Fig. 37.—Sorting and sacking Coffee.
Juan's father has this work done by machinery. The coffee is put into a cylinder, in the bottom of which there are holes of different sizes by which it is graded.
The last process is to sack the coffee and send it by railroad to Rio Janeiro. Of course it is neither roasted nor ground until it reaches its destination.
We do not produce coffee in our country, but we are the greatest coffee drinkers in the world. A large part of our supply comes from Brazil. Trace the course of the ship from Rio Janeiro to New York. Juan has often done this, and his father has promised to take him with him sometime, when he goes with a cargo of coffee.
You naturally think that coffee of different names must come from different countries, or at least from different trees. This is not always the case. Several brands may come from the same tree. The name depends partly upon the size and the general appearance of the beans.
Coffee is a native of the far East, but it has gradually been transplanted to other countries, until it is now very extensively used. Brazil, Central America, Mexico, the West Indies, the Hawaiian Islands, Java, Ceylon, and Arabia are coffee-raising countries.
In 1551 coffee found its way to the city of Constantinople; in 1652 it had reached London; and in 1720 it was planted in the West Indies. You see it worked its way westward rather slowly.
Several hundred years ago, coffee was very expensive, so that only the rich could afford to use it. Instead of drinking it at home, people went to "coffeehouses," where it was served. To these "coffeehouses" men brought whatever news they had heard and told it to one another. In this way these places served about the same purpose that newspapers do now.