PREFACE

This work has been written in response to a demand for a handbook for the especial use of those engaged in the coffee business. To a certain extent it represents a condensation of the author’s encyclopedic work, “All About Coffee.” “Coffee Merchandising,” however, is designed primarily for beginners in the coffee business. It will be found to contain all the elementary and essential facts pertaining to the history, cultivation, preparation, and marketing of coffee.

In it the author has tried to avoid dogmatism. He has aimed to tell briefly the story of coffee, including all those things which every intelligent coffee man should know concerning the early history of the beverage, the botany of the plant, the chemistry of coffee, how coffee grows, how it is prepared for the market, how it is bought and sold in the countries of production, and how it is marketed at wholesale and at retail in the United States. In the telling of the story the author has given the reader the best thought of the trade on all controversial questions, striving to keep his own opinions in the background.

Then, too, the aim has been not only to tell the history story, but to show how successful men in the coffee trade have built up the most enduring business. For this reason the work should prove a source of inspiration, as well as a fount of knowledge, for students and salesmen.

Those who may wish to make a more thorough study of the subject, to delve deeply into the history, romance, and poetry of coffee, or its scientific aspects, are referred to “All About Coffee,” by the same author.

There are two important factors which make for success in the coffee business,—faith and work,—an abiding faith in the opportunity which it offers to render a public service and which inspires the faithful student to get all the facts about coffee so as to be able to give reasons for his faith; then an intelligent application of the knowledge coupled with that diligence in business which always spells success in any trade or profession—and lo! the battle is won. It is the author’s hope that “Coffee Merchandising” will prove a lamp that will shed some helpful light on the way of all those who are pushing on to greater achievements in the coffee business.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

A Short History of Coffee

A brief account of the beginning of coffee in the Near East—Early

legends, persecutions, first printed references—The introduction

of the beverage into England, France, and Germany—Early London

and Paris coffee houses—The story of the spread of coffee

propagation around the coffee belt of the world—Early American

coffee houses Page 1

CHAPTER II.

The Botany of Coffee

Its complete classification by class, sub-class, order, family,

genus, and species—How Coffea arabica grows, flowers, and

bears—Other species and hybrids Page 17

CHAPTER III.

Chemistry and Pharmacology of Coffee

The chief factors which enter into coffee goodness—Brief discussion

of caffein and caffeol—Coffee’s place in a rational dietary

—Latest scientific discoveries that establish the whole truth

about coffee as a wholesome, satisfying drink for the great

majority of people and cause it to be regarded as the servant,

rather than the destroyer, of civilization Page 25

CHAPTER IV.

Where Coffee Grows

Locating the principal coffee-growing districts in the world’s

coffee belt, with a commercial coffee chart of the leading

growths, giving market names and general trade characteristics

Page 31

CHAPTER V.

How Coffee Is Grown

Coffee cultivation in general—Soil, climate, rainfall, altitude,

propagation, shade windbreaks, diseases—How the plant grows

in all the principal producing countries Page 37

CHAPTER VI.

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 Page 43

CHAPTER VII.

Buying Coffee in the Producing Countries

How green coffee is bought and sold in the countries of origin

Page 61

CHAPTER VIII.

Buying and Selling Green Coffee at Wholesale

The seven stages of transportation—Handling coffee at New York—

How green coffee is graded—Spot-market trading—Buying coffee

C. & F.—Futures and hedging—Buying and selling commissions—

Brokers—The Exchange Clearing House—Brazil quotations—London,

Havre, and Hamburg markets—Rulings Page 69

CHAPTER IX.

Green and Roasted Coffee Characteristics

The trade values, bean characteristics, and cup merits of the

leading coffees of commerce—Appearance, aroma, and flavor in

cup testing—How experts test coffees—Typical sample-roasting

and cup-testing outfit Page 81

CHAPTER X.

Coffee Blending

Blending green coffees—Properly balanced blends—Low-priced and

high-priced blends—Blends for restaurant and hotel trade—

Doubtful value of sample blends Page 105

CHAPTER XI.

