The Red Cloud chief., 1884-06-20
Fraud mt tie breakfast Table.

10 the average American, coffee is as
essential To Il good breakfast. As is ties
To the EngliShman. The frauds prac.
ticed bv the makers of ground coffee,
are many and well known. These may
be readily avoided by the purchase o.
coffee that is not ground. 1t has been
supposed that one who purchased the
raw bean. and roasted and ground i,
himself. would have pure coffee. While
this course avoids n set of adul
terationS. those which are only possible
with ground coffee. it may be but :
change of evils. While raw coffee is
free from adulteration in the proper
sense of the term-the adding of 3
cheaper article 10 reduce its cost Ia the
seller the purchaser may fall upon whai
is still wOr>e-poiSOned raw coffee. IL
has recently been discovered by the of
iicers of the Board of Health of New
York city, that Maracaibo, Rio and 9th
e.. cheap ~coffeeS. are manipulated and
colored in their unroas.ed state. 20 make
them resemble in appearance and color
the ''Old Government Java n that
in the process there are used various
co,oring materials which are of 4 poi
! sOnous nature. and which n would
not, eve in small quantities, willingly
take into his system. Among the col.
oring matters are some. which, like UNI
Der, Venetian red, lamp black, soap
stone. etc., are no more harmful than
the same quantity of any other kind OF
dirt. On the other hand, there are en-
! ploysd compounds of arsenic and lead,
which one would not care to take with
his coffee in even minute quantities, be-
sides the pruSsiate of potash and
other chemicals not usually regard
ed as essential to a good break
fast. The cheap cotteeS are green,
and the Surfa-c has 4 dull ap-
p~esrance, while Java has a yellow color.
and the surface of the bean is smooth
and polished. The articles we have
mentioned are used to change the green
OF cheap cotlees TO yellow. ~SprinkliIIg
the coffee with gum-water, addng
powdered soapstone, an | various cO!tr-
ing materials. and placing it in lot
revuly ing iron cylinders. the beans RIB
against one another until they nc ;uirc
the desired color and polish. The coffee
brokers assert that more than half the
C'Il SioSCio Z SliCstl' 'Oi'C thst Ai"I
been colored to initiate Java. There are
large establishments for cOlOring coffee
near New York, but they claim that
their processes are harmless. They,
however. do admit that there are some
wicked men in the same business in
Holland. and it may have been theil
cofeeS that were examined by the
Board of Health.
First-cla>s retail grocers can procure
tieir. stock from importers, and they
are in no danger of being served witt
the co;ored stuff: but it is different with
the average dealer all over the country
Soaking the su>pectel coffee grains in
water. frequently stirring or shaking
them in Il bottle. then carefully dryin.
them and comparing them with 4 sar'
pie not so treated, will show b" u DIFF
ference in colo if they have beer
tarpered with. Nearly all the colorin!
materials are inSoluble in water. AMI
the water in which the sample off coffee
has been soaked is allowed to stand il
Il wine glass. the coloring matter vii
settle Is Il fine powder at the botton.-
imericQU -iyricuitur.St.