All About Coffee Part 70

Eritrea Ma.s.sowah Abyssinian, The coffee is of the (Italy) m n Abyssinian type, but the output is not an important trade factor.

Somaliland French Jibuti Harar, d, t These coffees are Abyssinian, not grown in French m n Somaliland, but come from Abyssinia to Jibuti and Aden for export to Europe and America. See Abyssinia.

British Berbera Harar, d, t Grown, as above, in Zeila Abyssinian, Abyssinia.

m n Italian Mukdishu Benadir, Abyssinian type, but d & m n not an important trade factor.

Abyssinia Jibuti (French Harar, d_, t _In general_: The Somaliland) Abyssinian, Harari coffee is Zeila m n more carefully cultivated and cured than the Abyssinian, which is its inferior.

Berbera Harar, d, t The original Mocha (British Harari, m n Longberry. Large, Somaliland) long blue-green to yellow bean.

Ma.s.sowah (Graded No. 1 or No.

(Eritrea) 2, according to size) roasting with Aden (Arabia) few quakers, similar to Mocha, having an excellent flavor but not quite so delicate.

Dire-Daoua, t Railway trading center for Harari and Abyssinian coffees.

=============+============+==============+=================+================= Grand Country s.h.i.+pping State, or Trade Values Division Ports District, and Cup Market Names Characteristics and Gradings -------------+------------+--------------+-----------------+----------------- Africa Abyssinia Abyssinia The native coffee (_Cont'd_) (_Cont'd_) Kaffa, d grown wild in this (Gomara) district has little commercial importance. The bean is dark gray, and it has a groundy flavor.

Bonga, t Trading center for Abyssinia.

Jimma, d Trading center for Jiren, t Abyssinia.

Shoa, d Mostly Abyssinian Adis-Abeba, t growths are exported from this trading center to Harar or Dire-Daoua.

Kenya Mombasa Nairobi, d Having Mysore Colony & t characteristics (Formerly Kikuyu with a touch of British Kyambu Mocha flavor.

East Africa) Uganda Mombasa Uganda Greenish-gray to Protectorate Bunganda, d light-brown (British) Robusta. Poor to fairly good liquor.

Zanzibar Zanzibar Zanzibar Medium-sized bean; Protectorate full body, pleasing (British) flavor.

Tanganyika Dar-es-Salaam East Africa, Not a commercial Territory m n factor.

(formerly or German East Tanganyika, Africa) m n Nyasaland Chinde Nyasaland Some high-grown and Protectorate (Portuguese s.h.i.+re Highlands, of fine quality. Not (British) East Africa) d a commercial factor.

Blantyre, d Rhodesia Beira Rhodesia For local (British) (Portuguese consumption.

East Africa) Not a trade factor.

Portuguese Mozambique Mozambique Medium-sized East Africa greenish bean, heavy body; mild and mellow in the cup.

Natal Durban Natal Large, light-brown (British) Liberian growth.

Not a trade factor.

Angola Loanda Angola Medium-size bean, (Portugal) brownish color, strong in the cup.

Encoje, d, Light weight, dark m n brown Robusta; strong in the cup.

Belgian Banana Congo, m n _In general_: The Congo Equator, d coffees of the Aruwimi, d Belgian Congo are Bangala, d mostly Liberian and Lake Leopold, Robusta growths.

d There is produced a medium-sized bean, making a handsome roast and having a rich cup.

French Loango Loango, d, Formerly Encoje Congo Libreville m n from Angola.

Inferior to Liberian.

=============+============+==============+=================+================= Grand Country s.h.i.+pping State, or Trade Values Division Ports District, and Cup Market Names Characteristics and Gradings -------------+------------+--------------+-----------------+----------------- Africa Nigeria Lagos Nigeria Commercially (Cont'd) (British) unimportant.

Gold Coast Accra Gold Coast Not a commercial (British) factor.

Liberia Monrovia Liberian, m Large, brown bean; n big, handsome roaster; strong in cup.

Sierra Leone Freetown Sierra Leone _C. stenophylla_, a (British) native growth. Not a trade factor.

French Konakry Guinea, m n Commercially Guinea unimportant.

Portuguese Bissao Guinea, m n Commercially Guinea unimportant.

Comoro Maroni Comoro, m n A wild natural Islands caffein-free coffee (French) (_C. humboltiana_); also found in Madagascar. Not a commercial factor.

Madagascar Tamatave Madagascar Light-green (French) _liberica_ and _robusta_ bean; full rich flavor.

Reunion, St. Denis Bourbon, m Nearest to Mocha in formerly n character (q. v.).

Bourbon Round and pointed (French) bean, pale green or pale yellow. Not a trade factor.

Mauritius Port Louis Mauritius Similar to Bourbon.

(British) Medium light green, full body, mild and mellow flavor. Not a trade factor.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XXV

FACTORY PREPARATION OF ROASTED COFFEE

_Coffee roasting as a business--Wholesale coffee-roasting machinery--Separating, milling, and mixing or blending green coffee, and roasting by coal, c.o.ke, gas, and electricity--Facts about coffee roasting--Cost of roasting--Green-coffee shrinkage table--"Dry" and "wet" roasts--On roasting coffee efficiently--A typical coal roaster--Cooling and stoning--Finis.h.i.+ng or glazing--Blending roasted coffees--Blends for restaurants--Grinding and packaging--Coffee additions and fillers--Treated coffees, and dry extracts_

The coffee bean is not ready for beverage purposes until it has been properly "manufactured", that is, roasted, or "cooked". Only in this way can all the stimulating, flavoring, and aromatic principles concealed in the minute cells of the bean be extracted at one time. An infusion from green coffee has a decidedly unpleasant taste and hardly any color.

