Chapter V (1)

COMMERCIAL CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION.

Coffee in commerce is the seed which grows in the pod or fruit of the coffee plant, like the pea or the bean. Geographically, it is divided into African, Asian, American and Polynesian coffees, and, topographically, into “Mountain,” or upland, and “Plaingrown,” or lowland Coffees, while commercially they are generally classified as “Mild” and “Strong,” the former comprising in trade the product of all countries, with the exception of Brazil. Grown in so many different and widely separated countries, provinces, districts and situations, it is but natural that the different products should vary materially in size, style, color, form, flavor and character, and which also accounts for the almost innumerable commercial divisions and subdivisions of names, grades and values.

AFRICAN COFFEES.

Africa is the original home of coffee, it being indigenous to almost the entire Continent; but while it is to be found growing in a wild state almost all over the entire of tropical Africa, more particularly between the fifth and fifteenth parallels, its cultivation for commercial purposes on the “Dark Continent” is very light and partial at the present time, although it affords a field of boundless development in the future. African Coffees are divided into West and East Coast, the former comprising Liberian, Loango, Angola, Benguelan, Congo and Natal; the latter including Abyssinian, Egyptian, Zanzibar, Mozambique, Nubian, Madagascar, Bourbon and Mauritius.

=Liberian=--Is produced in the Americanized colony known as the “Black Republic,” and is principally cultivated in the district of Mesurado, on the St. Paul river. It is an extremely large dark-brown bean, possessing very marked peculiarities, being “concave-convex”--technically termed “Male or pea-berry”--in form; that is, round on top, with long, deep furrow extending longitudinally down the face, tightly rolled or “folded” in appearance and very hard and solid in texture. When roasted and infused the liquor is dark in color, heavy in body and from 30 to 40 per cent. stronger in flavor than that of any other variety grown, and is considered too strong to use alone, but when blended in the proportion of about one to three parts of some of the milder growths it makes a fairly smooth and rich drinking coffee. The annual production is limited--about 10,000,000 pounds--put up in large, coarse bags, averaging 200 pounds, and is principally exported to England and the continent of Europe, where it is used principally, on account of its ultra strength, for mixing with chicory, and sold chiefly in the form of ground coffee.

=Loango=--Also an indigenous variety, is grown in the interior province of Encougé, deriving its trade name from the port of shipment. It closely resembles Liberian in form and color, but is much smaller in size and greatly inferior in quality, and is sometimes termed “African pea-berry.” The raw or natural bean is dark-brown in color, light or “chaffy” in weight, very brittle and poorly prepared, while the liquor is almost black and insipid, if not actually rank or nauseous, in flavor, the decoction tasting more like an infusion of char-bones than anything else it may be likened to. It is principally shipped to Spain, Portugal and other European countries, very little, fortunately, ever reaching the United States.

=Angola=--Produced in the Portuguese colony of that name, is medium in size, concave in form, light-brown in color, strong and pungent in flavor, but lacking in smoothness and aroma. Not being regularly cultivated, its production is limited, that grown by the settlers on the uplands of the interior being much superior to the wild or native sorts.

=Benguelan=--Is another variety of Angola, grown in the adjoining province to the south and closely resembles it in size, color and general character. Being also limited in supply, it is rarely if ever shipped to this country, what is not retained for home consumption being forwarded to Lisbon, Madrid and the Canaries.

=Congo=--Is a medium-sized, heavy bean, strong and rich in the cup, and, taken altogether, a desirable sort.

=Natal Coffee=--Is a large light-brown bean, closely resembling the Liberian product, being grown from that species, but greatly modified in body and strength. Coffee culture in Natal is struggling against adverse conditions, owing to the spread of the bark disease in that colony and for which no cure has been found. This is much to be regretted, as the quality of the product is very fair, the demand for the article continually growing. Some Coffees are also grown in the States of Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, St. Helena and the Cape of Good Hope, but, being limited in supply and unknown to commerce, do not need description here.

=Abyssinian.=--The Coffee plant and its product have been known in Abyssinia from time immemorial, its fruit being used there in a _roasted state_, but in _solid form_, for centuries before its introduction to the civilized world, receiving its now universal name from the district of Kaffa or Caffa, in the southeastern part of that country, and becoming the parent-plant of all the numerous varieties now to be found on the Red Sea littoral. At the present time it is grown there in all its native luxuriance and primitive abundance, from the borders of Narla to the banks of the Nile, forming the chief wood of the country. It is also cultivated there in almost all situations, on plateaus and table-lands, mountain and valley, hill and plain, growing as luxuriantly and producing as prolifically on low as on upland sites. The bean is small in comparison with the average coffee of commerce, but long and narrow in shape, hard and “flinty” in texture, and varying in color from a translucent green to a yellowish hue, according to its age. In body and flavor it ranks next to Mocha, to which coffee it is analogous, and is by many connoisseurs preferred to it as being smoother and less heating in effect. It is little known to commerce under its true name, being principally shipped from Massowah to Aden and Alexandria, where it loses its identity, masquerading under the head of “Long-berry Mocha,” and going principally to the Mediterranean and other European markets. The annual crop is large and the yield excellent, but communication and transport facilities being difficult and crude, the bulk of the product does not reach the outside world. It is to be hoped, however, that whenever this rich country which produces coffee in such wild abundance shall be permitted, by civilized man, to enjoy its fertility it will rapidly become an article of extensive cultivation and commerce.

