PREPARING GREEN COFFEE FOR MARKET
_The marvelous coffee package, one of the
most ingenious in all nature—How coffee
is harvested—Picking—Dry and wet methods
of preparation—Pulping—Fermentation and
washing—Drying—Hulling, or peeling and
polishing—Sizing or grading—Preparation
methods of different countries._
It is doubtful if in all nature there is a more cunningly devised
food package than the fruit of the coffee tree. It is very like a
cherry, though somewhat elongated and having in its outer end a
small umbilicus. But mark with what ingenuity the package has been
constructed! The outer wrapping is a thin, gossamer-like skin which
incloses a soft pulp, sweetish to the taste, but of mucilaginous
consistency. This pulp in turn is wrapped about the inner seal, called
the parchment, because of its tough texture. The parchment incloses
the magic bean in its last wrapping, a delicate silver-colored skin,
not unlike fine-spun silk or the sheerest of tissue papers. And this
last wrapping is so tenacious, so true to its guardianship function,
that no amount of rough treatment can dislodge it altogether, for parts
of it remain clinging to the bean even into the roasting and grinding
processes.
Coffee is said to be “in the husk,” or “in the parchment,” when the
whole fruit is dried; and it is called “hulled coffee” when it has been
deprived of its hull and peel. The matter forming the fruit, called the
coffee berry, covers two thin, hard, oval seed vessels held together,
one to the other, by their flat sides. These seed vessels, when broken
open, contain the raw coffee beans of commerce. They are usually of
a roundish oval shape, convex on the outside, flat inside, marked
longitudinally in the center of the flat side with a deep incision, and
wrapped in the thin pellicle known as the silver skin. When one of the
two seeds aborts, the remaining one acquires greater size, and fills
the interior of the fruit, which in that case, of course, has but one
cellule. This abortion is common in the _Arabica_ variety, and produces
a bean formerly called _gragé_ coffee, but now more commonly known as
peaberry, or male berry.
The various coverings of the coffee beans are almost always removed on
the plantations in the producing countries. Properly to prepare the raw
beans, it is necessary to remove the four coverings,—the outer skin,
the sticky pulp, the parchment or husk, and the closely adhering silver
skin.
There are two distinct methods of treating the coffee fruits, or
“cherries.” One process, the one that until recent years was in general
use throughout the world, and is still in many producing countries, is
known as the dry method. The coffee prepared in this way is sometimes
called “common,” “ordinary,” or “natural,” to distinguish it from the
product that has been cleaned by the wet or washed method. The wet
method, or, as it is sometimes designated, the “West Indian process”
(W.I.P.), is practised on many of the large modern plantations that
happen to have a sufficient supply of water.
In the wet process, the first step is called pulping; the second is
fermentation and washing; the third is drying; the fourth is hulling or
peeling; and the last, sizing or grading. In the dry process, the first
step is drying; the second, hulling; and the last, sizing or grading.
The coffee cherry ripens six to seven months after the tree has
flowered, or blossomed, and becomes a deep, purplish crimson color.
It is then ready for picking. The ripening season varies throughout
the world, according to climate and altitude. In the state of São
Paulo, Brazil, the harvesting season lasts from May to September;
while in Java, where three crops are produced annually, harvesting
is almost a continuous process throughout the year. In Colombia, the
harvesting seasons are March and April, and November and December.
In Guatemala, the crops are gathered from October through December;
in Venezuela, from November through March. In Mexico, the coffee is
harvested from November to January; in Haiti, the harvest extends from
May to December; in Arabia, from September to March; in Abyssinia,
from September through November. In Uganda, Africa, there are two main
crops, one ripening in March and the other in September, and picking is
carried on during practically every month except December and January.
In India, the fruit is ready for harvesting from October to January.
