Chapter XIX
THE COMMERCIAL COFFEES OF THE WORLD
The geographical distribution of the coffees grown in North America, Central America, South America, the West India Islands, Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the East Indies—A statistical study of the distribution of the principal kinds—A commercial coffee chart of the world's leading growths, with market names and general trade characteristics
A study of the geographical distribution of the coffee tree shows that it is grown in well-defined tropical limits. The coffee belt of the world lies between the tropic of cancer and the tropic of capricorn. The principal coffee consuming countries are nearly all to be found in the north temperate zone, between the tropic of cancer and the arctic circle.
The leading commercial coffees of the world are listed in the accompanying commercial coffee chart, which shows at a glance their general trade character. The cultural methods of the producing countries are discussed in chapter XX; statistics in chapter XXII; and the trade characteristics, in detail, in chapter XXIV, which considers also countries and coffees not so important in a commercial sense. Mexico is the principal producing country in the northern part of the western continent, and Brazil in the southern part. In Africa, the eastern coast furnishes the greater part of the supply; while in Asia, the Netherlands Indies, British India, and Arabia lead.
Within the last two decades there has been an expansion of the production areas in South America, Africa, and in southeastern Asia; and a contraction in British India and the Netherlands Indies.
The Shifting Coffee Currents of the World