Chapter VII: Adulteration and Detection

In commerce coffee is to be met with in three conditions--Raw or unroasted, Roasted and Ground--and, as may be inferred, it is in the latter condition that it is most liable to the chief adulterations, so that with the raw and simply roasted coffee the public analyst will have very little to do, his services being principally required in dealing with ground coffee alone. But at the same time it is also subject to much manipulation and sophistication in the two first conditions also, scarcely any dietic article being so persistently adulterated. From the time of picking and preparing coffee for market until it finally reaches the table of the consumer, there is probably no article of diet subjected to more or as many forms of manipulation, sophistication, substitution and adulteration as coffee. The producer mixes one variety with another, the refuse of the old and inferior with the new and choice, while the commission agent at the shipping ports manipulates it again by changing the grade or altering the quality by running one grade with another in order to complete his consignment. Again, on its arrival in the consuming countries it is frequently emptied out of the original packages, separated or run together as required, the bags turned inside out, and the marks altered in order to conceal any stained or damaged in transit. All “bilge-water” or otherwise damaged coffee being picked over, the musty beans set aside, milled or cleaned, rematted or rebagged as the case may be, and eventually sold as sound, but which no process of roasting or glazing can eradicate. But while almost all varieties pass through more or less manipulation or substitution, from the producing to the consuming countries, it does not always follow that it is detrimental to the coffee.

RAW OR GREEN COFFEES.

=Rios=--Are most subject to sophistication by altering the color from light to green and dark to meet the demand for each particular kind, the light Rios being converted into dark by the application of a preparation of “bone black,” and into yellow or golden by the use of chromate of lead, or into green by a combination composed of both compounds. This dangerous and iniquitous practice is resorted to in order to cater to the prejudices of dealers and consumers in the different sections of the country for “Light,” “Dark,” “Green” and “Golden Rios,” as the case may be. The cosmetic is best detected by the simple process of washing in a little warm water and rubbing with a dry towel, exposing the natural color of the bean, whatever the original may be, or by cutting the bean in half and seeing if the color runs through.

=Maracaibos=--In the raw or natural state are principally substituted with large, white-bean Santos, Savanilla, San Domingo, Mexican, Salvador or other Central American coffees as well as by transferring the lower into high-grade bags. While La Guayras are usually polished or “soapstoned,” and converted into Rios when the finer grades of the latter are scarce or high.

=Javas=--Are generally either substituted, mixed, sweated or colored artificially. In the first case any large, whitish, yellowish or brownish variety, such as Maracaibo, Savanilla and Santos is used for the purpose or mixed with it in the natural state, and can only be detected by a familiar knowledge of the genuine bean. The lower and paler grades of Java, such as Lahats and Maccassars are usually “colored” or “sweated” for the purpose of imparting an aged appearance or the so much desired brown color, other spongy-bean coffees that easily absorb, and retain the coloring matter being frequently subjected to the same processes. While the higher grades are more often substituted one for the other by changing the mats, such as replacing a Preanger with a Timour, an Ankola with Padang or Singapore. When simply colored as before described the washing it with a little water and rubbing with a dry towel will expose the cosmetic, or better still by cutting the suspected bean open with a sharp pocket-knife, examining it through; if not of the same color to the core it is undoubtedly doctored. Another method, when the coffee is mixed with Savanilla or other light bean coffee, is to place a sample of the suspected coffee on top a vessel of water, in which case the hard, solid-bean Java will sink to the bottom and the light-bean substitute float on top. “Sweated” Javas are browned by placing any fair-sized, light-colored variety such as Lahat, Maccassar, ordinary Jamaica or Savanilla in a zinc or iron-lined room or case surrounded on all sides by pipes, through which steam passes and subjecting them to an intense heat, the process causing the--whatever little volatile oil this class of coffee contains--to exude and impart a dark, muddy-red color to the beans. This sophistication is best detected by the unnatural, repulsively reddish color produced by the process, by their light weight and irregular, unsightly appearance in the hand as well as by their nauseous, almost sickening flavor, developed by the volatile oil and the zinc, and which is evidently prejudicial to the health of the consumer.

