The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-26
SECRETS OF THE COFFEE TRADE.
Retail Prices Maintained I'm Spite of
Lower Wholesale Prices.

Retail Prices Maintained I'm Spite of
Lower Wholesale Prices.
New York Evening Post.
1t was the old coffee expert who spoke
trade-and he spoke with the fervor and
conviction of one who knows:
THE way In which the retail consumer
is charged for coffee is veritable swindle,
one of the worst swindles, 1 should say,
that any trade can show. Coffee still brings
as much at retail as it did when the green
berries cost twice as much as they do
now. 1t all comes, of course, from the
habit of grocers and the like TO exact big
profits on tea and coffee, while selling
staples like flour and sugar close to cost.
For their best collector the commodity
they always call Java and Mocha'-the
corner grocer charges 30 TO IS cents a
pound. 1t costs them at the outside roast
ed, Is to 20 cents a pound. Only lately have
the department stores, and one or two of
the great grocery houses cut loose from
this practice They are selling just as good
article, frequently, indeed, a much bet
ter coffee than the common run of grocers
keep for 20 to % cents a pound. Consider
ing the amount they dispose of they are
making enormous profits at that.
Here, you understand, 1 am talking of
the trade in the East, the better class of
trade. In the Eastern States generally the
consumers demand a better grade of coffee
than is drunk in the South and West
though the latter sections show a larger
consumption in proportion to population
than does the East; Here mild coffee is
preferred; there the taste runs to the
stronger grades. There. in other words,
Brazil Coffees are the sorts chiefly in de-
mand; they are the strongest, they are
the cheapest. Then cheapness, further
more, prompts the use of the Brazil
'growths by those who prepare the so-caled
package coffees, which cost about 514 cents
green. lose about 10 per cent. in roasting,
and cost the proprietors of the brands
about cents POUND ready for the retail
market, in which they sell for about 10
Including all the grades sent from that
country, the coffee of Brazil forms about
IS per cent. of the total imports of the ber-
ry into the United States. The bulk of the
trade in this growth, however, is in coffee
somewhat better than that used for the
package brand, coffees costing, say, 10 to
u cents pound, roasted, little less
green, for when not glazed or roasted in
large quantities, the raw commodity suf-
fers a shrinkage of about is per cent, more
or less, in preparation for the mill. OF
Brazils, the Santos coffees form about GO
per cent. of the total brought into this
country, the Rio 20 per cent. the Bahias
10 per cent, and the Victorias perhaps 5
per cent.
1.-The mild coffees, coffees which have
more or less body and the finer fiavors as
distinguished from the Brazil coffees. of
which the chief characteristic is strength
are of various kinds. First, perhaps, one
must cite the Javas, then with comparative
indifference as to order. the Maracaibos.
Guatemalas. Costa Ricos, Porto Ricos,
Mexicans, Bogatas and Mochas. OF Java
not nearly so much comes to this country
as in times past. while Bogotas and Mex
q N md
coffee is coming into wider favor, too, while
the imports of Mocha show some falling
of.
THE mere recital of the qualities of
these coffees and the prices at which they
sell at wholesale green will be enough
probably, to bear out the contention that
much too dear. Take Javas, for instance
Generally speaking, the brew from that
berry lacks body, though it has delicate
TO give the decoction sufficient body The
two together make blend pleasing TO the
palate of the dweller in the Eastern States,
ana hence, from the time that much more
Java was brought than now, there has
survived the tradition, hallowed for every
groceryman's heart. that the best coffee
Is Java and Mocha. What the ordinary
grocer sells for this, however is far more
likely to be Maracaibo, a NICE ordinary
coffee from Venezuela. of fair flavor and
BODY, which sells green at from TO 1011
cents pound.
IF one is TO buy real Java. he must pay
for the green berry between Is and %
cents a pound, the latter being the price
Dutch government plantations or from
well-known private estates. New York ex-
perts are inclined to think the higher
values are all in the name; that the
coffee itself hasn't the merit TO warrant
the price.
The quantity OF Mocha used here is also
small. Little of the wild coffee of Arabia
leaves the port OF Yemen for the United
States, and even such importations as there
are made are being cut down by an in
creased use of Bourbon Santos. coffee
grown from Mocha seed and planted in
Santos, and generally esteemed as good as
Mocha. while costing considerably less.
vi the other mild coffees, the Bogotas
from the Magdalene river valley of CO.
lombia. and the Porto Ricos, both have
flavor which is fine. although positive, and
at the same time that body which coffee
drinkers in this section of the country re-
quire. Each of these is growing in favor
az the expense of Java coffee although the
than the Porto Ricos. OF Porto Rico coli
fee. only the better sorts come to the
United States: the lower grades are sold
10 Cuba. The kinds America buys at II TO
IA l-2 cents pound have an unusually
heavy body. and on that account seemed
destined TO popularity.
Another OF the heavy bodied coffees
Costa Rico, is sold In larger quantities. RI
Germany and to England than in this conn
try. The low grades bring something like
IL cents pound green; the better ouali-
ties up TO II cents BY American users they
seem to be less liked than the Mexicans.
and they fetch a lower price. Even low
grade unwashed Mexican coffees sell for 10
cents a pound, while the fine sorts COM
mand as much as IA and IA l-2 cents Mexi-
can conee-growers seem TO be gaining a
better foothold in all markets, their recent
progress In the preparation and curing OF
the berry being specially marked.
Here In the East only small quantities
lean coffee, the Guatemala srowth are
used The bulk Of cofIee Imported from