Omaha daily bee., 1914-06-16
COFFEE CONSUMED LAST YEAR
Would Fill Seven.Inch Cylinder
Higher Than the Moon.
U. S. IMPORTS GREAT DEAL
During 1913 over EiRht Hundred
aud Fifty million Pounds
Brought Into This
COuntry,

During the year 1918 tho United states
imported $50, so, i9S pounds Of coffee, hav-
ing an entry value Of nearly sO6,OoO00o.
To the average reader this may not APP
pear very startling, but little calcula-
ton will bring to mind the significance OF
these figures. ono pound OF finely ground
coffee will make no less than three gallons
Of reasonably strong beverage. Our 1918
imports therefore made at least 2,655, 500 000
gallons. A standard gallon contains 2Sl
cubic inches. or, putting Il a little differ
entity, would fill a cylindrical coffee pot
seven inches In diameter and six inches
high The coffee imported in 1918 would
therefore fill a cylinder seven inches in
diameter and 2i2,lSS miles high. Could
such a cylinder be erected 1t would be
necessary to take care not TO build II in
the direction Of the moons orbit around
the earth. for that satellites average
distance from our planet being but 2SS, $50
miles, II might knock off from the top OF
cur extended coffee pot some S,SSS miles.
Were the cylinder flexible and the base
we'll anchored. however. II might topple
over and wrap itself nearly ten times
around the earth at the equator. All OF
which is mentioned merely TO show that
we drink some coffee In this country.
over two-thirds Of the coffee con-
sumed in the United States comes from
Brazil Our imports from that country in
1918 amounted to something over 625. .OoO, 900
pounds having value at the ports OF
entry OF SIS,65O49O. II is no doubt owing
to this fact that tb Pan-American Union,
Washington, u. c.. publishes in it's latest
descriptive pamphlet on Brazil an inter
esting sketch OF coffee and its cultiva-
ton. In this account Il is stated that
coffee derives It's name from the city OF
Kaffa in Abvssinia, in which country II Is
believed that the coffee tree originated
Its botanical name is Coffea Arabica, be-
cause II was first cultivated In Arabia
and exploited in its present cay use A
natural coffee plant grows into a tree
fourteen to eighteen feet high, having a
long and slender trunk without limbs on
the lower part. The plant has numerous
thin roots growing deep into the earth,
end one central or tap root going straight
down and almost as long as the tree is
high When cultivated, however, the
plant is generally not allowed to grow
beyond six feet in poor and eight feet
tivation and the gathering of the crop.
Healthy coffee trees produce in the
axilla of each leaf from twelve to sixteen
buds, which in Towering have an ex.
quisite perfume. These flowers become
dark and wither and fall off in two OF
three days, leaving groups of seeds on
the small stems. These in turn grow into
the coffee berries which closely resem-
BILE dark red cherries. Each berry con-
taIns two seeds, growing face to face
and these are the coffee beans Of com
merce.
The plant flourisnes pest In well-watered
regions. in a subtropical climate at ar
elevation OF 1900 to 5000 feet and in q
rich soil. All these elements are found &c
perfection in Brazil. especially in the foui
states of Sac Paulo, Rio de Janeiro
Espirito Santo and Minas Geraes. whose
the vast domain Of the republic. This
section produces about four-fifths Of the
worlds supply of coffee.
The practice of coffee drinking en-
countered for long time the opposition
OF sovereigns and stralt-laced society
partly on political, partly on religious
grounds, but In spite OF that II made tts
way slowly across the old world from
Arabia, through Asia Minor northern
Africa and Turkey. The first coffee
house was opened in London in 1852, and
about the same time Paris took UP the
habit. The first coffee grown. in Europe
was the result Of experiments by French
and Dutch botanists. The Dutch intro
duced 1t into Java, while the French
brought It into the West Indies. A Portu.
guese, Joao Alberto CASTILLO Branco. is
said to have planted the first coffee tree
in Rio de Janeiro in 1850, and from this
small beginning has developed the great.
est industry Of the country. for Brazil
thanks to climate. soil. and similar
factors, has become the greatest coffee
producer of the world.