The next staple I proceed to speak of is coffee—second only in importance as a popular beverage to that universal commodity, tea. I shall proceed, in the first instance, to take a retrospect of the progress of the coffee trade, and glance at the present condition and future prospects of produce and consumption. It will be seen, by reference to the following figures, that the consumption of coffee in the United Kingdom shows a successive decrease, from 1847 to 1850, of 6,414,533 lbs., and a loss to the revenue of £179,614.
| HOME CONSUMPTION AND REVENUE OF COFFEE FOR THE | ||
| Years | lbs. | £ |
| 1824 | 8,262,943 | 420,988 |
| 1825 | 11,082,970 | 315,809 |
| 1828 | 17,127,633 | 440,245 |
| 1835 | 23,295,046 | 652,124 |
| 1839 | 26,789,945 | 779,115 |
| 1840 | 28,723,735 | 921,551 |
| 1844 | 31,394,225 | 681,610 |
| 1845 | 34,318,095 | 717,871 |
| 1846 | 36,793,061 | 756,838 |
| 1847 | 37,441,373 | 746,436 |
| 1848 | 37,106,292 | 710,270 |
| 1849 | 34,431,074 | 643,210 |
| 1850 | 31,226,840 | 566,822 |
| 1851 | 32,564,164 | 445,739 |
| 1852 | 35,044,376 | 438,084 |
I estimated, in a little treatise on coffee and its adulterations, which I published in 1850, that not less than 18,000,000 lbs. of vegetable matter of various kinds were sold annually under the deceptive name of coffee. Three-fourths of these 18,000,000 lbs. of pretended coffee were composed of chicory, and the remaining fourth of other ingredients prejudicial to health, as well as a fraud upon the revenue. The various substances used in adulterating both chicory and coffee, when sold in the powdered state, have been specifically pointed out and set forth from time to time in memorials from the trade and the coffee-growers. Mr. M'Culloch and other competent judges set down the actual consumption of chicory in the United Kingdom at 12,500 tons per annum. When we consider the vast difference of price between chicory and coffee, as purchased by the wholesale dealer, the temptation to its fraudulent use was obviously great, and there was no penal restriction against it.
It will be interesting and useful to trace the history of the trade in chicory from its first introduction.
The substitution of chicory for coffee occasioned a loss to the revenue of three hundred thousand pounds sterling a-year, besides its mischievous effect in adulterating and debasing a popular beverage when used in such large and undue proportions for admixture, and sold at the price of coffee.
Since the prohibition of the admixture of chicory with coffee, when sold to the public, and the compulsory sale by Treasury minute of the two articles in separate packages, a large and rapid increase in the consumption of coffee has taken place, and the trade is now placed in a healthy position. Whilst the increase in the consumption of coffee from the 1st of January, to 5th September, 1852, was but 142,267 lbs. as compared with the same period of 1851; the increase in the remaining four months of the year was to the amazing extent of 2,350,368 lbs. This increased consumption is likely to continue, and our colonial possessions are furnishing us with larger proportionate supplies, as may be seen by the following figures:—
| TOTAL IMPORTS OF COFFEE IN | |||||
| 1848 | 1849 | 1850 | 1851 | 1852 | |
| lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | |
| Produce of British Possessions | 35,970,507 | 40,339,245 | 36,814,036 | 35,972,163 | 42,519,297 |
| Ditto foreign countries | 21,082,943 | 22,976,542 | 13,989,116 | 17,138,497 | 11,857,957 |
| Total | 57,053,450 | 63,315,787 | 50,803,152 | 53,110,660 | 54,377,254 |
In the year 1832 chicory was first imported into England, subject to a duty equivalent to that levied upon colonial coffee, and permitted to be sold by grocers separately as chicory; but notices were at the same time issued, that the legal penalties would be rigidly enforced, if discovered mixed with coffee.
In 1840, in consequence of memorials from the grocers and dealers in chicory, and also from the circumstance of exceedingly high rates then ruling for coffee, together with the disruption of our commercial relations with China, simultaneously advancing the price of tea (thus rendering both these popular beverages excessively dear to the consumer), an order was issued from the Treasury to the Excise Board, authorizing the admixture of chicory with coffee; a duty, however, being still maintained on the former of £20 per ton on the kiln-dried, and 6d. per lb. on the powdered root, when imported from abroad.
In the year 1845, the cultivation of chicory was introduced upon British soil, and, being a home-grown commodity, was exempt from duty, but nevertheless, by virtue of the said Treasury Order, was permitted to enter into competition with a staple production of our own colonies, contributing on its import a tax of 60 to 80 per cent. to the revenue of the State.