=Mocha Coffee.=--Probably there is no single variety of coffee grown more generally counterfeited or adulterated than Mocha in the raw or unroasted state, owing to its limited supply and high commercial value. In addition to the manipulation and substitution which it undergoes at the ports of export, by the addition or substitution of small-bean Wynaad, Malabar, Ceylon, Bourbon and other African varieties annually shipped to Aden for the specific purpose of conversion into Mocha, that it has become a difficult matter to determine what is true Mocha and what is not. The substitutes are first separated from the regular crops and then carefully picked over and assorted by hand, the better to adapt them to their respective markets, and then packed in the unique and peculiar packages which distinguish the true article from all others. It had at one time been considered as next to impossible to tamper with or imitate these packages without detection, composed as they are of a coarse vegetable material, sewed with a fibrous substance that becomes excessively hard and tough by age; but modern ingenuity has found a way in the countries of consumption to cut this “Gordian knot,” first by a process known to the initiated as “stove-piping,” by which a portion of the genuine coffee is run out of the original package with an iron tube resembling a “coffee tryer,” inserted at one end of the bale and a spurious article composed of some small-bean variety, such as Santos, Maracaibo or Guatemala, poured in its place and the puncture closed up. Another ingenious method is to soften the fibrous cord of which the withes are made, and with which the bales are sewn, by a process known as “steaming,” by which they are softened and drawn out, the bales being easily opened entire and the contents substituted by the introduction of one or other of the same class of coffees already mentioned, and even by small-bean Rios, particularly when the former kinds are high or difficult to procure. These glaring forms of adulteration and substitutions practiced in Mocha coffee may be readily detected by a comparison of the mixture or contents with a sample of the genuine bean, which is invariably small, round, uniform and symmetrical, varying in color from a rich olive-green cast, almost translucent when new, and a bright-yellowish hue when old, being at the same very clean, and attractive in the hand. While the adulterants and substitutes are much larger, more irregular and varying in size, style, form and color, from a dark or grass-green to a pale white, according to the age and nature of the coffee used.

There has recently been discovered another and very ingenious coffee fraud, in which the raw beans look quite natural, but yield no coffee liquor on infusion. On close inspection these spent or exhausted beans resemble artificial coffee beans composed of baked dough colored, but a microscopical examination disproves this supposition. The beans are genuine coffee beans, but the cells show a remarkable freedom from caffeine and the oil of coffee, indicating that they had been steeped in water, so that on the microscopical examination being supplemented by a chemical analysis, the result showed that almost every valuable property of the coffee had been removed from the beans, evidently for medicinal purposes or the manufacture of some extract of coffee, after which they are re-dried and disposed of to roasters and unscrupulous dealers as sound coffee. The beans of such coffee look quite natural, but on close inspection are found to be tough and light, yielding a watery and flavorless liquid on infusion. A patent has also been recently obtained the purpose of which is to impart to coffee beans by a summary operation the properties and characteristics possessed by coffee which has been stored and kept under favorable conditions for a comparatively long period of time. The process of maturing or “aging” the coffee consisting in spreading out the raw beans in a thin layer between alternate layers of damp bags or other textile material first by sprinkling a number of bags with water, and piling them one on top of the other until they have all become uniformly moistened, then spreading out one of the bags and laying on it a dry bag upon which is placed a layer of green coffee, another dry bag being placed over it and a damp bag on that again, and so on to any desired height. The pile of bags and coffee thus formed is then compressed in order that the dry bags may absorb the moisture from the damp bags and also become damp, thus maintaining the coffee beans in their confined space until the desired maturing or aging effect has been produced.

ROASTED COFFEES

Are chiefly sophisticated by mixing or substituting lower with high-grade coffees, and by coating or glazing the beans with some obnoxious compounds as previously described. Many of the so-called Javas and other high-sounding-name coffees now in the market so much vaunted and extolled being nothing more than combinations of Santos, Maracaibo and other medium grades, some of the most reputable consisting merely of Santos and Java in the proportions of 40 per cent. of the former to 60 per cent. of the latter. The distinguishing features of the raw or natural bean being largely altered in the process of roasting, making it a difficult matter for any but experts to detect this most common form of adulteration, an acquaintance with the original flavors of the different varieties being the only sure means of detection.

