Wichita eagle., 1888-10-20
FIXING" THE COFFEE.
AN INFERIOR PRODUCT POLISHED
TO DECEIVE EVEN EXPERTS.

TO DECEIVE EVEN EXPERTS.
| The Adulteration Of the Popular Gerry .
Big Business According to q Chicago
DeaIer-The Process Of Milling CoffeA
Mocha.
The adulteration Of coffee is an evil u
so widespread and well recognized kind
that leading grocer Of this city recently
had two column lad" IN the paper set
ting forth the pecuta methods employed
and the differences existing between vari-
/ GUS growths of coffee. This dealer was
seen the other day by reporter, to whom
he said: "The adulteration OF coffee Is
/ business, and large one at that. There
exist, under various names. In New York,
Philadelphia and Baltimore, firms who do
/ Furnishing business in this line.
1.-THE work they do-and are paid for
handsomely-is the cleaning, securing,
polishing and coloring Of the natural
bean. It must not be supposed, however,
that this is oil done with the knowledge
/ and conniyance of the retail or wholesale
grocers by whom the coffee is afterward
sold to the consumer. Not ct all. Prob
ably fully 80 per cent. Of these grocers
ignorantly buy what they suppose to be
java 'Mochs,' and other high priced
coffee. when in reality they get inferior
grades. You see, it is difficult thing to
determine exactly the quality of coffee in
the bean. There is, In point Of fact, no
sure test to be employed in sampling cot
fees but the one of taking the bean coffee,
roasting 1t, and making liquor of it,
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test. What can be learned about coffee
would in reality Fill book, and it takes
years and good opportunities to become
connoisseur.
"Now, what would you take this coffee
to Def" and the expert handed over two
small vessels of roasted coffee, showing
size and pungent of odor. THAT is Buca-
marango and the other Bogota. Now,
did you ever hear of such coffee or such
places before? And yet this is very good
Central American coffee, apt to be mis-
taken for Java by even pretty good
judges. And what do you suppose this
Isl" He showed another small vessel full
of unroasted coffee. The berries were Of
all shapes, Eat and almost globular, some
four times as large as others. But this
coffee, though not roasted, exhaled a pow
erful fragrance, reminding one q little Of
vanilla. This is genuine Mocha, SAM
pied and bought by myself at Alden, Ara
bia They say there is more SO called
Mocha sold here in Chicago than the
whole crop Of real Mocha coffee amounts
to. 1t may be 80"
"And how about the real process Of
adulteration?"
cit isn't called 80. It's termed fixing
or dressing in the trade. 1t gulls deal
ers as well Us the public. I'll give you
few samples Of how it works Real Java
comes, for instance, in nattish woven
mats. On the trip across the ocean
moist beans generate damp heat. Il
gives the natural greenish tint Of the
berry a tinge toward the yellow and
brown. 1t also swells the size of the
berry. To initiate Java, Macaraibo,
Guatemala and Santos is used-all Aneri-
can coffees. When subjected to sweat
ing process they begin to look more or
less like Java, SO much so as to deceive
even dealers who do not take the trouble
to test coffee by making q sample liquor
Of it. Yet the difference in price is eight
cents pound, or 30 per cent. Take
Guatemala coffee That is an excellent
kind, handsome to look at and pleasant to
taste. But much Of what is sold under
the name is nothing but Costa Rica, OF
Rio A polishing machine will in few
hours give those the blush tint and tbs
glossy appearance OF genuine Guatemala
Soapstone and Prusslan blue arc used In
coloring. OF Bio there is more imported
than of al other kinds Of cofee-probably
ten times as much There are all kinds
of Rio coffee. Some is exquisite, as fine
in favor as almost any coffee. Some ara
very poor. The small Brazilian farmer1
will spread and cure their raw coffee right
on the paInpas. In drying, the berry will
absorb the flavor of the manure soddeu
earth, and such coffee will be, Of course,
bad in taste. But you can't tell it half
the time until you roast the berry and
boil your coffee"
a local firm which the dealer referred
to as fixing" the coffee has warehouse
that is cranmed from cellar to roof with
sacks of coffee and with machinery to
FIX" it. They evidently do very good
trade. The superintendent was watching
the loading Of cargo Of several hundred
sacks of coffee consigned to a popular mill
in town. He was not sverse to giving
few points of information regarding the
business In which his house Is engaged.
Mine tenths Of our work, he said, "con-
sists in milling coffee. That is another
name for polishing The machines used
in the business are plain, horizontal cyl
inders and centrifugals Il coffee is very
dry and husky we use little pure water,
about one gill to the bag. so as to give it
q nice, clean and smooth appearance The
polishing is done to smooth the berry
that's all Whether dealer. afterward
sell this coffee, improved in looks, for
higher grade than it actually is, i mat
ter with which we have nothing TO do.
We are just paid by the mills and large
dealers for cleaning and polishing coffee
that ends it as far as we are concerned.
What we are doing here, however. Is
thing which has been done in Germany
for over hundred years The polishing
Is done simply by attrision No bluing or
soapstone is used nowsdays-at least not
much. No, sir. the bulk Of the coffee
sdultesation, properly speaking, is done,
not in this country. but before it reaches
here. Take Mocha as a example. The
dealers in Alden buy up other kinds Of
cofee-Malabar and Ceyion and others
which resemble toe genuine article in ap-
pearance. These they mix with real
Mocha. and the product is then sent all
over the world az Mocha Thus, you see.
a. q matter OF fact. 10 genuine Moeha ex-
lists h the trade, lot II you were to send
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