Coffee Roasting

Separating, milling, and mixing—The roasting operation—Dry and

wet roasts—Finishing and coating—Cost card for roasters—

Cooling and stoning—Roasting equipment—Blending roasted coffee

—A trip through a model coffee-roasting plant—Evolution of

coffee-roasting apparatus Page 111

CHAPTER XII.

Coffee Grinding

“Steel-cut” coffee—Wholesale coffee grinding—Evolution of

grinding apparatus Page 131

CHAPTER XIII.

Selling Roasted Coffee at Wholesale

How coffees are sold at wholesale—The wholesale salesman’s

place in merchandising—Ten things every master salesman

should know—Profit sharing for salesmen—Some coffee costs

analyzed—Common sense in cost finding—Terms and credits—

About package coffees—Coffee-selling chart—Various types

of coffee containers—Labels—Coffee-packaging economies—

Practical grocer helps—Coffee sampling—Premium method of

sales promotion Page 139

CHAPTER XIV.

Selling Coffee at Retail

How coffees are sold at retail—The place of the grocer, the tea

and coffee dealer, the chain store, and the wagon-route

distributer in the scheme of distribution—Starting in the

retail coffee business—Coffee blends for retailers—Small

roasters for retail dealers—Model coffee departments—Creating

a coffee trade—Meeting competition—Profits and costs—

Splitting nickels—Figuring costs and profits—A credit policy

for retailers—Premiums for retailers—How to build and hold a

retail coffee business Page 155

CHAPTER XV.

Brewing Coffee in Hotels and Restaurants

Analyzing the potential market—The supreme coffee test—Freshly

roasted and freshly ground—Coffee-brewing conclusions—Coffee

urns—Rules for making coffee in hotels and restaurants—

General directions for improving coffee service—How to

operate a successful coffee shop, with sample menus, hints

on equipment and service Page 175

CHAPTER XVI.

Production and Consumption of Coffee

A statistical study of world production and consumption of

coffee by countries—Coffee in the United States—The trend

of the trade in 1923—Brazil’s coffee valorization Page 197

CHAPTER XVII.

Coffee Advertising

The first coffee advertisement—Evolution of coffee advertising—

Package-coffee advertising—Advertising to the trade—Advertising

by various mediums—Advertising for retailers with ready-made

sample copy—Advertising to the nose—Successful coffee window

displays—Advertising by government propaganda—Coffee

advertising efficiency Page 219

CHAPTER XVIII.

Coffee Making in the Home

The importance of correct grinding and brewing—Drip or filter

coffee—Boiled or steeped coffee—Percolated coffee—The

perfect cup of coffee—Some coffee recipes Page 233

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing page

Near view of berries of Coffea arabica (frontispiece) iii

Legendary discovery of the coffee drink 1

First advertisement for coffee 6

A coffee house in the time of Charles II 10

Merchants Coffee House in New York 14

Coffea arabica flower and fruit 17

Green and roasted Bogota coffee 25

800,000 coffee trees in bearing 31

Coffee nursery under a bamboo roof 37

Efficient weeding and harrowing at Ribeirao Preto 38

Picking coffee on a well-kept fazenda 43

Coffee drying ground, Sao Paulo 50

Loading coffee aboard ship at Santos 61

Weighing and sacking coffee at Santos 62

Coffee pit in the New York Coffee & Sugar Exchange 69

Samples of typical roasted coffee beans 81, 86, 90, 98

Modern gas coffee-roasting plant 111

Dumping the roast in a coal roasting plant 118

Some leading trade-marked coffee containers 139

Luhrs, of Poughkeepsie, features freshly roasted coffee

in his window 155

Johnson of Red Oak roasts before the customer 162

One of the coffee kitchens of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel 175

Day and night coffee room of the Rice Hotel, Houston 184

Advertising copy of the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity

Committee 219

Drawing upon history for social-intercourse atmosphere 224

A prize-winning coffee window display 228

Coffee-making devices used in United States 233

Brewing the guest’s coffee in a Mohammedan home 236

Showing how grinding breaks open the oil cells 242

Legendary Discovery of the Coffee Drink: Kaldi and His Dancing Goats

From a drawing by a modern French artist