The Arizona sentinel., 1888-08-11
COFFEE CULTURE.
Growth of the Cuban Berry and Its Prspa- ration for the Market.

COFFEE CULTURE.
 Growth of the Cuban Berry and Its PrspAr ration for the Market.
 Nothing can be more beautiful and interesting than studies of the annual blooming, budding, growth and ripen- ing of coffee, and it's gathering and preparation for the market. The leaves, which are ovate in form, are about four inches long. They are op- posite each other in pairs, and are dark green in color. Similar in texture to the mammee leaf, they have the waxen surface of the Indian laurel. The foliage is perennial. Shooting out from the basis of these pairs of leaves, after the manner of our cherry blooms, are seen the coffee blossoms. almost precisely like diiniutive tube- rose, in clusters from three to six ssnowwhite and with an indescribably delicate, subtle and delicious odor. For two months in the spring time 8 coffee plantation is simply one vast plain of white, region of intoxicating odor, with the blue sky half shut from sight by hundreds of honey-seeking butterflies, humming birds and brilliant-winged song sters fluttering and circling in an ap- parent ecstasy of revelry and delight. For nearly six months new blossoms come as old ones disappear. Blossom and ripening berries are continuous. As the breezes snow the dying blos- sons upon the ground, tiny green but tons take their place. These are the growing fruit. They change to 8 pale pink; then to a bright cherry; finally to reddish purple. Then it is ripe and ready for gathering. In Arabia where the climate permits the ripeu- ing and drying of the berries upon the tree, it is gathered by shaking the ber- ries upon blankets laid beneath. Here it is picked in baskets, piled at con- venient places, and drawn in carts to the quarters and at once put in great estanques or tanks of cement. At this stage it is called, cereza, or cherry" and is given 'three waters" that is, stirred thoroughly in three changes of fresh water, which removes the saccha- rine and floats into other tanks srefuse and worthless berries. It is then spread upon secaderos or drying places. These are flat platforms of cement and charcoal, into the basin-like circular portion oftwhich the drying coffee is drawn at three o'clock, each afternoon, in piles, and covered for protection from night dews with casillas or man. aca palm-leaf coops. This process is continued almost three weeks, or until the coffee is proven" that is dry enough to permit removal of the sec- ond skin, or the real shell of the berry, when it is called pergamo. It is now taken to the warehouse and stored for time to again color," and then to the moline or mill where it is run through heavy wooden rollers. This breaks the brittle shell and separates the twin berries. Then an aventadOr or huge winnowing machine removes from the mass of grayish-yellow seeds the chaff collected at the moline. It is now said to be in 'oro," or in its golden state, from it's color, and is now taken back to the mill through which it is run with dry corn-husks for friction and polish. It is again winnowed, and is then piled upon porch-foors, or in any convenient receptacles, and "culled," the broken and small dark beans being removed, this residue, which is supplied to the negro laborers for coffee, being called trirache. There is but one more proc ess. The single or raw "male" berry is extraordinarily prized, and commands the highest price. The coffee is sep arated by being shunted down inclin- ing board frames from which the round berries, or cafe de caracollio, rolls to stationary benches while the double, or fiat, beans remain. After this rapid assortment it is weighed in hundred pound sacks, or quintals, and is ready for the market at Trinidad, to which picturesque old city every pound is conveyed on the backs of donkeys and mules.-Edgar t. Wakenaan, tn Brook lyn Argus.