=Egyptian=--Comprises the product of the Upper Nile region, and that grown around Berber and the Soudan, very little being produced in the country itself. Being the product of different districts, they vary in size and quality, ranging from small to medium, are palish-green in color, flat or regular in shape, and possess superior drinking properties; so much so that many of the smaller bean varieties are put up in Mocha bales at Alexandria and sold under the name of “Short-berry Mocha,” being shipped principally to France and England, where they are known to the initiated as “Alexandrian or Egyptian Mochas.”

=Nubian=--Is a small-bean coffee, hard and flinty in texture, oval in shape, pale-green in color, heavy in body, and unusually rich in flavor. This variety is usually forwarded to Alexandria for conversion into a so-called Mocha, seldom finding its way into the American or European markets under its legitimate name.

=Zanzibar=--Is medium in size, regular in appearance, full in body and pleasing in flavor, but also very limited in quantity. Increased effort is now being made, however, by the French, German and Italian colonists to increase and extend its cultivation in that country.

=Mozambique=--The product is fairly good, ranking with the average of mild coffees, medium in size, greenish in color, heavy and mellow in the cup.

=Madagascar=--Grown on the immense island of that name, to the east, is a small-bean variety, solid and firm, but shorter and rounder than the latter. It is of a pea-green color when first picked, but gradually assumes that of a silver-gray as it matures; in body it is round and full, in flavor rich and fragrant. The supply of this variety is very small when compared with the extent of area that may be utilized for its profitable culture in that island, the entire product being chiefly retained for home consumption, only small lots occasionally reaching the outer world.

=Bourbon=--Is a small, hard and flinty bean, being chiefly mountain grown, pale-yellow in color and closely resembling the Arabian product, for which coffee it is extensively substituted, large quantities of the smaller beans being annually shipped to Aden to be repacked in the inimitable Mocha bales and sold as “genuine Aden Mocha.” The larger beans are usually exported to France and the continent, where it is held in high esteem for its rich, fragrant flavor and aroma, but rarely found in the American market unless specially ordered.

=Mauritius=--Like Bourbon is also an island coffee, the average bean being medium-sized, heavy and well developed, light-green in color, full in body and mellow in flavor, the liquor, in general, comparing favorably with that of finest of the mild grades. The smaller beans are separated and sold for shipment to Aden for the purpose of adulterating, or, what is worse, substituting for Mocha, where it sinks its identity, reappearing in the European market as “Short-berry” Mocha coffee.

More or less Coffee is also produced in Sofala, Somali, and the Soudan, in Usumbara, the Zambesi, Nyassa, Nyanza, and other districts as far west as the base of the Kilimanjaro mountains, the total yield of which, however, so far as its influence on the world’s supply is considered, is insignificant, the export capacity of the whole not exceeding 150,000 pounds annually. The entire product of the Eastern provinces of Africa taken in connection with the comparatively small crops raised on the West coast makes that country contribute only between 5,000 to 6,000 tons to the world’s supply, this amount including all coffees grown in Egypt and the interior countries of the continent of Africa.

ASIAN COFFEES

Comprise Arabian, East Indian, Ceylon, Malayan and all coffees grown in the Straits Settlements.

ARABIAN COFFEE

Is universally but erroneously known to trade as the far-famed “Mocha,” as no coffee is or ever was grown there. Mocha itself, being comparatively a modern town, which rose with the coffee trade to a short-lived prosperity, the term “Mocha” as applied to Arabian coffee, being derived solely from the shipment of its product from there in former times. The internal disorders of Arabia and the efforts of Mohamed Ali to make the coffee trade pass through India accelerated its decline, the place being now nothing more than a mere village. The shipment of coffee is no longer carried on there, being transferred further south to the ports of Aden and Hodeida, yet, although, still known to trade as “Mocha,” and notwithstanding the fact that Arabian coffee has been popularly and commercially known for centuries as Mocha, it never produced any coffee, being situated as it is in a sterile plain. Seeing that Arabia is the parent soil of most of the coffees of commerce, and comparatively little known as a coffee-producing country, it may be interesting to transcribe some particulars of the cultivation and trade in the article in that country. The Coffee plant is claimed by some authorities to be indigenous to Arabia, and by others to be simply exotic, and as having been introduced there from Abyssinia, but at what period of the world’s history has never been definitely decided. The plant or its product is not mentioned in the Koran, was certainly unknown to Mahomet, and his contemporaries make no reference to it up to the seventh century, although the many commodities and beverages in use among his followers in Mecca and Medina during his Calyphate are accurately and minutely detailed by his biographers, both Arab and Christian. But while to Abyssinia belongs the honor of its first discovery, it is to Arabia that the civilized world is indebted, not only for the first knowledge of the plant and its virtues, but also for the first plants from which it is now so extensively propagated as well as for the first knowledge of preparing it in liquid form. Yet, although exotic to Arabia, it has been cultivated there for centuries, attaining its most extensive distribution and highest standard of production in the province of Yemen, a highland country formed by a labyrinth of precipitant hills and fertile valleys, the air being pure, and even cold in some parts. These mountains are well supplied with water, but no considerable rivers find their way from them to the sea, tropical evaporation, coupled with the light and porous quality of the soil, drying up the torrent beds: nor do any natural lakes exist there. Artificial pools and reservoirs have, however, been constructed, in which water is preserved all the year round, and are numerous in the district.

