The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-03


worlds greatest coffee shipping
port, and a mere child can tell
stranger how many times such and
such years output would reach round
the world IL the berries were put end
to end. or how many square kilometers
OF land 1t would blacken II spread out
evenly to the depth OF one inch. &c
The only comparison I recall, however,
is that II the output OF the year 1897
the record breaking crop-had been
STEPPED into moderate strength coffee
in Sac Paulo 1t would have taken a
pipe forty feet in diameter. running all
the year to get 1t to Santos and the
whole merchant feet Of the world con-
verted into tank ships TO get 1t away.
The coffee OF Brazil Ii the lowest
priced in the worlds market. Knowing
this fact 1 was the more surprised at
the exquisite flavor Of the coffee served
in the public cafes Of Brazil. I called
this apparent anomaly to the attention
Of an old Anglo Brazilian with whom
dined in Santos one evening, and he
advanced the opinion that the Amer-
cans. Germans and FIR, nch, the prin-
cipal coffee drinkers. did not know how
to make the beverage.
You are all too free with water and
too spariEg with coffee he said "If
you Americans made 1t as We do here
and s,lll continued to consume the
.ame liquid quantity you do now. in
bush we would bc doubling the number
Of them.
"Dh, certainly. your coffee bill would
be increased several fold. but your en-
j"yment Of 1t would he increased in
still greater ratio. Nerves, um-well,
nerves"-and his glance fingered sadly
where the cup he was about to raise
to his. lips beat sharp tattoo on its
saucer-"let us leave nerves out 81 the
discussion"
Then he summoned the head walter,
held short conversation with him In
Portuguese and finally induced him to
escort us to the kitchen in the rear
and inaugurate for my benefit the
ceremony OF preparing a fresh tank
Of coffee.
The chef desired 1t particularly ex-
planned that coffee as generally used In
Brazil was not roasted to the crisp
ness Of that treated in the United
States. This insures against any but
the most delicate Of the fiavoring es-
sence being extracted in the boiling
and thus imparts smOothness to the
leverage. He also called attention to
the fact that the bean is not ground
fine Each grain Is cracked into not
more than six or eight pieces by being
run through a wide set mill and then
carefully blown and slfted to get rid
Of the dust and smaller fragments.
But the main divergence from our
procedure lies in the quantity OF coffee
used. An extract Of beef advert sement
defines its product a. "a bun In a tea
cup" With no more cXaggeration
might the modern brazilian nectar he
styled "a plantation In n coffee cup"
The chef took four litre measures of
the cracked coffee and added 1t to just
twice that quantity Of warm but not
boiling water in "A shallow copper pan.
Here he allowed 1t to soak for five min
utes before turning on the burners,
quickly bringing the water to n boil
so violent that pieces Of the coffee were
thrown out on the stove.
This agitation was followed by ten
minutes cooling on a side table. at the
end Of which time the chef added half
dozen drops Of a pungcnt liquid from
a slender green vial, the nature Of
which he refused to divulge. but which
my friend told me was some kind OF
"a neutralizing agent to eliminate a
certain rawness, impalpable to other
than trained palates. Almost immedi-
atcly a nickel siphon was introduced
just under the surface Of the liquid
and about six litres OF II was drawn
on from the pan into boiler.
Nothing now remained but the boiling |
down, which took half an hour and re-
duced the liquid to IA volume OF three |
litres and the consistency OF thin maple |
syrup. In the boiler 1t was inky black.
but when poured showed a stream
which was amber bright and crystal |
clear.