The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-04-23

itual coffee drinkers were asked TO pick
out the KOna you do not mention
kona coffee in the miXture) after tast-
ing each cup without having knowl-
edge Of the kind it contained, six out
OF the ten would not pick out the Kona
coffee" l Will go further and venture
to say that not one out of the ten
could tell you which was Kona, or
which the Brazilian, while many out
Of the millions who habitually drink
the so-called beverage, could not say
that it was coffee at all.
Likewise with the test made with the
cup of purposedly adulterated Kona
coffee on the individual. who claimed
TO have been a coffee drinker for 40
years, and who pronounced it the most
excellent cup he had ever tasted; and
at once placed a high value on the
bean. Had he been an habituaI drink
er for 14O years, the result would have
been the same, his opinion would have
been worth nothing in connection with
the commercial value of the bean; but
might have served as a good advertise
ment for Kona coffee
Fortunately for the coffee planter the
profits which will accrue from his years
of hard work and perseverance, will
not be based on either of the tests
you mention above. He had nothing
to do with the varied and nasty mix
lures, which are prepared and sold
under the name of coffee; to be con-
creted into that so-called cup. of a
muddy consistency, one finds on ones
travel throughout the world. This de-
partment is left to the dealers, who
buy their coffees in the bulk, blend
them, mix them or adulterate them to
suit their fancy, or the tastes of their
consumers. l do not mean to say there
are no honest dealers in the world, but
1t is we'll known fact, once demand
sets in for "a good genuine article, let
it be coffee, tea or pickles, scores of
spurious limitations will follow in it's
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 it
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 a name has been
established for a 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
my argument When an
in place of the genuine arti-
Gle, can be palmed off on those who
consider themselves connoiseurs, and
partaken of with relish, shows that
both the opinion of the amateur and
or habitUal consumer, are
of no value; and it takes the expert or
experienced man after all to detect the
real article and set a true value on the
commodity.
From the foregoing remarks 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 good examination on it's techni-
eal merits, would possess more or less
4 fine aroma. AT the same times this
feature may be due, to some extent,
from local conditions as to soil, clim-
ate and especially elevation, and not
as might be supposed, entirely from
1he fact of superior methods employed
n the preparation of the bean.
This is an item in coffee planting of
which all practical planters are aware
md is not only confined to countries,
out TO different districts in the same
country, and to different localities in
he same district
In the prosperous days of Ceylon,
he product Of the various plantations
vas sold in the London market under
)ne name, viz: plantation Ceylon,''
)ut entirely on the merits of the bean.
the methods employed in
and preparation, were al
most idenrically the same throughout
jhe Island, the prices realized were
not so; the coffee from one locality
a higher figure than that