In the province of Yemen, where the best Mocha coffees are produced, the plant is cultivated in both situations, upland and lowland, that raised on the latter being greatly inferior to that cultivated on the former sites. The best being that grown on the mountain slopes under the greatest difficulties and natural disadvantages of climate, soil and site, the small gardens, for they cannot be called plantations, being situated on terraces ranged one above the other, forming an amphitheatre on the mountain slope and literally covering its sides from almost base to apex. The plant is cultivated throughout more than half these upland districts, the finest qualities of the berry being produced on the western slopes of the mountains in the neighborhood of Bulgosa and Sanaar, the capital of the province, at elevations estimated at 5,000 feet above sea-level. The soil in these situations is composed chiefly of basaltic columns, the detached rocks forming grand objects of landscape, especially where cascades of water rush from their summits. Indications of volcanic action, long since extant, abound; basalt formations comprising a considerable portion of the soil in the most favored gardens of the coffee-bearing districts, while in others it is composed of jurassic rock, basalt-granite patches also occurring in many of them. The basalts are of great utility to the inhabitants of this region, the columns, which are usually separated, serving as steps where the ascent is difficult, and as walls to support the gardens of coffee trees, which are principally situated on the steep declivities of the mountain sides, and although requiring the well-diffused heat of an equatorial climate and a rich soil for its most successful and profitable growth, it is in this region and under these great disadvantages and peculiarities of soil, climate and situation--hot, sandy and stony--that the far-famed Mocha coffee obtains its finest, richest and most valuable developments, and to which its superior excellence is attributed.

The gardens are arranged on rocky terraces, situated one above the other, the slopes being densely covered and close together and are watered from large reservoirs built upon the heights above them, into which spring water is collected and sprinkled in a novel and ingenious manner, being first conducted to the top terrace and then allowed to fall gradually from one terrace to another, where the plant and shade grow so thick together that the sun’s rays can hardly penetrate among the branches. The plants yield ripe fruit twice a year and frequently a third crop is gathered; the produce of the latter is, however, greatly inferior to that of the previous ones. The cultivation and preparation of coffee in Arabia are also of the simplest and most primitive kind. When the berries have been gathered they are carefully and assiduously picked over and separated by hand by experienced pickers and sorters. So constant and frequent is this selecting and separating process carried on, that a graduation almost as regular as the degrees upon a map may be discerned in the grades and qualities of Mocha coffee. The operations of hulling and cleaning being performed with the utmost seriousness and scrupulous exactness, reminding one of the diligence ascribed to diamond searchers and gold hunters, when sorting the torrent sands for the minute but precious treasure.

The coffee is dispatched by caravan from the interior to the ports of Aden and Hodeida at almost every season of the year, but principally in February, March and April, the export consisting of crude and prepared beans; the former is dried in the husk, and is termed by the Arabs “Jaffal coffee.” The dealers are chiefly Arabs, who frequently barter English manufactured goods for the article, the producers seldom attending the seaport markets. The principal coffee dealers at the shipping ports being Arabs from Hadramant, Syrians, Armenians, Bhuddists, Brahmins and Musselmans from Hindustan, who also trade in drapery and other English goods, which they send through their agents in the interior to pursue the aforesaid system of barter for the coffee. There are, however, three or four Anglo-Indian firms in Hodeida, and one or two American houses in Aden, who deal in coffee on their own account. Before reaching the harbor of Aden, from which port the coffee intended for the aristocracy of Alexandria and Constantinople is chiefly shipped, the beans are sifted and re-sifted by the Arab merchants _en route_, the best being retained for their own use; the less generous, flattened, opaque and whitish beans alone reaching their destination, the last stage seldom conveying the genuine article except on rare occasions, and only then by previous arrangement, personal influence or interest. That intended for the Syrian and Persian markets is forwarded by caravan from Jaffa and Beyrouth under the same conditions, as whenever mere sale and traffic is concerned, substitution of an inferior quality or an adulteration equivalent to a substitution is frequently resorted to in the storehouses of Aden, and the other points from which it is forwarded, until whatever Mocha coffee intended for the general European or American markets is no more the real offspring of the Yemen plant than the logwood preparations of a fourth-rate wine resembles the pure libation of an Oporto vineyard.

Arabian coffee, like that of all other countries, though one in name is manifold in fact. Geographically they are classified as Yemen and Tehama, but are known to trade almost universally as “Mocha” coffee, from being at one time all shipped from that port; but since the opening of the Suez Canal, the bulk of the crop is now shipped from the ports of Aden and Hodeida.

=Yemen Mocha=--Is grown on the mountain slopes surrounding the towns of Bulgosa, Sanaar and the valley of the Oudien, and constitutes the true Mocha coffee, which is rarely if ever exported, being consumed chiefly within the limits of Arabia itself; very little, so little, indeed, of this variety finds its way west of Constantinople that it is almost inappreciable. Nor, indeed, do the latter always get the best or purest, Arabia, Syria, Persia and Egypt consuming over two-thirds of the limited product of the Yemen hills, the remainder being reserved for the Turkish and Armenian æosophagi, from which fact it is sometimes termed the “Aristocrat of Coffees.”

