El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-30

way TO the hold Of the steamer. The
hourly stream measured a little less
than 5000 pounds and every u hours
something like 100000 pounds of coffee
were loaded by each Of the belts
This work begins in July and keeps
on for months At times more than
$4,000. 900 pounds are loaded in sin
gle day, an amount sufficient to give
every man, woman and child IN the
United States one-half pound and leave
some to spare. At the same time more
Brazilian coffee is being loaded at no
de JaneirO and at Bahia and elsewhere
The total crop of the country is two
thirds that of the whole world IN
some years it has amounted to in the
neighbOrhOod of 2O,000,oO0 bags, and
Of this $4,000 600 have come from santos
alone In 1913 the crop was more tnaIl
13. O00 600 bags, and its value was over
$500 coo. 900
United states Gets Half of Crop.
Of the coffee crop Of Brazil more
than half is sold to the United states,
and that at a cost Of something IKE
S76,0O0.0Q0- We take in the nelShDor-
hood Of three-Quarters Of billion
pounds of this coffee every year, and
should we stop drinking il. the people
would have panic and millions OF
them would be on the edge Of starva-
ton. Our annual coffee imports are
over 1000, 100000 pounds, or more
than fifty pounds for every one OF our
families. In other words we use q
pound Of coffee a week to every family
in the United states.
Every shipment of coffee has its own
treatment. and. the value Of the ship
ments depends largely on where the
coffee is raised. Some Of the regions
are as different from the others as the
Vuelto Abajo. whihc produces the finest
Havana tobacco. is different from the
land that produces the stogy- Not only
the soil, but the climate and elevation
have to do with the product each dis
trict producing beans OF a flavor which
is Of its own kind and quality
Great Care Is Exercised.
This difference in coffee makes its
preparation for the markets an i'm
portant element of the industry. Every
exporter has his own methods Of sam
pling the coffee and grading and pre-
paring-it for shipment aboard. DurinS
my stay here I have visited some Of the
great houses that send coffee to the
Unsted States The care taken is Won
derful- Every shipment whether il be
of a thousand bags or fifty thousand.
is sampled and tested The coffee IS
graded according to quality and this IS
tested by sight. feel and taste. Coffee
tasting is a profession and there are
men here in Santos who do nothing
else. Every shipment is carefully sam
pied and the sample is roasted and
tasted ne Ee=A44L gives AAAE --e-AAN t-AA--
this Is sent with the shipment TO the
United States. forming the basis Of the
price OF the coffee and as TO how it
shall be sold
The S2mPling and Tasting.
In the warehouses the sample rooms
we're walled with shelves containing
the coffee recently tested Some OF the
samples were brought down and their
quality pointed out. Some Of the best
coffee was labeled Mocha This con-
sisted Of beans as big as a pea and OF
much the same shape. The beans were
IF a light color, and the manager told
ne that the coffee was three years old
He SAYS that the coffee beans grow bet
Ter with age and that the coffee has a
finer flavor after it is several years
DID
In the tasting room one side was
lined with an electric stove which had
many small ovens heated by gas Jets
Each OF these ovens was Just large
enough to contain one or two samples
II coffee. Then the green beans were
lut in to be roasted, the electricity was A.,
urned on and the gas lighted From
lime to time a spoonful OF them was
aiken out to be examined When they I
we're Of just the right color, showing I