Brazil, under the enlightened statesmanship of Dom Pedro, now ships from her ports over one million of pounds daily, Sundays included, only a portion of which comes to this country. At our ports, chiefly at New York, vessels are unloading which received their precious freightage at Maracaibo, Central America, Savanilla, Hayti, Porto Rico, Jamaica, Macassar, Ceylon and Mexico, as well as from places which have been previously mentioned.
In the year 1886, 247,141 tons of coffee were used in the United States, against 242,677 tons in 1885. This gives an increase in one year of 1.8 per cent., making the per capita consumption of the population of 60,000,000 to be 9.22 pounds, nearly nine pounds and a quarter for every man, woman and child in this country.
As may be supposed, the consumption of the berry is yearly increasing. While this is due partly to the growth of population, it is still more affected by the increasing popularity of coffee as a beverage, by its relative cheapness, and by the fact that it is prepared much easier than before it was sold in its roasted state. The loss and labor entailed in the preliminary preparation deterred many housekeepers from its use. A moment's forgetfulness or preoccupation converted the berry into a piece of charcoal, and rendered it bitter and innutritious. Now, by the aid of large roasting establishments and improved machinery, that tedious process is thoroughly done, though, it must be confessed, with the loss of a slight portion of its volatile aroma.
This loss, again, is more than balanced by the avoidance of a more serious trouble. Large dealers well know that, in order to give coffee a good color and thereby increase its value, the traders in Rio and manipulators in New York use vile drugs, coloring matter, and soapstone. To buy this green coffee and roast it at home is to take slow poison, because this adulteration is not wholly dissipated by the process of roasting. The large roasters of the country do not buy this doctored berry; they care nothing for the appearance if the coffee roasts well, and is clear and free from "quakers" or decayed berries. Therefore it is better to buy roasted coffee of the retailer, either in paper packages or out of tins bearing the name of a reputable house, and refuse to purchase the green under any circumstances. The can from which it is taken should be practically air-tight. Coffee scooped from the top must come in contact, more or less, with the atmosphere, and readily loses its value. Nothing so quickly parts with its delicate aroma; nothing so easily absorbs injurious or disagreeable particles from surrounding substances. The near presence of decayed vegetables, kerosene oil, effluvia, or foul air of any kind, not only destroys its delicacy, but may render it deleterious. That very quality which makes it capable of cleansing a room of foul odors is the very property which makes it dangerous to expose it to them.
The average consumption of coffee per head now amounts to slightly over nine and a half pounds yearly, an increase of over five per cent., or about one-half pound more for every man, woman and child for one year. As a whole, the United States consumes coffee largely, but it has not reached the point of consumption of Denmark, where the average is thirteen and a half pounds for each person, and of Holland, where the per capita consumption is twenty-one pounds. But with Mexico on the west materially increasing her yield of coffee, and with increased railroad facilities for commerce with this country, dealers in the fragrant berry expect that the importation this year will be double that of last year. Mexican coffee is of excellent quality, but loses its identity by being mixed with other grades. It figures under other names, just as various kinds of wine are mingled to make champagne.
Coffee-growing is an industry as interesting as it is important. In Brazil the seed is sown in the shade of coffee trees in long rows. At the end of a year the plants have reached about the height of a foot, and are ready for transplantation. The grounds which are selected for plantations lie principally between 25° north and 30° south of the equator, as the plant does not flourish in a climate where the thermometer falls below 55°. High altitudes also favor its perfect development, and the best berries are found on hills having an elevation of 3,000 or 4,000 feet above the sea. The ground must be rich in mineral matter, well watered and well drained.
The plants are then removed to the plantation and set out in long beds, at a distance of four to six feet apart, with roadways between the beds. The plants are topped when reset, and are ever after kept closely pruned, so that they are about twelve feet high, instead of attaining their natural growth of fifteen or twenty feet. In three years the bush bears fruit, and thereafter for forty years, being in full vigor from its tenth year till its decay. From three to eight pounds are plucked yearly from each bush, and the longer the bean is kept the richer will be its flavor.
And a beautiful sight it is when the coffee unfolds its first blossoms during September and October! Appearing in clusters only for a day or two at the axils of the dark-green, shining, evergreen leaves, the scene is made all the more brilliant by the consciousness of its evanescence. Each flower consists of a small, five-clefted white corolla, affording a fine contrast to the laurel-like leaf, some four or five inches in length. The bright blue sky, the warm air, the billowy lines of foliage, the clusters of jessamine-like flowers, tossing fragrance from their tiny bells, the intoxicated butterflies flitting from plant to plant, all belong to a climate as unlike our northland as it is possible for the mind to conceive.
Soon the fruit makes its appearance,—green at first, but shortly turning a dark red,—which is ripe for gathering in March, and from that until August. The two seeds or berries contained within the fruit, which is shaped something like a cranberry or a cherry, are glued together, each being enveloped in a peculiar, leathery, parchment-like membrane.