The true “Mocha” or Yemen bean is exceedingly small, hard, round, and symmetrical in form, regular and uniform in general appearance, of a translucent, olive-green color when new, but assuming a rich semi-transparent yellowish hue with age. It is perfectly clean, being entirely free from stems, stones, chaff and all other extraneous matter. When fresh roasted it exhales a pleasing if not delicious odor, not even approached by that of any other variety grown or known; the liquor is heavier in body than that of Java, but creamy and rich, and the flavor fragrant and aromatic to an eminent degree. The superior excellence attributed to this particular variety of Mocha coffee is said to be due to two causes, first to the extreme dryness of the climate, hard granitic nature of the soil, and second to the fact that the berries are never picked, but allowed to fall from the trees of their own accord when ripe, and then allowed to dry naturally, after which they are gathered and hulled by the simplest and most primitive methods, which process of drying cannot be pursued in countries where the rainfall is great, as sudden showers spoil the crop if left unprotected. While others claim that the high reputation which it so long held in the European markets, is not to be ascribed to either superior cultivation or improved stock, but to the fact that the coffee was formerly shipped to India, and thence by circuitous routes to Europe, so that it was generally two to three years old when it reached its destination, all coffees improving with age and keeping. Still growing as it does high up on the sandy terraces of the Yemen hills, sparse of leaves, gaunt and stunted, as becomes a plant of the desert as well as from its condensed vitality, it appears difficult to understand the aromatic pungency of its small berries, a quality that has never been even approached by any achievement of scientific cultivation.

=Tehama Coffee=--Is grown in the low, level sandy plain of that name, extending from the Red sea littoral to the base of the Yemen hills, formed by the arc of their curve, and reaching from the province of Hejaz in the north down as far as Aden on the southern extremity of the peninsula. As might be expected from its geographical situation towards the coast, it is an exceedingly hot, dry and sandy region, being only of moderate fertility, the soil being composed of an agglomeration of coral debris. The rains are periodical, sometimes flooding the plantations, and hardly drying up through the year, the coast being indented with several small harbors. The coffee produced in this district--like all plain-grown or lowland coffees--is greatly inferior to the mountain product of Yemen. The bean is small, irregular, immature and chaffy, having a gnarled or shriveled appearance, greenish in color when new but assuming a yellowish hue as it dries. Being only imperfectly cured it frequently contains fragments of hull, fibre and small stones. It is invariably “quakery” when roasted, and in body and flavor is inferior to the average run of what are known in trade as “mild coffees.” Yet, though not a palatable coffee when drunk alone, it makes a fairly fragrant infusion when combined with a Preanger or other good Java. It is principally shipped from Hodeida, now the second considerable port in the Red sea, from which it is known to trade as “Hodeida Mocha,” and in contradistinction to that shipped from Aden, and known as “Aden Mocha.” At Hodeida the coffee is sold in the custom house, whither it is brought from the interior. The Hodeida dealers also receiving large quantities of Malabar, Bourbon and other small-bean varieties to mix with or substitute for the original sort.

OTHER VARIETIES.

There are several other varieties known to trade and sold as Mocha coffee, but having little or no relation to it. Among these are:--

=Lechia.=--Shipped from a small port to the north of Hodeida and from which it derives its trade name. It is very inferior in quality, roasting and drinking poorly, and on the whole not a desirable sort.

=Djebelli.=--Which is imported into Aden from the African coast, and is a mountain-grown coffee possessing valuable cup qualities.

=Berberah.=--Also an African coffee recognized by its large and tapering bean, heavy body and rich infusion, and used principally for mixing with or substituting for genuine Mocha coffee.

=Havar.=--Another variety of Mocha coffee known to trade as “Havar” or “Hazar,” which comes from the south African coast of the Red sea, is being recently shipped from Aden. The bean is long and pointed, greenish in cast, and solid in structure; it roasts and drinks exceedingly well, being preferred by many connoisseurs to the true Mocha bean.

=Mussowah=--Is an Abyssinian variety, previously described, deriving its trade name from being shipped from that port on the African coast of the Red sea.

=Egyptian Mocha.=--In Alexandria, Mocha coffee is imitated by the substitution of small-bean African varieties, principally produced in Berber, Nubia, Somali and the interior of the Soudan, which are carefully picked over and assorted by hand, the larger beans being separated from the smaller, the better to adapt them to their respective markets, being usually shipped to France and other continental European countries.

Arabian or “Mocha” Coffee is put up in large grass-mat bales--containing two smaller packages termed “quarters” or four termed “eights”--distinctive in shape and material, being made of a coarse, grassy substance and sewn with a fibrous ligature that becomes excessively hard and tough as it seasons. The exports, the amount of which it is difficult to determine owing to the fact that there is no real custom-house control in the country, consists of about 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 pounds only, about half of which only is pure Mocha, the product being so badly manipulated and so extensively substituted with other coffees of foreign origin and inferior quality.

EAST-INDIAN COFFEES.

Unlike tea, coffee was not introduced into India by European enterprise, and even in the present day its cultivation there is largely followed by the natives only. The Malabar coast has always enjoyed a direct commerce with Arabia, and at an early date in the world’s history gave many converts to Islam, one of whom, Baba Bouden by name, is said to have gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca and to have brought back with him “seven coffee-berries,” which he planted on the hill range of Mysore and which is still called after him, and which, according to local tradition, occurred about two centuries ago. The shrubs thus said to be sown lived on, but their systematic cultivation did not spread until the beginning of the present century. While another account states that the coffee-plant was first introduced into India, on the Malabar coast, by the Arabs themselves, as far back as 1740, yet no official mention is made of the plant or its product in that country up to 1822, when its cultivation as a curiosity was first began in the Wynaad district, another plantation being formed later in the adjoining district of Manjarabad. The Baba Bouden range, in the State of Mysore, also witnessed the first opening of a coffee plantation by an English planter in 1840, the success of this experiment leading to the extension of coffee cultivation in the neighboring districts of Madras and Malabar. In 1840, a plantation was also started in Manautoddy, and in 1842 it was found growing well in Belgaum. From 1842 to 1860, however, the enterprise made but slow progress, but since the latter date it has spread with great rapidity along the whole line of the Western Ghauts, clearing away the primeval forest and opening up a new era of prosperity to the laboring classes in that country, its cultivation for commercial uses increasing at a most remarkable rate.

