The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-04-26
LETTERS FROM
THE PUBLIC

| interest to coffee growers in the Is
lands, if not all your readers, to know
! how the government of Java "ages'
/ its ''Old Government Java and thus
secures the very high price that it
| brings in the markets of the world
| The enclosed letter is written by the
| American Consular Agent at Padang,
| Sumatra, to the u. S. Consul at Bata-
via. Java, the information being fur
nished at my request. Padang is the
| center of rich coffee district. and
produces some of the very finest coffee
| in the world, and improved greatly by
''aging' it before it is placed on the
{ market. Samples I have from New
York are quoted by importers at from
| twenty-five to thirty cents per pound.
| Up to short time ago, the Java gov
eminent tmonopolized' the coffee
trade of the Islands, storing it to age,
| and then shipping by slow sail to the
markets. The crop of the Islands is
small compared to that of Brazil or
even the smaller countries of Central
and South America hence it was an
easy matter for the Java government
| to monopolize it. Would it not pay
our government to do likewise? Our
Hawaiian coffee is put on the market
as soon as sacked, and as to getting a
good cup of Kona coffee, it is impos
sibleS outside of Honolulu, where some
of our dealers age it few years be-
fore roasting and grinding. If aged
| couple years, our Hawaiian coffee would
| bring fifty per cent. more in the mar
| kets of the States The writer has
letter from prominent California
house saying that he could dispose of
our whole crop cat almost his own
! figures if it were aged from two to
| three years, like that he uses on his
| own table Gle keeps few bags of
| Kona to cage for his own use). Since
| the enclosed letter was written, the
writer here has received small guam
| tity fifty pounds) of the seeds from.
| the agent at Padang, of the very best
| coffee, which he will be glad to dis
| tribute to coffee growers in the islands,
| who may desire to improve their OUT
put in quality. This coffee is some
| larger than the Kona coffee. The fol
| lowing is the letter referred to:
! American Consular Service,
..Padang, July %, 1908.
| Honorable B. S. Rairdon, American
| Consul, Batavia.
| E'Sir: I have the honor to report
on Padang government coffees as fol-
| lows:
| ''The government used to sell the.
/ eoffees in four public auctions year,
| one auction every three months. The
government coffee monopoly having
been abolished on March l, 1908, the
/ whole government stock of coffees has
been sold by public sales on the 9th of
l Az mt
not buy any more coffees, the sales on
| the 9th of June has been the last one.
! 1t might happen that a few small lots
| are still in stock Probably the gov
eminent will dispose of any trifing re-
mainders by local sale, to close them
out
| 1.-THE coffees bought at these govern
nent sales are payable sixty days
after date of sale: but if the buyer
wishes to receive the coffee earlier he
can get delivery against cash. After
this period of sixty days (after sale),
the buyers are not forced to take de-
livery but they can leave the coffees
| in the government go-downs as long
as there is room. This storage, how
ever, is at buyers risk, the govern
ment charging two cents Dutch a
week for every picul (61.76 kilos, about
130 pounds. The buyers as a rule
leave the coffee for six months in the
government stores, where it is stored
with great care and whereby they
mature (age) and get a good brown
| color The brownest coffees bring the
best prices in America. Therefore the
| coffees are sometimes stored longer
| no SIai re TO Ay,aa
lea are always made by wooden sail
ing vessels, and it is stipulated in the
| charter papers that the matches must
be kept closed during the voyage The
voyage of such a vessel via the Cape
! of Good Hope takes four months, and
| during this time a fermentation proc
ess is going on in the coffee in the
hold of the vessel A very high tenn
| perature is developed in the coffee,
| and when the vessels matches are
| opened in New York harbor, after
such a long voyage, clouds Of steam
are coming forth from the vessels
! hold This fermentation greatly i'm
proves the flavor and drinking quai
ity of the coffee. and the coffee OBJ
tains a fine brown color, the beans
swelling and growing larger at the
same time. The government triet
| five years ago to obtain better prices
by keeping back some 5000 piculs from
Z the larger sales and selling such si1
months later, but the older coffee:
did not fetch much better prices. Thi:
s all is now a matter of the past. be
cause, as stated above, no more gov
| eminent sales will be held.
''The, coffees are now bought by thu
Padang merchants direct from tn
o | natives, and the quality remains tn
!. same, as it is to the interest of tn
exporters to keep up the old stand
ard and the good name of the Padans
tcoffees. I am, sir, your obedient ser
want. SCHILD,
American Consular Agent
T M Mech ESNFY