Some years since, there was invented a bean resembling that of roasted coffee, made from dyed plaster of paris, which was intended for admixture with coffee, and at the present time a far more dangerous fraud is being perpetrated in the already too wide field of coffee adulteration. It is that of a bogus or artificial bean, resembling that of whole roasted coffee, which, on analysis, proves to be largely composed of wheat flour, mixed with a glutinous compound of cracker dust, paste and molasses, moulded in the form of the true coffee bean of commerce and flavored with a weak solution of caramel or chocolate. These spurious coffee beans are not, however, intended to supply in themselves a beverage which from any similarity of appearance, taste or effect might form a substitute for coffee and cannot therefore be regarded as such, but are intended solely as an adulterant of whole roasted coffee. It is readily detected by close inspection in the hand, but still more so in the cup, tasting as it does more like a decoction made from burnt dough and molasses. When dissolved in boiling water it yields a blackish, muddy liquor akin to slop, leaving a thick, greasy residue in the bottom of the vessel. The custom of coating or “glazing,” now so much in vogue among roasters and dealers, may also be classed among the many, but milder forms of adulteration, which, though ostensibly claimed to protect the pores of the coffee from the oxydizing influences of the atmosphere, preserve its aroma, and at the same time clarify the infusion, is in reality, in nearly all cases, resorted to for the purpose of disguising or concealing the defects of artificially-colored, stained, damaged and immature or “quakery” coffees, or for adding an extra weight of from 5 to 6 per cent. to it.

GROUND COFFEES

Are subject to the most extensive adulterations, all being more or less sophisticated or adulterated in one form or another, chief among which is that of the admixture of the roasted and ground roots of Chicory, Dandelion, Carrot, Parsnip, Beet and other leguminous vegetables. Peas, Beans, Rye, Rice, Wheat, Barley and various other cereal grains, including the seeds of the broom, fenugreek, iris and acorn. These various roots and seeds, with many more similar substances, have not only been used as adulterants, but under various high-sounding names several of them have been introduced as substitutes for coffee. But so far not a single one of them have either merited or obtained any success as such, their sole effect being to bring coffee into undeserved disrepute as a pleasing and agreeable beverage with the public.

SUBSTITUTES AND ADULTERANTS.

Among the numerous substitutes and adulterants in use for coffee may be mentioned first:--

=Rye Coffee.=--Prepared from roasted rye and a little butter ground fine, and put up in packages.

=Rice Coffee.=--Made from roasted rice in the same manner as the former and considered a very good substitute.

=Malt Coffee.=--A preparation made from malt, which is first soaked in water at 40 degrees and dried in a coffee roaster until the grains assume a glossy-brown color is used as a substitute for the coffee of commerce, the finished product, when ground and infused, is claimed to be a passable coffee substitute.

=Currant Coffee.=--Manufactured from the seeds of that fruit, washed out of the cake left in making currant wine, then roasted and ground, but principally used as an adulterant.

=Gooseberry Coffee.=--Prepared from the seeds of that fruit in the same manner and used as an adulterant also.

=Holly Coffee=--Is made from the berries of the common holly, roasted and moistened with a little lemon juice.

=Acorn Coffee=--Is prepared from acorns, deprived of their shells, husked, dried and roasted in the same manner as regular coffee.

=Sassafras Coffee.=--Manufactured from the fruit or root of that plant, or from the bark, cut up, dried and roasted, the decoction being very wholesome, and a specific for skin diseases.

=Beechmast Coffee.=--Made from the roasted and ground roots of the beechmast, and also claimed to be very wholesome.

=Beet-root Coffee.=--Principally used as an adulterant; is prepared from the yellow beet-root, sliced, dried in an oven and ground with genuine coffee.

=Almond Coffee=--Is made from either rye or wheat, roasted with almonds and a very small quantity of cassia buds, making a very good substitute.