Coffee at the present time in India is grown all along the summits and slopes of the Western Ghauts from the northern limits of Kanura south to Cape Comorin, the chief centres of production being located in the Presidencies of Madras, Mysore, Malabar, Coorg and Travancore, attempts being also made to introduce the plant into the Bengal district of Chittagong and the northern districts of Nepaul, the Punjaub and British Burmah, the cultivation extending within the past few years to the Shevaroy hills in the Salem district as well as to the Neilgherry and Pulmey mountains in Madras, the slopes adjacent to Octacamund being literally covered with coffee plantations on every side. In India, after the berries, or “cherries,” as they are called there, have been harvested, they are cured in one of two ways, one of which is to pulp them in the soft state, the coffee being known as “Cherry-dried,” while by the other they are dried first and the pulp removed by a huller. Where the latter method is adopted, they are spread upon terraces and there kept until complete desiccation takes place, the coffee prepared in this manner being known as “thick-hull” or “sun-dried” coffee. They are classified in trade as “Malabar,” “Mysore,” “Wynaad,” “Tellicherry,” “Coorg,” “Neilgherry” and “Travancore,” grading commercially in the order named.

=Malabar=--Produced on the western slopes of the Ghaut mountains, is a small, hard, whitish bean, closely resembling a Bourbon, being frequently shipped to Aden for substitution or conversion into Mocha coffee. It is full in body, high in color and rich in flavor, particularly when old, ranking high commercially in the European markets, where it is principally disposed of.

=Mysore=--Is a mountain coffee grown on the slopes of the Eastern Ghauts, and, like all mountain-grown coffees, is large or bold in style, bluish-green in color, hard and solid in texture, heavy in body, but apt to be somewhat “grassy” in flavor when new, mellowing considerably, however, with age. It commands a higher price in the English market than Java, not on account of its intrinsic worth, but from the fact that English merchants favor the products of their own colonies to the prejudice of all others.

=Wynaad=--Is simply a Malabar coffee, grown in the interior of that province, and deriving its trade-name from the district of growth, and possessing the same intrinsic qualities of body, color and flavor, being heavy, rich and fragrant in the cup.

=Tellicherry=--Is another variety of Malabar, deriving its commercial cognomen from the port of shipment, but is generally conveyed to the coast for curing, and is classed commercially with it, being used for the same purpose of mixing or substituting for Mocha.

=Coorg=--Is a plain-grown or lowland coffee, large and flat in appearance, dark-greenish when new, but becoming a dull-white with age, and while regular and uniform in the roasted state is apt to be “quakery.” The liquor is thin and flat in the cup, while the flavor is somewhat “mawkish” to the taste.

=Neilgherry=--Although a mountain coffee, seems to be an exception to the general character of this variety, for while the bean is fairly large in size and uniform in appearance, it is usually moist and soft in substance, losing heavily in the roast, and yielding a flat, almost insipid liquor.

=Travancore=--Grown in the extreme South, is a lowland variety having an average-sized, flat, but whitish bean, soft or “spongy” when new, but becoming light and brittle as it dries. It is invariably “quakery” in the roast, thin and watery in the cup, and lacking in even an approach to fragrance.

=Burmah Coffee=--Is a comparatively new variety to commerce, being only recently introduced, and very limited in supply to the present. The bean is fairly large and regular in form, greenish in color and soft in texture in the natural state, tough or “leathery” when roasted, and wild or “grassy” in the infusion--defects due to its newness, which may, however disappear in the later crops. A very large portion of the surface of Burmah is admirably adapted for the cultivation of fine coffees, but it still remains in its primeval state of unproductive jungle, owing to the entire absence of natural energy on the part of the natives, who have been described as the laziest under the sun. At the present time, however, the government is making liberal offers to Europeans and others who understand the art of coffee-planting in order to develop the industry in that country; such settlers being offered free grants of land in the celebrated Tavoy district, the only conditions being the cost of survey and demarcation.

India coffees are classed in the English market as “Bold,” “Middling” and “Small,” the bulk of the small-bean Mysore, Malabar and Wynaad being shipped to Aden and Alexandria, where they are repacked and sold as Mocha. The average quantity and value of the coffee product of India is about 40,000,000 pounds, valued at $75,000,000, fully one-half of which is retained for home consumption, the balance being shipped to England and France, which are the two next largest consumers of India coffee, although in both countries it is subject to excessively heavy duties. The average product per acre is only about 350 pounds, but the drought having affected the plantations would of itself sufficiently account for the diminished exports if the leaf disease and borer did not also help to keep down the yield.

CEYLON COFFEES.