_Picking_
The general practice throughout the world has been to hand pick the
fruit; although in some countries the cherries are allowed to become
fully ripe on the trees and to fall to the ground. The introduction
of the wet method of preparation, indeed, has made it largely
unnecessary to hand pick crops, and the tendency seems to be away from
this practice on the larger plantations. If the berries are gathered
promptly after dropping, the beans are not injured, and the cost of
harvesting is reduced.
The picking season is a busy time on a large plantation. All hands join
in the work,—men, women, and children,—for it must be rushed. Overripe
berries shrink and dry up. The pickers, with baskets slung over their
shoulders, walk between the rows, stripping the berries from the trees,
using ladders to reach the topmost branches, and sometimes even taking
immature fruit in their haste to expedite the work. About 30 pounds are
considered a fair day’s work under good conditions. As the baskets are
filled, they are emptied at a “station” in that particular unit of the
plantation, or, in some cases, directly into wagons that keep pace with
the pickers. The coffee is freed as much as possible of sticks, leaves,
etc., and is then conveyed to the preparation grounds.
A space of several acres is needed for the various preparation
processes on the larger plantations; the plant including
concrete-surfaced drying grounds, large fermentation tanks, washing
vats, mills, warehouses, stables, and even machine shops. In Mexico,
this place is known as the _beneficio_; in Brazil, the _cafezale_.
_Washed and Unwashed Coffee_
Where water is plenty, the ripe coffee cherries are fed by a stream of
water into a pulping machine, which breaks the outer skins, permitting
the pulpy matter enveloping the beans to be loosened and carried away
in further washings. It is this wet separation of the sticky pulp from
the beans, instead of allowing it to dry on them, to be removed later
with the parchment in the hulling operation, that makes the distinction
between washed and unwashed coffees. Where water is scarce, the coffees
are unwashed.
Either method being well done, does washing improve the strength and
flavor? Opinions differ. The soil, altitude, climatic influences, and
cultivation methods of a country give its coffee certain distinctive
drinking qualities. Washing immensely improves the appearance of the
bean; it also reduces curing costs. Generally speaking, washed coffees
will always command a premium over coffees dried in the pulp.
Whether coffee is washed or not, it has to be dried; and there is a
kind of fermentation that goes on during washing and drying about which
coffee planters have differing ideas, just as tea planters differ
over the curing of tea leaves. Careful scientific study is needed
to determine how much, if any, effect this fermentation has on the
ultimate cup value.
_Preparation by the Dry Method_
The dry method of preparing the berries is not only the older method,
but is considered by some operators as providing a distinct advantage,
over the wet process, since berries of different degrees of ripeness
can be handled at the same time. However, the success of this method
is dependent largely on the continuance of clear warm weather over
quite a length of time, which cannot always be counted on.
In this process the berries are spread in a thin layer on open drying
grounds, or barbecues, often having cement or brick surfaces. The
berries are turned over several times a day in order to permit the sun
and wind thoroughly to dry all parts. The sun-drying process lasts
about three weeks; and after the first three days of this period the
berries must be protected from dews and rains by covering them with
tarpaulins, or by raking them into heaps under cover. If the berries
are not spread out, they heat, and the silver skin sticks to the coffee
bean, and frequently discolors it. When thoroughly dry, the berries are
stored, unless the husks (outer skin and inner parchment) are to be
removed at once. Hot air, steam, and other artificial drying methods
take the place of natural sun-drying on some plantations.
In the dry method, the husks are removed either by hand (threshing
and pounding in a mortar, on the smaller plantations) or by specially
constructed machinery, known as hulling machines.
_The Wet Method—Pulping_
The wet method of preparation is the more modern form, and is generally
practised on the larger plantations which have a sufficient supply
of water, and enough money to install the quite extensive amount of
machinery and equipment required. It is generally considered that
washing results in a better grade of bean.
In this method the cherries are sometimes thrown into tanks full of
water to soak for about 24 hours, so as to soften the outer skins and
underlying pulp to a condition that will make them easily removable by
the pulping machine; the idea being to rub away the pulp by friction
without crushing the beans.
