Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-08-03
cunrosrrlEs OF COFFEE.
8cw the Berries arc Dressed ana
DoctorPo.
lBrookIyn Times.l


Doctoseo.
lBr0oklyn Timesl
"Tbe fixing, or, as it is known to
the trade, dressing of coffee. has ar
rived at such a point that there are IN
this city alone two large concerns with
expensive plants OF machinery, whose
sole business is to 50 manipulate the
beans as to make them resemble any
thing but that growth or kind which
they actually are.
such was the statement made to re-
porter at recent date by n Fnlton.street
wholesale coffee merchant During the
conversation which ensued on the sub
ject the latter sand: For. the most
part the object OF the 'dressers Is not
10 deceive the public at large, but rather
the smaller iobbeIs and retailers.
"Roughly speaking coffee goes
through four hands before IL reaches the
mills or the mouth Of the consumer. In
the first place there is the importer, who
sometimes owns the plantation on which
the coffee he sells grows; then comes
the broker, who acts ms q middleman be-
tween the importers and the iobbers, and
lastly there are the retailers hopurchase
ofthe icbbers. The importers and brokers
are necessarily experts in their business,
and it is these who are responsible Tor
the Disgusting and counterfelting OF
various kinds of coffee.
Spurious Java IS perhaps more
largely made than other sort. Real Java
YOU know. comes in fattish coarsely
woven mats. During the voyage from
Java to this country the moist beans gen
crate n kind Of damp heat, the yapor
from which pcrmeates the thousands oil
mats packed in the ships hold. The
result is that the bean IN transit changes
from its natural dull green tint to
light yellowish brown, and addition
ally it spreads and sweils through
the imbibed moisture. Now real
Javas are the most expensive coilees III
the market, and il good imitation can
be sold a. the b0nA tte article the mar
gin Of profit is enormous. To effect this
end Maracaibo-a Central American col
feels taken. whose bean IN the green
state somewhat resembles the Java. 1t
is then subjected to sweating process
equivalent to the heat of a long voyage
Ia tventy-four hours the Maracalbo Will
have taken on the characteristic hue OF
the genuine Java, and, as for as appear
ance goes. can't be detected from the
real article. 1t is then repacked IN Java
mats and foisted upon the unsuspectIng
buyer as Java pure and proper. In a
case of this kind an additional fOurceuts
per pound profit is easily.attained by the
vendor of the spurious Java.
"How about Mocha coffee
"Mochas? Why,Ahere isn't a ton Of
real Mocha in the country. What are
sold as Mochas are really the results OF
neat bit of impositon-in this case on
the public at large. Coffee, as yon
know, grows in little pods, each pod
containing two beans. Occasionally,
however, the flower which produces the
twin beans is iInperfectly fructiiied, and
in such cases only one bean grows IN
pod. When this happens the solitary
bean. instead of assuming theusnalform,
grows in cylindrical shape. These Der
ries are known III the trade as pea berries.
Now, true Mocha beans have form
much resembling pea berries. Conse-
quently centrifugal machinery Is en-
ployed to separate tue pea berry from
| the normal beans-for pea berry Is found
in every parcel of cotlee-and when
separated is sold as Mocha.
Guatemalan cotiees, too, are con-
sidcrcd fair game for the dresser. The
finer grades of these are very hlgh-priced
and are generally in demand III certain
portions Of the country. Your dresser,
therefore, takes good Rio, which Is
probably three cents per pound cheaper
| than the Guatemala which it IS desired
to initiate, and places it in u polishing
machine. A few hours revolution Of
the steel boxes put brilliant gloss on
the berries. But Guatemalas have a GER
tain blush tinge, while the Rios are OF
a dead green. And so soapstone and a
dash of Prnssian blue is thrown into the
polisher and behold the Rio IN a couple
OF hours is turned into an apparently
choice Guatemala.
"Sospstone, by the way, is used to
disguise the color of some OF the lower
grades of Rios, whose harsh green skins
and blotchy appearance are the reverse
of tempting TO buyers. The powdery
mineral puts pretty creamy look on the
face of the berry and improves 1t TO the
extent of two or three cents per pound.
"Another fayorite dodge is TO pack
good Rios or low Costa Ricas into ordi-
nary -four barrels, put fictitious marks
upon them, store tho barrels at some
warehouse, and then sell them as pack
ages Of West indian coffee, West Indian
| always coming to this country in flour
barrels, which in their turn have been
sent down to the islands by the New
| York flour-dealers.
"a good many OF the Rio coflees are
grown by small farmers or peasants.
These beans are dried in the sun on the
panpos, where for good portion OF the
year cattle have been grazing and wan
dering. The beans. in the process OF
| giving of their moisture, take up the
characteristic odor of the manure-sod-
den ground. and the result is the reverse
of pleasant. l have had some OF these
conees, which, when roasting, threw out
such a diabolical odor that 1T was jmpos-
sibIe to stay in the roasting-room. But
your manipulation gets over this difficulty
by subjecting the beans to gentle and
moist heat, the result being that the
stuff is sold as coffee several grades
higher in quality than it actually is.
OccasioDly shrewd but unscrupu-
lous dealer will do the trade in bril-
liant but hardly honest manner. few
years since an enormous consignment Of
apparently real Mocha was rushed on
the market at very low figures. People
were at loss TO tell from where it came
or what it exactly was, but it went new
ertheless. When some thousands Of
packages had been sold it was found that
the stuff was the output Of plantations
in Liberia, cleyerly cooked up by one of
the Brooklyn dressers Buyers we're
mad, but could do nothing in the mat
| ter.
"Tbere is certain plantation in Cos
tn Rica which dries its coffee on cement
floors. As result the berries, which
are all of choice kind. have the OPP
pearance of being clouded over with
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