The history of coffee cultivation in the island of Ceylon is one fraught with interest and full of instructive lessons, which, since the year 1845, has assumed a position of great and ever-increasing importance. Although coffee is claimed to have been an article of growth and export from Ceylon even as far back as the time of the Portuguese, it only grew wild there without any attempt at cultivation. Small patches of it were to be found around the Kandyan villages, growing in wild luxuriance, the berries being gathered before they were ripe and imperfectly cured, seldom possessed much flavor, they were but lightly esteemed as an article of commerce. Its systematic cultivation was first commenced in 1824, by Sir E. Barnes, the then governor, who hoped by his example to introduce coffee planting by Europeans into the island. Up to 1834, however, public attention does not seem to have been occupied with the industry, but in that year the falling off in supplies from other countries brought capitalists into the field, and when, in 1836, the duty in England was reduced to six pence per pound, a great impulse was given to coffee planting in Ceylon. During that and the following year about 7,000 acres of the finest lands were purchased for the purpose, until, at the end of a few years, it became a matter of notoriety that the soil and climate of Ceylon were capable of producing coffee equal in value to most kinds then grown, when the influx of capital from England for investment in this new branch of industry became simply enormous. In 1840, nearly 10,000 acres of mountain forest were felled and planted in coffee, and in an exceedingly short space of time the sale of crown-lands for coffee culture averaged 40,000 acres per annum. The mountain ranges on all sides of the district of Kandy became speedily covered with plantations, the great valleys of Ambogamoa, Doombera, Kotmalie and Pusilawa were occupied by speculators, others settling in the steep passes of Neurailla and penetrating the Ouvah and Badulla districts, coffee-trees quickly blooming on every solitary hill, even up to and around the very base of Adam’s peak. The first ardent adventurers pioneering their way through pathless woods, living in log-cabins whilst felling the forest and making their preliminary preparations for planting, until, in a few years, the paths by which they came were converted into roadways and their cabins replaced by comfortable “bungalows.” The coffee cultivation mania in Ceylon, however, reached its climax in 1845, when the governor, council, military, judges, civil servants, and even the clergy penetrated the hills in their mad haste to become purchasers of crown lands for coffee growing. The East India Company’s officers crowded to Ceylon to invest their savings in coffee lands, capitalists from England at the same time arriving by every vessel, the bulk of the emigrants as a class being more than ordinarily aristocratic, and who, if not already opulent, were still in haste to become more so. So dazzling was the prospect that expenditure was unlimited, its profusion being only equalled by the ignorance and inexperience of those to whom it was intrusted; five millions sterling being sunk in the “Coffee craze” in less than as many years. The rush for coffee lands at this period in Ceylon was only paralleled by the movement towards the gold mines of California and Australia, but with this painful difference, that the wild enthusiasts in Ceylon instead of thronging to disinter were hurrying to bury their gold, for in the very midst of their visions of riches a crash suddenly came which awakened the victims to the reality of their ruin. The financial panic of 1845 in England rapidly extended its destructive influences to Ceylon; remittances ceased, credit failed, prices fell, and the first announcement on the subsidence of the turmoil was the doom of protection and the withdrawal of the distinctive duty which had so long screened the British coffee plantations from competition with those of Java and Brazil. The consternation thus produced in Ceylon was proportionate to the extravagance and hopes that were blasted, coffee plantations being forced into the market, and many sold off for a twentieth part of the outlay incurred in forming them, while others that could not be sacrificed at any price were abandoned and allowed to return to their natural jungle. For over three years the enterprise appeared paralyzed, the ruined disappeared and the timid retreated, but those who, combining judgment with capital, persevered, succeeded eventually, not alone in restoring energy to the enterprise, but in imparting to it the prudence and experience gleaned from former similar disasters. Still, the crisis, had it not been precipitated by the calamities of 1845, must have ensued eventually, from the indiscretion of the previous period; and the healthy condition which coffee planting appears to have attained at the present day in Ceylon results from the correction of the errors then committed; and it is no exaggeration to state that there is not a single well-established principle now governing the management of the plantations and the conduct of the proprietors that was not preceded by a directly opposite policy in 1845.

Since the explosion of this second edition of the “South-sea bubble” in Ceylon, the island has made rapid strides in coffee growing, the mountain forests have been replaced by extensive plantations, of which there are at the present day no less than 1,000 under cultivation, yielding an average annual crop of nearly 80,000,000 pounds exclusive of that raised by the natives. Observation has also since discerned the true tests of soil, climate and aspect, former delusions as to high altitudes have been exploded, unprofitable districts avoided and unproductive localities abandoned. And in lieu of the belief that the coffee tree, once rooted, would continue ever after to bear crops without further attention or manure, and flourish perennially in defiance of weeds and neglect, every plantation is now tended like a garden, and the soil enriched artificially in proportion to the produce it bears, expenditures also being reduced within the bounds of discretion. An acre of forest land can now be purchased for one-tenth of what it cost in 1844, and though the extravagant prices and the still more extravagant expectations of that period have been entirely dissipated, coffee planting at the present day in Ceylon under careful supervision, promises as sound an investment as moderate enterprise can hope for. Systematic coffee cultivation is almost exclusively confined to the hill region, which embraces the districts of Kandy, Pusilawa, Doombera, Kotmalie and Ambogama, although irregular native gardens are to be found everywhere in the southwestern portion of the island, even close to the seashore. The favorite and most productive elevation is, however, between 3,000 and 4,000 feet above sea-level, but in a few exceptional cases plantations descend almost to the foot of the hills, others being situated nearly 6,000 feet above. While native gardens, sometimes bearing good crops, may be met with along the coast actually at sea-level; in such instances, however, the gardens are limited in extent, and are generally richly manured and well watered during the dry season.

