the principal ports through which coffee arrives in the united states hear licensed graters spirits bag for fresh samples and taste test the shipment to make certain the coffee they bought compares with the reports and samples from south america based upon the findings of these experts one coffee is mixed in the blending machine with another to produce the bouquet the aroma the flavor desire from blending machines the green coffee is introduced next to a huge automatically controlled roasting oven hundreds of pounds at a time done to a turn cascades of precisely roasted beans are released at just the right moment ready to be freshly sealed into packages the very same day in this way you know the coffee you buy is fresh and ready to be custom ground just right for the way you make  d s we know americans really do like we drink around one hundred twenty billion cups a year after drinking coffee is one of life's pleasures a pleasure that cannot be duplicated by any other beverage