Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-02-19
A CHAT ABOUT COFFEE
SOME STEADY DRINKERS BECOME
FOND OF THE ADULTERANTS

An old friend asked the other day
what kind of coffee | used, and on be-
ing informed that it was the usual
mixture of Arabian Mocha and Mand-
heling Java, half and half, at 40 cents
pound, offered this amazing informa-
ton: Il am obliged to have a strong
cup of coffee in the morning. Without
1t am unable to attend to business. |
try to buy the best in the market and
Tor years have paid from 40 to As
cents pound for Mocha and Java. Not
long ago l learned a secret. A great
deal of the alleged Java we buy at big
prices is Maracaibo, which under its
real name costs only Is cents pound"
A member of the Coffee exchange
says: L am not surprised to hear
that Maracaibo is often sold for Java
In England it has been the rule rather
than the exception for long time to
substitute the Guatemala product for
that OF Java, and probably the con-
sumerS never know the difference. The
production of Java is steadily falling
off. Indeed, the government is grad
ually giving up the cultivation of cof-
~, hhuihS Lie pIOUtS SLldll Ill COIU-
parlson with former years, and in the
near future the crop will be entirely
in the hanos of private planters. OF
late the business has been so unre-
munerative that many coffee estates
have been turned into tea farms. We
import about 100000, 900 pounds of cof-
fee, and of this huge quantity only
about million and a quarter pounds
are Java. In 1898 our supply of Java
was near 6,500,000 pounds"
This broker continues: "The de-
mand for Java has been sustained by
its name. During the civil war a bag
of old Government was worth its
weight in gold. While the army was
making coffee out of burnt potatoes the
stay-at- t-homes were slipping small cups
OF this treasure which was measured
out as carefully as if it were the rar-
est wine. The name has lived in the
memories of the old folk, and it's po-
tency has been the encouragement and
excuse for much fraud Even the
cheapest store has pretended to keep
on hand a supply of old Government
for customers who would not think of
drinking anything else, and | doubt
If one of them ever had an ounce of
the genuine article in stock There
are coffees quite as good as Java, and
| am glad the people are beginning to
wean themselves from old Govern
ment.'
Because Maracaibo is cheap in price
you must not believe it cheap cof-
fee, in the sense of inferiority. We
import about 100000 pounds annu-
ally. In 1899 it was invoiced to us at
a fraction over 8 cents a pound In
1900 the price was about l cent high
er. Rio will always be our cheap cof-
fee, l suppose, because there is more
of it, and there will continue to be
more of it. The Brazilian crop is over
1,100,000,000 pounds. Think of that.
Why, it is 400,000,000 pounds more
than the United States consumes. Most
of the Rio used in public houses is
mixed with chicory, which greatly
improves the taste.
STEADY coffee drinkers who are not
able to obtain a satisfactory brand
of the bean become SO fond of certain
Take chicory: 1t has an injurious eff
feet on the bowels if taken in too large
quantities, but all cheap restaurants
that make q speciality of coffee use it,
and proprietors have told me in all
seriousness that should the chicory be
left out for few days and only the
pure coffee fusion be used their Gus
toners will complain and threaten to
go elsewhere. The adulteration of
ground coffee is a fine subject for con-
gress investigation. Whew! If you
could only know what you get when
you buy it.. The French use caramel
or burnt sugar cast-off product of
the refneries. And everybody brags
about French coffee Among other
authorizations are roasted wheat and
beans, rye and potato flour, acorns,
ground date stones, etc. Coffee sub
stitutes are flooding the market-cere-
ais, essences, etc.
1T is a hard matter to adulterate
the green bean, and nearly as difficult
to adulterate the roasted bean; but
ground coffee is dangerous. The peo-
pie who roast their own coffee, small
quantity at time, have the best infu-
sion and save the most money. 1t is
the rule among certain firms to under
roast the bean in order to escape the
less in weight, which is considerable.
An under-roasted coffee is unfit to
drink. Beans cooked to a reddish
brown color lose Is percent, when
chestnut brown they lose about 20
percent, and when they become dark
brown, the correct color, they lose
about 25 percent by weight. In GER
tain South American countries, Colom-
bia, for instance, the bean is cooked
until it becomes a coal. The beverage
made from it is very black and strong
and clear, but has bitter taste that
would not suit us. All coffee substi-
tutes lack caffeine, and caffeine is wnat
makes coffee coffee.
Coffee is poison to some people. No