On the larger plantations, however, the coffee cherries are dumped
into large concrete receiving tanks, from which they are carried the
same day by streams of running water directly into the hoppers of the
pulping machines.
At least two score of different makes of pulping machines are in use
in the various coffee-growing countries. Pulpers are made in various
sizes, from the small, hand-operated machine to the large type driven
by power, and in two general styles,—cylinder and disk.
The cylinder pulper, the latest style—suggesting a huge
nutmeg-grater—consists of a rotary cylinder surrounded with a copper or
brass cover punched with bulbs. These bulbs differ in shape according
to the species, or variety of coffee, to be treated,—_Arabica_,
_Liberica_, _Robusta_, _Canephora_, or what not. The cylinder rotates
against a breast with pulping edges set at an angle. The pulping is
effected by the rubbing action of the copper cover against the edges,
or ribs, of the breast. The cherries are subjected to a rubbing and
rolling motion, in the course of which the two parchment-covered beans
contained in the majority of the cherries become loosened. The pulp
itself is carried by the cover and is discharged through a pulp shoot,
while the pulped coffee is delivered through holes in the breast.
Cylinder machines vary in capacity from 400 pounds (hand power) to
4,800 pounds (motive power) an hour.
Some cylinder pulpers are double, being equipped with rotary screens
or oscillating sieves, which segregate the imperfectly pulped cherries
so that they may be put through again. Pulpers are also equipped with
attachments that automatically move the imperfectly pulped material
over into a repassing machine for another rubbing. Others have
attachments to crush the cherries partially before pulping.
The breasts in cylinder machines are usually made with removable steel
ribs; but in Brazil, Nicaragua, and other countries, where, owing to
the short season and scarcity of labor, the planters have to pick,
simultaneously, green, ripe, and overripe (dry) cherries, rubber
breasts are used.
The disk pulper (the earliest type, having been in use for more than 70
years) is the style most generally used in the Dutch East Indies and
in some parts of Mexico. The results are the same as those obtained
with the cylindrical pulper. The disk machine is made with one, two,
three, or four vertical iron disks, according to the capacity desired.
The disks are covered on both sides with a copper plate of the same
shape, and punched with blind punches. The pulping operation takes
place between the rubbing action of the blind punches, or bulbs, on the
copper plates and the lateral pulping bars fitted to the side cheeks.
As in the cylinder pulper, the distance between the surface of the
bulbs and the pulping bar may be adjusted to allow of any clearance
that may be required, according to the variety of coffee to be treated.
Disk pulpers vary in capacity from 1,200 pounds to 14,000 pounds
of ripe cherry coffee an hour. They, too, are made in combinations
employing cylindrical separators, shaking sieves, and repassing
pulpers, for completing the pulping of all unpulped or partially pulped
cherries.
_Fermentation and Washing_
The next step in the process consists in running the pulped cherries
into cisterns, or fermentation tanks, filled with water, for the
purpose of removing such pulp as was not removed in the pulping
machine. The saccharin matter is loosened by fermentation in 24 to 32
hours. The mass is kept stirred up for a short time; and, in general
practice, the water is drawn off from above, the light pulp floating at
the top being removed at the same time. The same tanks are often used
for washing, but a better practice is to have separate tanks.
Some planters permit the pulped coffee to ferment in water. This is
called the wet fermentation process. Others drain the water from the
tanks and conduct the operation in a semi-dry state, called the dry
fermentation process.
The coffee bean, when introduced into the fermentation tanks, is
inclosed in a parchment shell made slimy by its closely adhering
saccharin coat. After fermentation, which not only loosens the
remaining pulp but also softens the membranous covering, the beans are
given a final washing, either in washing tanks or by being run through
mechanical washers. The type of washing machine generally used consists
of a cylindrical tub having a vertical spindle fitted with a number of
stirrers, or arms, which, in rotating, stir and lift up the parchment
coffee. In another type, the cylinder is horizontal, but the operation
is similar.
