Chapter I: Preface

This work has been written in response to a demand for a handbook for the especial use of those engaged in the coffee business. To a certain extent it represents a condensation of the author’s encyclopedic work, “All About Coffee.” “Coffee Merchandising,” however, is designed primarily for beginners in the coffee business. It will be found to contain all the elementary and essential facts pertaining to the history, cultivation, preparation, and marketing of coffee.

In it the author has tried to avoid dogmatism. He has aimed to tell briefly the story of coffee, including all those things which every intelligent coffee man should know concerning the early history of the beverage, the botany of the plant, the chemistry of coffee, how coffee grows, how it is prepared for the market, how it is bought and sold in the countries of production, and how it is marketed at wholesale and at retail in the United States. In the telling of the story the author has given the reader the best thought of the trade on all controversial questions, striving to keep his own opinions in the background.

Then, too, the aim has been not only to tell the history story, but to show how successful men in the coffee trade have built up the most enduring business. For this reason the work should prove a source of inspiration, as well as a fount of knowledge, for students and salesmen.

Those who may wish to make a more thorough study of the subject, to delve deeply into the history, romance, and poetry of coffee, or its scientific aspects, are referred to “All About Coffee,” by the same author.

There are two important factors which make for success in the coffee business,—faith and work,—an abiding faith in the opportunity which it offers to render a public service and which inspires the faithful student to get all the facts about coffee so as to be able to give reasons for his faith; then an intelligent application of the knowledge coupled with that diligence in business which always spells success in any trade or profession—and lo! the battle is won. It is the author’s hope that “Coffee Merchandising” will prove a lamp that will shed some helpful light on the way of all those who are pushing on to greater achievements in the coffee business.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
A SHORT HISTORY OF COFFEE

A brief account of the beginning of coffee in the Near East—Early
legends, persecutions, first printed references—The introduction
of the beverage into England, France, and Germany—Early London
and Paris coffee houses—The story of the spread of coffee
propagation around the coffee belt of the world—Early American
coffee houses Page 1

CHAPTER II
THE BOTANY OF COFFEE

Its complete classification by class, sub-class, order, family,
genus, and species—How _Coffea arabica_ grows, flowers, and
bears—Other species and hybrids Page 17

CHAPTER III
CHEMISTRY AND PHARMACOLOGY OF COFFEE

The chief factors which enter into coffee goodness—Brief discussion
of caffein and caffeol—Coffee’s place in a rational dietary
—Latest scientific discoveries that establish the whole truth
about coffee as a wholesome, satisfying drink for the great
majority of people and cause it to be regarded as the servant,
rather than the destroyer, of civilization Page 25

CHAPTER IV
WHERE COFFEE GROWS

Locating the principal coffee-growing districts in the world’s
coffee belt, with a commercial coffee chart of the leading
growths, giving market names and general trade characteristics
Page 31

CHAPTER V
HOW COFFEE IS GROWN

Coffee cultivation in general—Soil, climate, rainfall, altitude,
propagation, shade windbreaks, diseases—How the plant grows
in all the principal producing countries Page 37

CHAPTER VI
PREPARING GREEN COFFEE FOR MARKET

The marvelous coffee package, one of the most ingenious in all
nature—How coffee is harvested—Picking—Dry and wet methods
of preparation—Pulping—Fermentation and washing—Drying—
Hulling, or peeling and polishing—Sizing or grading—
Preparation methods of different countries Page 43

CHAPTER VII
BUYING COFFEE IN THE PRODUCING COUNTRIES

How green coffee is bought and sold in the countries of origin
Page 61

CHAPTER VIII
BUYING AND SELLING GREEN COFFEE AT WHOLESALE

The seven stages of transportation—Handling coffee at New York—
How green coffee is graded—Spot-market trading—Buying coffee
C. & F.—Futures and hedging—Buying and selling commissions—
Brokers—The Exchange Clearing House—Brazil quotations—London,
Havre, and Hamburg markets—Rulings Page 69

CHAPTER IX
GREEN AND ROASTED COFFEE CHARACTERISTICS

The trade values, bean characteristics, and cup merits of the
leading coffees of commerce—Appearance, aroma, and flavor in
cup testing—How experts test coffees—Typical sample-roasting
and cup-testing outfit Page 81

CHAPTER X
COFFEE BLENDING

Blending green coffees—Properly balanced blends—Low-priced and
high-priced blends—Blends for restaurant and hotel trade—
Doubtful value of sample blends Page 105

CHAPTER XI
COFFEE ROASTING

Separating, milling, and mixing—The roasting operation—Dry and
wet roasts—Finishing and coating—Cost card for roasters—
Cooling and stoning—Roasting equipment—Blending roasted coffee
—A trip through a model coffee-roasting plant—Evolution of
coffee-roasting apparatus Page 111

CHAPTER XII
COFFEE GRINDING

“Steel-cut” coffee—Wholesale coffee grinding—Evolution of
grinding apparatus Page 131

CHAPTER XIII
SELLING ROASTED COFFEE AT WHOLESALE

How coffees are sold at wholesale—The wholesale salesman’s
place in merchandising—Ten things every master salesman
should know—Profit sharing for salesmen—Some coffee costs
analyzed—Common sense in cost finding—Terms and credits—
About package coffees—Coffee-selling chart—Various types
of coffee containers—Labels—Coffee-packaging economies—
Practical grocer helps—Coffee sampling—Premium method of
sales promotion Page 139

CHAPTER XIV
SELLING COFFEE AT RETAIL

How coffees are sold at retail—The place of the grocer, the tea
and coffee dealer, the chain store, and the wagon-route
distributer in the scheme of distribution—Starting in the
retail coffee business—Coffee blends for retailers—Small
roasters for retail dealers—Model coffee departments—Creating
a coffee trade—Meeting competition—Profits and costs—
Splitting nickels—Figuring costs and profits—A credit policy
for retailers—Premiums for retailers—How to build and hold a
retail coffee business Page 155

CHAPTER XV
BREWING COFFEE IN HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS

Analyzing the potential market—The supreme coffee test—Freshly
roasted and freshly ground—Coffee-brewing conclusions—Coffee
urns—Rules for making coffee in hotels and restaurants—
General directions for improving coffee service—How to
operate a successful coffee shop, with sample menus, hints
on equipment and service Page 175

CHAPTER XVI
PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF COFFEE

A statistical study of world production and consumption of
coffee by countries—Coffee in the United States—The trend
of the trade in 1923—Brazil’s coffee valorization Page 197

CHAPTER XVII
COFFEE ADVERTISING

The first coffee advertisement—Evolution of coffee advertising—
Package-coffee advertising—Advertising to the trade—Advertising
by various mediums—Advertising for retailers with ready-made
sample copy—Advertising to the nose—Successful coffee window
displays—Advertising by government propaganda—
Coffee advertising efficiency Page 219