New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-17

latter This IS probably the reason why the old
fashioned. case-hardened cofee-drinker, who
wants his drink 70 bite" and to be real good
and 5racing," swears by boiled coffee and de
cares that the longer il boils the better il Is.
One strong reason for purchasing coffee IN
the bean is that it is almost impossible to adu.-
terate it so that it can escape detection. The
beans can be glazed, ostensbly TO protect
them from the oxydizing influences Of the at
mosphere, preserve the aroma and clarity the
liquid in preparation. but too often this pro
cedure is used TO conceal defects and disguise
low grade and damaged coffee.
AFEW COFFEE IMPERSONATORS
Until the pure food laws established a strict
supervision over the product, it was compare
lively easy 70 adulterate ground. coffee with
all sorts Of foreign substances. This practice
has prevailed in Europe TO an astonishing ex-
tent. English chemists have asserted that IN
that country coffee is adulterated with roasted
peas, beans, carrots, turnips, parsley, potatoes
acorns beets, lupins and even fragments Of
the baked livers of horses and oxen. In France
chcory is not only used extensively and openly
but coffee so mixed Is even preferred 10 the
pure product. Chicory gives body and color
without prolonged boiling and IS uno0jection-
able if the buyer is not defrauded by a mis-
leading label and coffee prices.
Nowadays, either coffee substitutes OF coffees
treated TO eliminate certain constituents are
much advocated by certain manufacturers
under the name Of health beverages or hygiene
coffees Some Of these are simply roasted
- L
coffee, but base their claim to popularity upon
the fact that they are "healthful food bever-
ages meant TO take the place Of a harmful
stimulant. The chief sin Of the cereal bever-
ages is their persistent claim for patronage
on account of nutritive value. As a matter If
fact. they have about one-twentieth the food
value Of skim milk. Their only virtue is the
negative one Of preventing the use Of cafein
bearing beverage.
THE CLAIMS OF HYGIENE COFFEES."
The claim made for the so-called "hygienic
cofees" is that they are made from the rea
bean. treated 70 remove the cafein. caffoel or
cafetannic acid But chemical tests have
proven that these claims are seldom substan-
tiated.
For instance, J. P. Street, State Chemist Il
Connecticut, in recent article on hygienic
coffees points out that G. Washington Pre-
pared Coffee, said 70 be refined by process
that eliminates these harmful indigestible ele-
ments" as found in the coffee berry, contains
in the concentrated powder about four times
as much cafein and cafetannic acid as coffee
itself. When made into the beverage accord
ing 70 the prescribed rules there would De
little if any difference therefore in the cafeln
and tannin found in cup Of G.. Washington
and in the ordinary infusion Just what con-
stitutes the excuse for the slogan Drink all
the coffee you want" used with such prod
uct, we cannot see, as the caffein is undoubt-
eddy the most active agent 70 be reckoned with.
We had letter from boarding school ask
ing if i were really true that young girls could
drink all the G.. Washington coffee they wanted
without harm: which shows the danger Of I'M
guarded statements, even about so convenient
and wel-made a soluble coffee as G.. Wash
lngton.
The same authority asserts that the Cafe
des Invalides, for which the claim Is made tha;
il docs not produce nervousness or wakeful-
ness" contains 50 per cent as much carein
az ordinary coffee The 20 per cent de-
crease is due merely to its dilution with other
vegetable substances. such as chicory, and the
cafretannic acid content is about the same as IN
normal coffee