Likewise, an underdone roast has a disagreeable "gra.s.sy" flavor; while an overdone roast gives a charred taste that is unpalatable to the average citizen of the United States.

_Coffee Roasting as a Business_

In spite of the generally admitted fact that freshly roasted coffee makes the best infusion, most of the coffee used today is not roasted at or near the place where it is brewed, but in factories that are provided with special equipment for the roasting of coffee in a wholesale way.

The reasons for this are various, partly relating to the mere economy of buying and manufacturing on a large scale, and partly relating to the trained skill that is needed both for selecting suitable green coffees to make a satisfactory blend, and for the roasting work itself. The proportion of consumers (including restaurants and hotels) who roast their own coffee is so small as to be negligible, at least in the United States. The average person who buys coffee today, for brewing use, never sees green coffee at all, unless as an "educational exhibit" in some dealer's display window.

The reasons just mentioned, which have made coffee roasting a real business, all tend, of course, to make the roasting establishments of large size; but this tendency is offset by the problem of distributing the roasting coffee so that it will reach the ultimate consumer in good condition. Roasting enterprises on a comparatively small scale (not by consumers, but by sufficiently expert dealers) would probably be much more numerous on account of the "fresh-roast" argument, except for the fact that coffee-roasting machines can not be installed so easily as the grinding mills, meat-choppers, and slicing machines, that find extended use in small stores. The steam, smoke, and chaff given off by the coffee as it is roasted must be disposed of by an outdoor connection, without annoying the neighbors or creating a fire hazard.

From these general remarks, it can easily be seen that the size of individual roasting establishments will vary greatly, according to the skill of the proprietor in meeting the disadvantages of working on either the smallest or the largest scale. A wholesale plant may be considered to be one in which coffee is roasted in batches of one bag or more at a time; and with this definition, nearly all the roasting in the United States is done in a wholesale way.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A MODERN GAS COFFEE-ROASTING PLANT WITH A CAPACITY OF 1,000 BAGS A DAY

General view of the roasting room of the Jewel Tea Co., Hoboken, N.J.

The equipment consists of twelve Jubilee gas machines in four groups; each group having a smoke-suction fan, and a drag conveyor over the three feed hoppers. To the left is a line of flexible-arm cooler cars]

For many years the regular factory machines have been of a size suitable for roasting two bags of coffee at a time; but roasters of larger size have recently come into considerable use.

Plants treating from fifty to a hundred and fifty bags per day are the most common; but the daily capacity runs up to a thousand bags or more.

The minimum cost of equipping a plant is somewhere between five thousand dollars and ten thousand dollars. The individual machines are of standard construction; but the arrangement in a particular building, especially for the larger plants, is worked out with great care and with numerous special features, so that the goods can be handled from start to finish with minimum expense for floor s.p.a.ce, labor, power, etc.

The practical coffee roaster locates his roasting room in the top floor of his factory building, where light and ventilation are generally best.

He usually has a large skylight in the roof, directly over the roasting equipment. In addition to the advantage as regards good light and the convenient discharge of smoke, steam, and odors, through the roof, the top-story location makes it possible to send the roasted coffee by gravity through the various bins which may be needed in connection with subsequent operations, such as grinding, and for temporary storage before the final packaging and s.h.i.+pping.

_Wholesale Coffee-Roasting Machinery_

The indispensable coffee operations are roasting and cooling; and in practically all United States plants the cooling is followed by "stoning". This is an air-suction operation that effects, aided by gravity, the removal of any stones or other hard material that would damage the grinding mill. The best commercial cleaning and grading of the green coffee has usually left in every bag a few small stones. These can be got rid of better after the coffee is roasted; because it is then not only lighter, but more bulky.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MILLING-MACHINE CONNECTIONS FOR A TWO-ROASTER PLANT]

Besides these three operations of roasting, cooling, and stoning, the plant may have machinery for treating the coffee both before it is roasted and after it leaves the stoner.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A SIXTEEN-CYLINDER COAL ROASTING PLANT IN A NEW YORK FACTORY

This is a view of the roasting room of B. Fischer & Co. and shows a battery of Burns coal roasters]

Treatment of the green coffee in roasting establishments is of less importance now than in years gone by; first, because most coffees now come to market more perfectly graded and cleaned than formerly; and second, because the whole-bean appearance of the coffee has become of less account, as wholesale grinding operations have increased.

Nevertheless, many plants consider it highly important to have a separator for grading the coffee closely as regards the size of the beans--and particularly for the separation of round beans, or "peaberry"--as well as milling machinery for making the coffee as clean as possible before it is roasted. One green coffee operation that has lost none of its old-time importance, but on the contrary is more needed as the plants increase in size, is the mixing of different varieties of coffee--in proportions that have been decided on by sample tests--so as to get a uniform blend.