Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-06

many places they grow near the End of the
stalk, and they are to some extent i'm
perfect berries. coffee cherry containing
one instead of two berries. They are known
as pea berries by some of the dealers.
There is another class of berry which is
fiat Some of these are very much like the
Java and are often sold as such, So that
many a man when he thinks he is having
real Mocha and Java may actually be
drinking 7-cent Rio or Santos. although he
pays - cents pound for his so-called
Mocha and Java mixture.
Painted Coffee.
This statement will probably be denied
by some Of our grocers. They will tell you
that they can tell Mocha and Java by the
smell or the color Of the grain. Don't you
believe them. The coffee as it CONES from
the plantation. the simon-pure genuine arti-
Gle is often far different from that which
goes away on the ships. l have visited
here in Rio enormous establishments who
make business of painting coffee and
dressing it up for the markets In South
Africa. for instance. the people want black
coffee beans. 1t seems that the coffee they
have been buying is of that color. The
bags that come from the plantation are
filled with olive green beans They are
turned into a great mill and rolled round
and round in contact with cOlOred powder
just what il is. ] do not know, but when
the beans come out they are as black
Other grades are given a tinge of yellow
by the use of other cOlnrS. and others are
vanished in different shades Of green. Some
of the colorng stuff is unhealthful and the
men use gloves when they handle it. In
one Portuguese house | saw them colorinr
5000 bags for the Cape Of Good Hone and
in another they were cOlOring coffee for the
Argentine market. This is no fiction. I
saw it myself, although I am told that
the most of the coffee sent to the United
States goes there in its natural color
And what is the natural color of coffee?
That | saw on the plantations and the
most Of that which comes here to Rio is
of a rich olive green. tt grows slightly
yellow 1t becomes older. and the older
the coffee is the better coffee il makes.
In the Coffee Factories of Rio.
These big coffee factories are interesting
places. Some of them are as full Of ma
chinery a Minneapolis -four mill. You
walk under a network of moving belts
through air mixed with coffee dust and go
through room after room filled with ma
chimes for dressing the berries TO suit the
different tastes Of the world. Each market
seems to have its particular desires. The
Germans, for instance. dema nd that the
husks he on the beans when they arrive in
Hamburg. The Germans prefer To do the
sheling themselves. and the coffee is sold
as washed coffee bringing a much higher
price.
Other countries want their coffee polish
ed. 1t is shtued up you shine silver be-
ing brushed by the most delicate machines
which do not injure the grains. The coffee
which goes to the United States is sold
much as II comes from the plantation. 1t
is passed through the separators and grad
ed, but so far I believe there Is 10 dema nd
in our country for polished coffee or for
any other than that of the natural color
great deal of our coffee is bought by the
great roasting companies. 1t is skipped
directly to the roasting mills in New YORK
and Chicago. and the average man does not
see ii until 1t is handed out to him by his
grocer in fancy packages at so much a
piece.
There is no buster place in the world than
the coffee exporting section of Rio de
Janeiro. There are great warehouses near