The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-12-16
.Hdessjt ]. gute1ltseaeer.
/, The Coffee Berry.

"a An extraordinary increase in the con-
sumptpn.of coffee in the United States
is shoSna by the statistics of importation.
Thus at the six leading ports on the At
lante coast, there was entered IN 1877,
!llSO0O tons; in 1873, 113, 600, tons, and
in 1874, 10000 tons, while this year
rromises q still larger increase.
New York City maintains its pre-emi-
,nence = in the coffee trade, despite the
i;r ;ariyalrv of Baltimore, which Just now. is
very happy in having an exclusive line
of steamers to Rio, the great coffee port
of the world, while her old competitor
has none. As they say ION the opposite
side of the river whenever a transit pro-
iect fails in New York, nGood for Jer-
sew SO in the same spirit when Garri-+
sons Line stopped, they had no tears to
shed in Baltimore. But perhaps New
York viii have another Brazil line very
soon. That's the present appearance.
About the coffee trade: there are some
curious facts. y - 3 e.,:.5ist.,t.
The wonderful faculty sometimes de-
veloped by professional tea-tasters, is no,
less manifest among experts In the Coffee
trade. By merely shifting handful of
raw kernels, an accurate judgment Isl
often formed Of an entire lot, without re-;
gard to size, color. or polish. As an abb
sorbent, coffee has peculiar properties So
that a coil of tarred rope in the same
apartment may in. course Of time impreg-
nate the. whole with q resinous favor
So, too, coffee is often described. as
sshidey," meaning that Its mercantile!
value has been impaired by the rank odor
of the hide in which, it, was bound for
transportation. In jocular way-tell it
not atgthe breakfast table-coffee is also
spoken of by dealers as amonkey clean, -
implying that the kernels have been
gathered in the haunts of the animal
named. For obvious reasons, while the
athe external appearance may be unusual
" bright, the 'connoiseur'in such matters
is sometimes accused Of being excessively
fastidiouse Coffee which; in the ways IN
timated may have absorbed odors foreign
to itself, betrays its true character more
deeidedly.under the influence of heat,
latent gases being released and MADE
palpableito the senses. s.,;i =
The bulk of our coffee importatons
comes from Brazil; as the quality known
!, as Rio is chiefly in demand South and
West. In the eastern part of the coun-
try the Java is preferred, as it has a
lighter flavor. West India cofees, tor
merly known as San Domingo, also the
finer grades of Jamaica, mostly go to the
aristocrats of England. Cuba coffee does GE,
not come into our markets at all: Inc In
old-fsshioned SuDaatra ,is received here,
under the name of Jays1, but the timer
grades of Rio are most In request. Costa
Rica is choice coffee, ranking high In
popular estimation, but the supp Y grown
Is limited, and Englshmen 1.-the most
of it. Mocha from the .Arsbianeos Is
brought into Arden from the surround-
ing country, and reaches our country In
small quantities, though more consdera-
BILE than is usually supposed.
Very handsome fortunes have been
made in New York by those who handle
coffee, including not only importers and
brokers, but those who prepare the berry
for market by various processes, SUCH as
cleaning. roasting and grinding. There
are four Il OF five leading brokers, each OF
whom make from s50, 900 to S75,OOO per
annum, for though they receive only
from one quarter to half OF. one per
cent, when they sell by the cargo, as is
often the case, the latter makes big
item. OF the class first mentioned who
are in the business, there are some twelve
ior fifteen firms, some of whom each ham
die cofees valued at $4,000 per an
num-. or even more, and the extent to
which roasting is done may be Judgea
from the fact that houses thus engaged,
in several instances, turn out twenty tons
week. .'N
y The fact is, the American people are
becoming a nation of coffee drinkers, and
singular as the statement may first ap-
pear, this result is attributed in no small
degree to the late war. Every soldier
had his coffee ration, and it was in the
camp that thousands of men first acquired
taste for coffee, so that within the last
ten years the increased consumption of
the article has been very rapid. In Ger
many, too, as consequence of the Fran
co-German war, coffee drinking mas be-
come more general than ever before for a
similar reason. Hence we may account
in part for the advance which has every.
where taken place in the price Of coffee,
the rate of production not having in
creased according to the consumption.
Reducing the tariff on coffee did not
have the anticipated edectrit did not
help the consumer, and the action thus
taken by, Congress is pronounced great
mistake, as the producer raised his price
in an equal proportion. The consumer,
therefore, instead of assisting in a liqui-
daaion of the national debt, only helps to
enrich the planter in Brazil, Java, Cey-
Ion and San Domingo. The consumer,
it is argued, never felt the tax; it was
only "the gnat on the bulls horn."-
Commercial Adoertiser.