The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1895-06-27
COFFEE.
Some Valuable Points About Roast.
ing the Berry.

ing the Berry.
When the wind is in just the right
direction, says the Chicago Record. the
atmosphere of State street for some
distance on both sides of the river Is
heavy with the breakfast-time odor of
coffee. The odOr comes from the top
row of windows-always wide agape--
of a huge brick building close to the
river, and on busy days the blue
smoke from the coffee-roasters pOurs
out in great clouds, mingling with the
SCOT from the tugs in the water below.
Here much Of the coffee used in Chi
cago is prepared for the housewife. 1t
comes in great coarse gunny-sacks, COW
cred with all sorts of cabalistic signs in
red and black paint, and as soon as it
is unloaded workmen trundle 1t away
to the elevator. 1t goes upstairs to n
great, dusty, smoky ROOM, redolent OF
tropical odors, where it is dumped into
bins-a bin for each different variety
or grade. Along one side of the oOm
stands a row Of great iron %roasters,
which give out n pleasant humming
sound not unlike that of a swiftly run
ming dynamo. They are simple but
highly ingenious machines. The inte-
rior portion is made Of Il hollow cylin-
der holding several hundred pounds,
and filed with innumerable little holes.
Underneath it Il furnace fire is kept
burning, its flame being controlled by
means of an air blast. When the raw
coffee has been placed in the cylinder
and the door closed q shaft begins to
revOlvc at a low rate Of speed. turning
the cylinder with it and thoroughly
mixing I'D the coffee. Easy as 1t may
seem. roasting is in reality Il very diff
cult process. Only a man who has had
vast experience can be trusted to do it.
If the berries are roasted either too lit
tie or too much. some of the aroma of
the coffee is lost. and it is neither $ o
agreeable to the taste nor so eXhilar-
ating in its effect. Each variety re-
Quires Il different time for roasting, and
unless the master workman, who knows
all about such things. is very careful.
the purchaser will say that his coffee
AtiS Dtfu tult itCh. libC'bs lhili'l'
er roasting is the prime cause for the
abuse to which the boarding-housc
landlady is subjected.
When the coffee berries have swelled
up and become brown enough the fire
is suddenly shut off. Then. in a cloud
of heavy blue smoke, the cylinders are
raked empty and rechargcd. When the
coffee is cool enough it OeS to the pack
inG or grinding room. In the packing
room it is shOveled into barrels, pals.
sacks and pound paper packages, ready
for shipment to the retailers. In the
grinding-roOm the coffee is fed into the
funnel-shaped mouth of the machine,
the wheels whir and the graduated
coffee pOurS Il of the nozzle below.
1t is then packed, usually in one-pound
paper parcels. In this form it goes to
the country trade. The city consumer
prefers to see his coffee before it is
ground, and he therefore buys 1t at the
grocery, and it is put through the mill
before his eyes. Or he can take it home
and grind it himself.
Fllteen years g most cO1ee went
to the consumer in the green state and
it was roasted in open pans, half the
time being burned and made bitter and
biting and half the time it was not
Drowned enough, resulting in a weak"
drink. Now fully 90 per cent. is roasted
by the coffee houses, of which Chicago
has the largest in the world. This fact
has tended to make coffee better in
taste, thereby largely increasing its
consumption. Europe still continues
TO use the old-fashioned methods of
roasting, and the coffee is therefore
poor and tea is the more popular drink.