_Drying_
The next step in preparation is drying. The coffee, which is still
“in the parchment,” but is now known as washed coffee, is spread out
thinly on a drying ground, as in the dry method. However, if the
weather is unsuitable or cannot be depended upon to remain fair for the
necessary time, there are machines which can be used to dry the coffee
satisfactorily. On some plantations, the drying is started in the open
and finished by machine. The machines dry the coffee in 24 hours, while
10 days are required by the sun.
The object of the drying machine is to dry the parchment of the coffee
so that it may be removed as readily as the skin on a peanut, and this
object is achieved in the most approved machines by keeping a hot
current of air stirring through the beans. One of the best-liked types,
the Guardiola, resembles the cylinder of a coffee-roasting machine. It
is made of perforated steel plates in cylinder form, and is carried on
a hollow shaft through which the hot air is circulated by a pressure
fan. The beans are rotated in the revolving cylinder; and as the hot
air strikes the wet coffee it creates a steam that passes out through
the perforations of the cylinder. Within the cylinder are compartments
equipped with winged plates, or ribs, that keep the coffee constantly
stirred up to facilitate the drying process. Another favorite is the
O’Krassa. It is constructed on the principle just described, but
differs in detail of construction from the Guardiola, and is able to
dry its contents a few hours quicker. Hot air, steam, and electric heat
are all employed in the various makes of coffee driers. A temperature
from 65° to 85° centigrade is maintained during the drying process.
[Illustration: COFFEE DRYING GROUND OF THE CIA. AGRICOLA SANTA SOPHIA,
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL]
When thoroughly dry, the parchment can be crumbled between the fingers,
and the bean within is too hard to be dented by fingernail or teeth.
_Hulling, Peeling, and Polishing_
The last step in the preparation process is called hulling or peeling,
both words accurately describing the purpose of the operation. Some
husking machines for hulling or peeling parchment coffee are polishers
as well. This work may be done on the plantation or at the port of
shipment just before the coffee is shipped abroad. Sometimes the coffee
is exported in parchment, and is cleaned in the country of consumption,
but practically all coffee entering the United States arrives without
its parchment.
Peeling machines, more accurately named hullers, work on the principle
of rubbing the beans between a revolving inner cylinder and an outer
covering of woven wire. Machines of this type vary in construction.
Some have screw-like inner cylinders, or turbines, others having plain
cone-shaped cores on which are knobs and ribs that rub the beans
against one another and the outer shell. Practically all types have
sieve or exhaust-fan attachments, which draw the loosened parchment and
silver skin into one compartment, while the cleaned beans pass into
another.
Polishers of various makes are sometimes used just to remove the silver
skin and to give the beans a special polish. Some countries demand
a highly polished coffee; and, to supply this demand, the beans are
sent through another huller having a phosphor-bronze cylinder and
cone. Much Guadeloupe coffee is prepared in this way, and is known as
_café bonifieur_ from the fact that the polishing machine is called
in Guadeloupe the _bonifieur_ (improver). It is also called _café de
luxe_. Coffee that has not received the extra polish is described as
_habitant_; while coffee in the parchment is known as _café en parché_.
Extra polished coffee is much in demand in the London, Hamburg, and
other European markets. A favorite machine for producing this kind of
coffee is the Smout combined peeler and polisher, the invention of
Jules Smout, a Swiss. Don Roberto O’Krassa also has produced a highly
satisfactory combined peeler and polisher.
For hulling dry cherry coffee, there are several excellent makes of
machines. In one style, the hulling takes place between a rotating disk
and the casing of the machine. In another, it takes place between a
rotary drum covered with a steel plate punched with vertical bulbs, and
a chilled iron hulling plate with pyramidal teeth cast on the plate.
Both are adjustable to different varieties of coffee. In still another
type of machine, the hulling takes place between steel ribs on an
internal cylinder, and an adjustable knife, or hulling blade, in front
of the machine.
