The Hawaiian gazette., 1898-04-26

/ YOU mention above. He had nothing
! to do with the varied and nasty mix
lures, which are prepared and SOLE
| under the name of coffee; to be con
! GREETED into that so-cai1ed cup, of {
muddy consistency, one finds on one!
travel Throughout the world. This de
partment is left to the dealers, who
buy their coffees in the bulk, blenC
them, mix them, or adulterate them II
suit their fancy, or the tastes OF theil
consumers. do not mean to say there
are no honest dealers in the world, but
it is a well known fact, once a demand
sets in for good genuine article, lei
it be coffee, tea or pickles, scores oil
spurious limitations will follow in its
wake.
The coffee planter will sell his pro-
duce by the cwt. or ton in the open
market, and the price he will realize
will be decided ON the merits of the
bean as TO size, color and uniformity
and this by experts who have made il
their special business Of course, sup
ply and demand will always cut some
figure; but it is my opinion the genu-
inc article will invariably come to the
point, and when once name has been
established for certain brand, and
the reputation for that particular
brand is maintained, it will hold its
own in the face of substitutes or an
inferior article.
Your simile with reference to the
difference of opinion between men in
the coffee trade and amateurs, and
that of the epicurean taste of the oys-
ter fend only serves to further
strengthen my argument. When an
inferior, in place of the genuine arti-
Gle, can be palmed off on those who
consider themselves connoiseurs, and
partallen of with relish, shows that
both the opinion of the amateur and
connoisseur, or habitual consumer, are
of no value; and it takes the expert or
experienced man after all to detect the
real article and set true value on the
commodity.
From the foregoing remarks l do not
wish it to be inferred that the cup
quality of the bean, plays no part in
the value of coffee; for most certainly
this does, and any coffee which could
pass a good examination on its techni-
cal merits, would possess more or less
a fine aroma. AT the same times this
feature may be due, to some extent,
from local conditions as to soil, elm
ate and especially elevation, and not
as might be supposed, entirely from
the fact of superior methods employed
in the preparation of the bean.
This is an item in coffee planting of
which all practical planters are aware
and is not only confined to countries,
but to different districts in the same
country, and to different localities in
the same district.
In the prosperous days of Ceylon,
the product of the various plantations
was sold in the London market under
one name, viz: plantation Ceylon,"
but entirely on the merits of the bean.
Although the methods employed in
cultivation, and preparation, were al
most identically the same throughout
the Island, the prices realized were
not so; the coffee from one locality
commanding a higher figure than that
from another, due to conditions as l
have already explained. Moreover
this test would be decided on the judg-
ment of professional coffee tasters, and
not habitual drinkers, as you would
infer by your criticisms 1t is the
same in the case of tea and wine; and
if the experts, especially in the latter,
were TO consume all the samples placed
before them in the course of a day,
their judgment as to values would be
on a par with the 40 year coffee drink
er.
In your issue of the 25th March, you
say, Out of 1000 pounds of berries
picked from the trees only a limited
is rated prime and sold at
the highest price. There are several
grades, each grade with less value.
The lowest grade may bring only 6
cents per pound. What the tender
foot ought to know, and what we, who
wish TO put the industry on a firm
basis, must tell him, is what the aver
age price of all the grades will bring,
This has not yet been done. We I'M
derstand that in this town there are
a number of very discouraging ac-
counts of coffee sales in San Francis
20. These represent the value of the
average grades and not the highest
Now, Mr.. Editor, i do not know
who your authority may be for the
above statement, but he decidedly does
not belong to the class whom you
would like to see eXterminated. He
evidently does not know much about
coffee berries, or he would not talk.
such nonsense; or perhaps he may re-
fer ITO variety of coffee with which
am not familiar; if so, thank heaven,
it has not as yet found its way into
his district
In the first place what you say has
not been done, l can prove to the
contrary by the quotations I append
herewith. For your information, and
that of your learned friend, it may
be as well to state that there are real
ly only two defined species of the
coffee tree, viz: the Arabian" and
Siberian" all the other coffees are
merely varieties of the former, and so
far as l am aware of, produce cherries
in a similar manner.
Out of 1000 tons of berries picked
from the trees anywhere. they will be
found to contain only four kinds, or
grades as you term it, of bean, viz:
Pea berry, sound parchment, malform-
ed bpanS and liohf cOffae MHbot +ba