The principal coffee-producing zone of Ceylon of the present day is chiefly situated in what is known as the Gampola district, in which the scientific cultivation of coffee was first attempted, and the point at which the great roads converge connecting the rich coffee districts of Doombera, Kotmalie and Pusilawa with the ports of Kandy and Colombo. The soil and situation of the Gampola district have proved so favorable to the growth of the coffee-plant that there is hardly one of the magnificent hills seen from it that has not been taken possession of by planters, the plantations being situated chiefly in the mountain ranges on all sides of it. Ceylon coffees are classified commercially as “Native,” “Plantation,” “Liberian” and “Mountain” or “Mocha,” the latter being nothing more than a small-bean plantation coffee usually separated.

=Native.=--What is known to commerce as “Native Ceylon” is principally produced in the district of Ouvah by native growers, from which fact it derives its trade-name. Being a plain-grown or lowland coffee, the bean is large and flat in style, greenish, moist and “flabby” when first picked, but becoming almost white, broken and “chaffy” as it dries. It is a poor “roaster,” being invariably “quakery,” weak and thin in the infusion, and devoid of any distinctive flavor or aroma in the cup.

=Plantation=--Derives its trade-name from its being systematically cultivated in regularly-laid-out plantations, by scientific methods under intelligent management, and is without doubt one of the finest varieties grown, ranking high commercially for its intrinsic value. The raw or natural bean is large, bold, symmetrical and exceedingly well developed, of a light bluish or translucent-green tint or cast, very regular and invariably uniform in general appearance. It roasts even and handsomely, as fine, if not more so, than any variety known, while in the infusion it is rich and strong, but smooth and creamy in body, fragrant and aromatic in flavor; an equal quantity of this variety yielding a heavier-bodied and richer liquor than that of the finest Java, but will not be quite as high in flavor.

=Liberian-Ceylon=--Is produced from a transplant of the Liberian species, which, owing to the destruction caused by the “leaf disease” on the Ceylon plantations, has been introduced to that island, on account of its being considered much stronger, hardier and better able to withstand disease than the native trees, but while it was found specially adapted to the plains and low-lying situations, it would not bear so well on the upland or mountain slopes. A hybrid species was at length evolved, the product of which is known to trade as “Ceylon-Liberian,” the bean of which in the natural state is not quite as large as that of the parent plant, not as convex in shape, the color being paler, bordering on a rich yellow instead of brown, while the infusion though not as heavy in body or dark in color, is much smoother and more palatable, the too-heavy properties of the original being greatly modified by climatic and other causes.

=Ceylon-Mocha=--Is a small bean, mountain-grown, coffee, very even and uniform, usually separated from the regular plantation variety. The raw or unroasted bean is of a steel-blue or silvery-grey color, according to age, exceedingly rich in liquor and fragrant in flavor, and considered by some experts to be equal in drinking qualities to any variety grown, being frequently shipped to Aden for substitution or mixing with Mocha coffee.

Ceylon coffees are usually packed in casks and in hogsheads (except Native, which is put up in bags), the former weighing 400 and the latter 1,000 pounds, and shipped to England, where it commands a high price, relatively, and where they are graded as No. 1 (largest); 2 (medium); 3 (small), and “Triage,” or common, but generally as “Plantation” and “Native” in the American market. In 1880 it was estimated that the capital invested in coffee culture amounted to over $70,000,000, a notable increase having taken place since that year, there being at the present time some forty districts on the island in which coffee culture is carried on for commercial uses. While the native product is usually calculated to extend over 50,000 acres, which, however, varies very much, according to the character of the season, the prices obtained, and the cheapness of money. The annual exports are about 80,000,000 pounds, giving an average yield from old and new plantations of a little over 400 pounds per acre.

MALAYAN COFFEES

Include the products of the islands of Java, Sumatra, Celebes, the Sunda and many other of the smaller islands of the Malayan Archipelago.

JAVA COFFEES.

Java is a generic term applied to all coffees grown in the Eastern Archipelago, and is almost a synonym for coffee. While the coffee plant, which is only known in Java by its European appellation and its intimate relation with European despotism, was first introduced into that island by the Dutch at the close of the seventeenth century, and has ever since remained one of their chief articles of exclusive monopoly. The labor by which it is planted and its produce collected is included among the oppressions or “forced services” of the natives at inadequate rates. Previous to the year 1808 the cultivation of coffee in Java was principally confined to the Sunda districts, there being, up to that year, but few plantations comparatively in the eastern districts, the product of which they were capable of yielding not amounting to one-tenth of the whole. But under the rapacious administration of the Dutch East India Company and government the cultivation of coffee has usurped the soil of almost the entire island, otherwise destined for yielding the subsistence of the people, the cultivation of all other products being made subservient to it and the withering effects of a government monopoly, extending their influence indiscriminately throughout every province and district in the island. In the Sunda districts particularly each native family is compelled to care for 1,000 coffee plants, and in the eastern districts, where new and extensive plantations are being formed from time to time in soils and situations in many instances by no means favorable to its profitable culture, 650 plants is the prescribed allotment. No negligence can be practised in the performance of this duty, the whole operations of planting, picking and pulping being conducted under the immediate superintendence of the government officials, who select the sites where the new plantations are to be formed, seeing that they are preserved from weeds and rank grasses and overseeing its selection and removal to the “go-downs” or warehouses when prepared. Under this system the Sunda districts are estimated to yield an annual produce of 100,000 piculs, and it was at one time calculated that the young plantations of the eastern districts, when they should come into full bearing, would produce an equal quantity, but in the latter section many of the plantations had been formed on ill-judged sites, the natives being also averse to the new and additional burden which this increase of cultivation imposed upon their labor. Had the system been persevered in or enforced by a despotic authority, it is questionable whether the quantity anticipated in the above estimate, or even one-half of it, would have been obtained from the eastern districts. The Sundas living in an island and mountainous country, and having been long accustomed to the hardships of coffee culture, are less sensible of its pressure than the rest of their countrymen, time and habit having reconciled them to a system of servitude, which was at first revolting to them, and a state of slavery, which the philanthropist laments as degrading, is scarcely felt to be even a grievance by themselves. Instances, however, are not wanting in which the usual measure of exaction having been surpassed they have been awakened to a sense of their wretchedness, a government of colonial monopolists, eager only for profit, and heedless of the sources from which it is derived, subjecting its native subjects to privations and distresses, the recital of which shock the ear of humanity. In brief, the system of coffee culture in the island of Java has sometimes been so severely exacted that, together with the other constant and heavy demands made upon them by the government authority on the native labor of the country, that they deprived the unfortunate peasants of the time necessary to raise food for their own support, many thus perishing by famine, while others fled to the mountains, where, raising a scanty subsistence in patches, or often dependent for it upon the roots of the forest, they congratulated themselves on their escape from the reach of their oppressors; numbers of these people, with their descendants, remaining in these haunts to the present time. In their annual migrations they frequently pass over the richest lands, which still remain uncultivated, awaiting their return to till it, but they prefer their wild independence and precarious subsistence to the horrors of being again subjected to forced servitude and forced deliveries at inadequate compensation.