_Sizing or Grading_
The coffee bean is now clean, the processes described in the foregoing
having removed the outer skin, the saccharin pulp, the parchment, and
the silver skin. This is the end of the cleaning operations; but there
are two more steps to be taken before the coffee is ready for the trade
of the world,—sizing and hand sorting. These two operations are of
great importance; since on them depends, to a large extent, the price
the coffee will bring in the market.
Sizing, or grading by sizes, is done in modern commercial practice by
machines that automatically separate and distribute the different beans
according to size and form. In principle, the beans are carried across
a series of sieves, each with perforations varying in size from the
others; the beans passing through the holes of corresponding sizes. The
majority of the machines are constructed to separate the beans into
five or more grades, the principal grades being triage, third flats,
second flats, first flats, and first and second peaberries. Some are
designed to handle “elephant” and “mother” sizes. The grades have local
nomenclature in the various countries.
After grading, the coffee is picked over by hand to remove the faulty
and discolored beans that it is almost impossible to remove thoroughly
by machine. The higher grades of coffee are often double-picked; that
is, picked over twice. When this is done on a large scale, the beans
are generally placed on a belt, or platform, that moves at a regulated
speed before a line of women and children, who pick out the undesirable
beans as they pass on the moving belt. There are small machines of this
type built to be operated by one person, who moves the belt mechanism
with a treadle.
In Brazil, the operation of some of the large _fazendas_ requires a
large number and a great variety of preparation machines and equipment.
Generally considered, the state of São Paulo is better equipped with
approved machinery than any other commercial district in the world.
Practically every _fazenda_ in Brazil of any considerable commercial
importance is equipped with the most modern of coffee-cleaning
equipment. Some of the larger ones in the state of São Paulo, like the
Dumont and the Schmidt estates, are provided with private railways
connecting the _fazendas_ with the main railroad line some miles away,
and also have miniature railway systems running through the _fazendas_
to move the coffee from one harvesting and cleaning operation to
another. The coffee is carried in small cars that are either pushed by
a laborer or are drawn by horse or mule.
Some of the larger _fazendas_ cover thousands of acres, and have
several millions of trees, giving the impression of an unending forest
stretching far away into the horizon. Here and there are openings
in which buildings appear, the largest group of structures usually
consisting of those making up the _cafezale_, or cleaning plant.
Brazilian _fazendeiros_ follow the methods described in the foregoing
in preparing their coffee for market, using the most modern of the
equipment detailed under the story of the wet method of preparation.
On most of the _fazendas_ the machinery is operated by steam or
electricity, the latter coming more and more into use each year in all
parts of the coffee-growing region.
The workers on some of the largest Brazilian _fazendas_ would
constitute the population of a small city, more than a thousand
families often finding continuous employment in cultivating,
harvesting, cleaning, and transporting the coffee to market. For the
most part, the workers are of Italian extraction, who have almost
altogether superseded the Indian and Negro laborers of the early
days. The workers live on the _fazendas_ in quarters provided by
the _fazendeiros_, and are paid a weekly or monthly wage for their
services; or they may enter upon a year’s contract to cultivate the
trees, receiving extra pay for picking and other work. Brazil in
the past has experimented with the slave system, with government
colonization, with cooperative planting, with the harvesting system,
and with the share system; and some features of all these plans, except
slavery, which was abolished in 1888, are still employed in various
parts of the country, although the wage system predominates.
Brazil has six gradings for its São Paulo coffees, which are also
classified as Bourbon Santos, flat bean Santos, and Mocha-seed Santos.
Rio coffees are graded by the number of imperfections for New York, and
as washed and unwashed for Havre.
In Colombia, now (1924), next to Brazil the world’s largest producer,
the wet method of preparing the coffee for market is most generally
followed, the drying processes often being a combination of sun and
drying machines. Many plantations have their own hulling equipment; but
much of the crop goes in the cherry to local commercial centers, where
there are establishments that make a specialty of cleaning and grading
the coffee.
