The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-02-02
JOaNNY'S LUCK.
The Newly Discovered Substitute for Coffee
VIII Make Kansas Man Rich.

|
during its entire existance bids fair to be-
come to the coffee world what Claus
| Spreckles is to the sugar world. John
lives at Caldwell although at present his
entire business interests are at San
Antonio, Tex. When, in 1890, the presi-
dent ordered the cattle men out of the
| strip, it was thought that Mr.. Blair was a
ruined man, but the faculty of sticketive-
uess which he acquired by hard knocks
in his eaaly cowboy days did not desert
| him and he planned way out of his diff
| ficultIes. The first scheme he thought OF
and adopted was to buy out the entire
strip, and in short time he announced to
| the Cherokee people that he would pay
| them 500 900, 900 for their lands in the out
| let. This was considered au idle boast as
| everybody knew that he did not have
! more than 10000 10 his name it, indeed,
| he had that much. II was not an idle
| boast for, within few weelle, ne actually
| had a company organized III England
ready to pay the money when the deed
WAS made.
The government interfered and prohib-
| tied the Indians from accepting the propo-
sition. This compelled Mr. Blair to adopt
other means of keeping up his fortunes
and he secured a large ranch near San
Antonia, Texas, containing $1,000 acres Of
musquite trees. These trees grow bean
| that possesses wonderful stock fattening
! qualities and for this virtue alone he made
| the purchase. He did not dream then
| that tie day was near at hand when the
! bean product of these trees would become
| valuable as an article of commerce, but it
seems from recent discoveries that they
! have
A few days ago an EAGLE reporter had
| conversation with Mr.. Blair who ex-
planned his good luck and recited the
story Of the discovery.
Thomas II. Jacobs. formerly a wealthy
st. Louis manufacturer, but now resi-
dent OF San Antonio, is the discoverer of
the virtues of the mesquite bean as a sub
stitute for coffee as table beverage Mr.
Jacobs it appears is lover of horses who
takes an especial pride in keeping his ami
mails in good condition. 1t occurred to
him one day, about eighteen months ago,
that the mesquite pod and bean would
make better feed for his horses If dried.
In order to make the experiment he
placed pan filled with thu product in the
oven OF his kitchen stove. His attention
was called just then to other matters and
he forgot all about the mesquite beans. 1t
was not long until every part of the house
became impregnated with a strong odor,
supposed to be that of roasted coffee. The
odor soon spread over the entire neighbor-
hood. An investigation revealed that il
all came from the mesquite beans which
Mr.. Jacobs had inadvertently allowed to
remain too long a time in the heated oven.
The scorched beans were tested by Mr.
Jacobs and he found it to be of exactly the
same flavor as the best coffee. This set
him to thinking, and he decided to make
a thorough test of the product as to its
fitness for a beverage. After considerable
research he found that the mesquite tree
is Of the same species as the coffee plant.
1t grows much more luxurantly, but re-
sembles the coffee bush in IA great many
respects. Its yield is much greater than
the coffee and it grows without any work
of cultivation. y chemical analysis of the
bean was made, and it was shown by the
result that its ingredients are much the
same as that of the coffee bean, with the
exception that the former contains a small
amount of saccharine and resinous matter,
which are not found in the coffee
Having arrived at these conclusions, Mr..
jacobs began to make atudy of the ques-
tion of how to get the bean into marketable
form. The bean pod averages from 5 to
4 inches in length and contains from ten
to twenty beans, each about half the size of
the coffee bean There is much Nutritious
matter in the pod and iG was decided to
V,a of ha bar IL
product But surrounding each separate
bean is a fl5rouS substance, which is COM
pletely lacking in the necessary properties
for the purpose desired. Mr.. Jacobs found
that this substance must be removed or
the product could not be utalized. His
thorough knowledge of the milling
business was of great value to
him, and he solved the problem
without difficulty. He invented process
very similar to that used in his St. Louis
roller mills and at once secured patent
on it.
He then spent several months in making
practical tests of the invention and in con-
ducting thorough investigation into the
merits ot the mesquite bean as a substitute
for coffee. He has demonstrated beyond
any question of doubt that the beverage
produced from the bean under his patent
process is equal to the best Java coffee,
and by many who have tried it ii is re-
garded as superior in favor to any coffee
now in the market 1t has "a delicious aud
INVITING aroma, and while it acts as a
stimulant in much the same way AS coffee
there are no unpleas ant effects from it felt,
no matter how freely one may indulge in
the beveredge. 1t is also very nutritious,
and Mr.. Jacobs claims that it has ra re
fat-producing powers His family have
been using the beverage Tor more than a
year, and much prefer it To the best
coffee Another important advantage
which the mesquite been has won over
coffee is that when wasted il may be kept
for an indefinite length Of time without
any Of It's strength being lost.
After perfecting his invention of the
process of boiling the ground bean Mr..
Jacobs found no difficulty in organizing
strong company to take hold of the great
discovery. This company has a capital
stock of $500 600 and was incorporated IN
der the laws of Texas on Dec. 5, 1892. W.
H. Weiss, manager of a wholesale grocery
house Of San Antonio, is president of the
company. A number of st. Louis whole
sale grocery dealers are stockholders in
the proposed enterprise. The name of the
new corporation Is the P2namerican
Coffee company.
Mr. Blair has watched the experiments
of Mr.. Jacobs with a keen interest and he
says there Is no doubt but what the
mesquite bean will have n high com
mercisl value as a substitute for coffee.
JOHNSON-EING.