In the Java highlands the tree yields fruit for a period of twenty years, while on the plains or lowlands it seldom attains a greater age than nine or ten, bearing only during six or seven of these, the fruit being larger comparatively, but the flavor less as a general rule. About the end of the rainy season such plants as have not thriven are replaced by others and the plantations cleared, this latter operation in well-managed plantations being generally performed from three to four times in the year, the tree being never topped or pruned, but universally allowed to grow in all its native luxuriance. In this state it often, in favored situations, reaches a height of sixteen feet, and plants eight inches broad have been frequently procured from the trunks. The average product of a coffee tree in Java is not estimated at much more than 1¹⁄₄ pounds, but there are instances on record where as much as from twenty to thirty pounds have been yielded by a single plant in a season. Again, in Java there does not appear to be any fixed or certain season for the plant to arrive at maturity, as in the Western countries, the gathering usually commencing in June or July, and it is not until late in the following April that the entire crop is delivered to the go-downs. The picking season in general, however, consists of three pickings or crops of which the first or “roor-pluk,” which is small, begins in February, the second or “main-pluk” in May or June, when the heaviest portion is gathered. It is also termed the “full-pluk,” from being the most abundant of the season the third or “after-pluk,” being what is left to open on the trees, may be considered more of a gleaning, as it is merely a general sweep of the fallen berries. When the berries become of a dark crimson color they are plucked off one by one with the assistance of a light bamboo ladder, the greatest care being taken not to shake off the blossoms which still remain on the tree or to pluck the unripe fruit. The women and children of the country usually do the picking, the men attending to the heavier work around the plantations. Attached to every village near which there are coffee plantations of any extent, there is a “drying-house,” to which the newly-gathered coffee is carried and where it is placed on hurdles about four feet from the floor, under which a slow wood-fire is kept up during the night; the roof is opened in the mornings and evenings to admit the air, the berries being frequently stirred meanwhile to prevent fermentation. As the excessive heat of the sun is considered prejudicial, the roof of the “drying-house” is closed during mid-day, this operation being continued until the husk is thoroughly dried. The coffee dried in this manner is generally small, sea-green or grayish in color and is supposed to acquire a peculiar flavor from the smoke, although it does not appear that any particular kind of wood is used as fuel. On the other hand, when the coffee is dried in the sun the bean becomes of a pale yellowish color, is larger in size, specifically lighter in weight and more pungent in flavor than the former. The most common method of pulping in Java among the natives is to pound the berries when dried in a bag made of buffalo hide, care being taken not to break or mutilate the beans. A mill of the most elementary construction is, however, sometimes used for the purpose, but is said not to answer as well. When the operations of pulping and cleaning are completed the coffee is then put in bags and baskets and stood on raised platforms until the period of delivery arrives, when it is carried to the “go-downs” or storehouses, sometimes by men but more generally on the backs of buffaloes and mules in strings of from 1,500 to 2,000 at a time. In the Sunda district there are three principal depots for receiving the coffee from the cultivators--Chikan, Karang and Buitzenorg. From Buitzenorg it is either sent direct to Batavia by land in carts or by way of Linkong, whence it is forwarded in boats by the Chidana river, while from Chikan the coffee is sent in boats down the river Chitaram and thence along the sea-coast to Batavia, where it is received into extensive warehouses and from which it is in turn generally exported to the European and American markets.

Up to a very recent period almost all coffee in Java was cultivated by the natives under supervision of the Dutch government, which had a monopoly of the product, deriving an enormous revenue from its cultivation. Under this system, each family was compelled to cultivate, pick, dry, hull and deliver the coffee at the nearest government warehouse for transport to the port of shipment, the natives being allowed but a small percentage of the crop as compensation for their labor in many instances, but more generally the government placing a figure so low as to enable it to sell the coffee at an enormous profit, and also deducting again a heavy duty from the gross price paid to the growers, thereby deriving an almost fabulous revenue from this system of cultivation.