The Colombia coffee crop is gathered twice a year, the principal one in
March and April and the smaller one in November and December, although
some picking is done throughout the year. For this labor native Indian
and Negro women are preferred, as they are more rapid, skilful, and
careful in handling the trees. Contrary to the method in Brazil,
where the tree at one handling is stripped of its entire bearings,
ripe and unripe fruit, here only the fully ripened fruit is picked.
That necessitates going over the ground several times, as the berries
progressively ripen. More time is consumed in this laborious operation,
but it is believed that thereby a better crop of more uniform grade is
obtained and in the aggregate with less waste of time and effort.
Colombian planters classify their coffees as _café trillado_ (natural
or sun dried), _café lavado_ (washed), _café en pergamino_ (washed and
dried in the parchment). They grade them as _excelso_ (excellent),
_fantasia_ (_excelso_ and _extra_), _extra_, _primera_ (first),
_segundo_ (second), _caracol_ (peaberry), _monstruo_ (large and
deformed), _consumo_ (defective), and _casilla_ (siftings).
Venezuela employs both the dry and the wet methods of preparation,
producing both “washed” and “commons,” and also, like Colombia, has
a large part of the coffee cleaned in the trading centers of the
various coffee districts. Dry, or unwashed, coffees are known as
_trillado_ (milled), and compose the bulk of the country’s output.
Venezuela’s plantation-working forces are largely natives of Indian
descent and Negroes; some of them coming during harvesting season
from adjoining Colombia and returning there after the picking is
done. Modern plantation machinery is very scarce; the ancient method
of hulling coffee in a circular trough, where the dried berries are
crushed by heavy wooden wheels drawn by oxen, is still a common sight
in Venezuela. In preparing washed coffees, some planters ferment the
pulped coffee under water (wet fermentation process), while others
ferment without water (dry fermentation).
The planters in Salvador favor the dry method of coffee preparation,
and the bulk of the crop is natural, or unwashed.
Most Guatemalas are prepared for market by the wet method. The
gathering of the crops furnishes employment for half the population.
German and American settlers have introduced the latest improvements in
modern plantation machinery into Guatemala.
In Mexico, coffee is harvested from November to January, and large
quantities are prepared by both the dry and the wet methods, the latter
being practised on the larger estates that have the necessary water
supply and can afford the machinery. Here, too, one will find coffee
being cleaned by the primitive hand-mortar and wind-winnowing method.
The laborers employed on the plantations are mostly half-breeds and
Indians.
In Haiti, the picking season is from November to March. In recent years
better attention has been paid to cultural and preparation methods, and
the product is more favorably regarded commercially. Both dry and wet
methods are employed in Haiti.
In Porto Rico, planters favor the wet method of coffee preparation. The
crop is gathered from August to December. The coffees are graded as
_caracollilo_ (peaberry), _primero_ (hand-picked), _segundo_ (second
grade), _trillo_ (low grade).
The wet method of coffee preparation is mostly favored in Nicaragua.
Many of the large plantations are worked by colonies of Americans and
Germans, who are competent to apply the abundant natural water power of
the country to the operation of the modern coffee-cleaning machinery
that has been introduced.
Costa Rica was one of the first countries of the western world to
use coffee-cleaning machinery. Marcus Mason, an American mechanical
engineer then managing an iron foundry in Costa Rica, invented three
machines that would respectively peel off the husk, remove the
parchment and pulp, and winnow the light refuse from the beans. Mason
brought out other machines until he had developed a complete line that
was largely used on coffee plantations in all parts of the world.
Modern cleaning machinery and methods of preparation are employed to
some extent in the large coffee-producing countries of the eastern
hemisphere, and do not differ materially from those of the western.
