Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-29
CONDENSED COFFEE,
1t will PRbabiy Be Issued to the Army in
That Shape.

i 4" III EIQDaDIy De Issued TO tine Army In
That shape.
From the St. Louis Globe Democrat
When Uncle Sam next goes to war the SOL
diers who fight under the starry flag will be
supplied with coffee in a shape so highly con-
densed that one four-ounce package will serve
as months ration for each man. The con-
centratod preparation will be given out perhaps
as dry powder but more probably in the form
Of small lozenges, resembling cough drops in
size and shape. These lozenges will be inclosed
in tin boxes Of 100, each OF them weighing a
gramme and representing one cup of coffee
For preparing the beverage no coffee pot will
be required il being necessary merely to put
a coffee tablet into the cup and pour boiling
water upon it, when the coffee Is instantly
made. Sugar and milk can be added to suit the
taste. In France such coffee loZenges Of COM
paratively large size have been recently intro
duced, being made bulky by tho addition Of
sugar for sweetening; but everybody does not
care for sugar, and therefore those which have
lately begun to be manufactured in this coun-
try have been made plain.
The processes by which coffee Is thus con-
centrated are very interesting. To begin with
the beans are roasted in enormous oven and
ground in a huge MILL Then they are put into
great iron vessel, which is nothing more nor
less than gigantic coffee pot, holding $40
pounds at a time. Hundreds Of gallons Of
which acts on the "drip" principle, and the in.
fusion is drawn of to an evaporating tank A
steam pump keeps the air exhausted from the
tank, that the coffee is in vacuo, being heated
meanwhile to a high temperature by steam
pipes. The water it contains rapidly passes
off and the coffee is of about the consistency of
molasses when it il taken out. 1t is poured
into trays of enameied ware and these trays are
placed on shelves in another evaporation.
When the trays are removed short time later
the coffee is a dry solid. which 10 scraped off
the trays, ground to powder and nodded into
lozenges.
There is no reason why the government
should not prepare coffee in this way ou,a large
scale, In the event of war, at very great saw
ing. BY the processes described one pound of
the beans can be made to produce more than
100 cups. By inquiry 1t has been ascertained
that hotels and restaurants get only from If
teen to thrty-six cups from the same quantity,
the minimum being reported from the most ex-
pensive establishments and the maximum by
the cheapest eating houses. The reason for
this is that the usual plan is to make the infu-
sion and throw away the grounds" which still
contain two-thirds or more Of the original
strength of the coffee. or course for CONNER
cial purposes the lozenges can be made Of Rio,
Mocha or any other variety of the bean to suit
the taste. From the military point of view the
advantage Of dispensing with bulky utensils for
preparing coffee would be important. Expert
ments have recently been made with success in
the treatment Of tea by similar methods, and
before long a dry soluble essence, produced
from the leaves, will be offered in the market,
n tiny drachm bottle holding twenty tablets,
each representing one cup.