In Arabia, the fruit ripens in August or September, and picking
continues from then until the last fruits ripen late in the March
following. The cherries, as they are picked, are left to dry in the
sun on the housetop terrace, or on a floor of beaten earth. When they
have become partly dry, they are hulled between two small stones, one
of which is stationary, while the other is worked by the hand power
of two men who rotate it quickly. Further drying of the hulled berry
follows. It is then put into bags of closely woven aloe fiber, lined
with matting made of palm leaves. It is next sent to the local market
at the foot of the mountain. There, on regular market days, the Turkish
or Arabian merchants, or their representatives, buy and dispatch their
purchases by camel train to Hodeida or Aden.
In Aden and Hodeida, the bean is submitted to further cleaning by the
principal foreign export houses to which it has come from the mountains
in rather dirty condition. Indian women are the sole laborers employed
in these cleaning houses. First, the coffee beans are separated from
the dry empty husks by tossing the whole into the air from bamboo
trays, the workers deftly permitting the husks to fly off while the
beans are caught again in the tray. The beans are then surface cleaned
by passing them gently between two very primitive grindstones worked
by men. A third process is the complete clearing of the bean from the
silver skin, and it is then ready for the final hand picking. Women
are called into service again, and they pick out the refuse husks,
quaker or black beans, green or immature beans, white beans, and broken
beans, leaving the good beans to be weighed and packed for shipment.
The cleaned beans are known as _bun safi_; the husks become _kisher_.
Some of the poorer beans also are sold, principally to France and
Egypt. Hand-power machinery is used to a slight extent, but mostly the
old-fashioned methods hold sway.
The Yemen, or Arabian, bale, or package, is unique. It is made up of
two fiber wrappers, one inside the other. The inside one is called
_attal_ or _darouf_. It is made from cut and plaited leaves of _nakhel
douin_ or _narghil_, a species of palm. The outer covering, called
_garair_, is a sack made of woven aloe fiber. The Bedouins weave these
covers and bring them to the export merchants at Aden and Hodeida. A
Mocha bundle contains one, two, or four fiber packages, or bales. When
the bundle contains one bale, it is known as a half; when it contains
two, it is known as quarters; and when it contains four, it is known as
eighths. Arabian coffee for Boston used to be packed in quarters only;
for San Francisco and New York, in quarters and eighths. The longberry
Abyssinian coffees were formerly packed in quarters only. Since the
World War, however, there has been a scarcity of packing materials, and
packing in quarters and eighths has stopped. Now, all Mocha, as well
as Harar, coffee comes in halfs. A half weighs 80 kilos, or 176 pounds
net, although a few exporters ship halfs of 160 pounds.
Little machinery is used in the preparation of coffee in Abyssinia;
none, in preparing the coffee known as Abyssinian, which is the product
of wild trees, and, only in a few instances in cleaning the Harari
coffee, the fruit of cultivated trees. Both classes are raised mostly
by natives, who adhere to the oldtime dry method of cleaning. In Harar,
the coffee is sometimes hulled in a wooden mortar; but for the most
part it is sent to the brokers in parchment, and cleaned by primitive
hand methods after its arrival in the trading centers.
In Angola, the coffee harvest begins in June, and it is often necessary
for the government to lend native soldiers to the planters to aid
in harvesting, as the labor supply is insufficient. After picking,
the beans are dried in the sun for 14 to 40 days, depending upon the
weather. After drying, they are brought to the hulling and winnowing
machines. There are now about 24 of these machines in the Cazengo and
Golungo districts, all manufactured in the United States and giving
satisfactory results. They are operated by natives.
The coffee industry in Java and Sumatra, as well as in the other
coffee-producing regions of the Dutch East Indies, was begun and
fostered under the paternal care of the Dutch government, and for
that reason machine cleaning has always been a noteworthy factor in
the marketing of these coffees. Since the government relinquished its
control over the so-called government estates, European operators have
maintained the standard of preparation, and have adopted new equipment
as it was developed. The majority of estates producing considerable
quantities of coffee use the same types of machinery as their
competitors in Brazil and other western countries.
[Illustration: THE AUTOMATIC BELT POURS INTO THE HOLD A CONTINUOUS
STREAM OF BAGS OF COFFEE AT SANTOS]