=Bean Coffee=--Is prepared from ordinary horse-beans, roasted along with a little honey and burnt sugar, a small quantity of cassia buds being frequently added when removed from the fire, the whole being stirred until cold.

=German Coffee=--Is chiefly made from chicory roasted and ground fine, and used either as a substitute or an adulterant of the regular coffee of commerce.

=Coffee-pulp Coffee.=--In Arabia the pulp of the berries, which constitutes about twenty per cent. of the prepared coffee, is dried and shriveled up by a method peculiar to Arabia. This product is known by the distinct name of _Kishr_, a decoction of which forms the common beverage of the poorer Arabs.

=French Coffee.=--What is known and celebrated as “French Coffee” is made from a mixture of coffee and caramel, which must be packed in tins, as otherwise the hygroscopic properties of the caramel will cause it to absorb moisture, and thereby run to decomposition.

=Pelotas Coffee=--Is also prepared from ground acorns and sold under the name of Pelotas, but is exceedingly dark in liquor, wild and insipid in flavor.

=Corsican Coffee=--Is made from the roasted seeds of the Knee-holly, and used extensively on that island as a substitute for the regular coffee of commerce.

=Egyptian Coffee=--Is prepared from the common Chick-pea roasted, ground and mixed with genuine coffee in equal parts, being more of an adulterant than a substitute.

=Mesquite Coffee.=--It has been recently claimed that a species of coffee may be produced from the “Mesquite plant” found growing in wild abundance in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, but so far no positive results have been reported.

=Dandelion Coffee.=--The root of the Dandelion, first dried, roasted and ground, is also extensively used as a substitute for coffee, and is claimed by many physicians to be much preferable to chicory for that purpose, its infusion, decoction and extract being frequently employed as a tonic and aperient, especially in disorders of the liver and digestive organs.

=Spent Coffee=--Prepared from “exhausted” coffee grounds which are dried and re-atomized by the transforming hand of modern chemistry, put up in shiny packages under seductive titles, and from which the deluded and over-confiding consumer endeavors to extract a desired beverage.

=Mussenda Coffee.=--A patent has recently been granted in France, the object of which is to substitute the berry of the _Mussenda_ plant for the various substances now used for mixing with ground coffees, by which the berries are roasted with the coffee in any desired proportions, usually from ¹⁄₃ to ²⁄₃ Mussenda, or ³⁄₄ coffee to ¹⁄₄ Mussenda. During the roasting process a small quantity of Caramel is added to improve the flavor, the compound being then ground and put up in cans, possessing at least one good recommendation, that of not containing any injurious properties.

=Canada Peas=--Which is the most extensive form of adulteration, are first roasted in the same manner as coffee, but requiring a much longer time and more care, as the shell of the pea does not assume a coffee-color until the inside is overdone, and must be judged by the inside appearance, being brittle and a little darker when broken than coffee, but when ground they are dry and dusty, on which account they make an excellent compound with chicory, keeping it from forming into lumps and making it assume a uniform color. Wheat, rye or barley may be substituted or added to this compound without affecting it, the method of treatment being identical. There being but little aroma to protect and none to save, the virtue of this compound lies altogether in the healthy properties of the cereal used, not in the flavor of the liquid.

=Essence of Coffee=--Is simply an article of manufacture, containing no coffee, but intended for use with coffee for the purpose of imparting color and as a clarifying agent. It may be prepared at will from any cereal before named, bread raspings or burnt cracker dust, but is chiefly composed of carbonized corn, that is, corn roasted to blackness. The material from which it may be prepared is first roasted, ground fine and spread out thinly over a large surface, and then covered with burnt sugar or molasses while boiling hot, the whole forming a large cake, which when thoroughly cooled is broken into pieces and reground in an iron mill until reduced to a dust, after which it is put up in packages or barrels for use in coffee. It is also used extensively as an adulterant in ground coffee, and when made from good stock it is not objectionable, possessing excellent coloring, sweetening and clarifying properties.

=Coffee-leaf Coffee.=--A decoction made from the leaves of the coffee shrub has long been used in the Eastern Archipelago, and has more recently been introduced among the coolies of southern India, and a few years since attracted considerable notice, being recommended as a new article of import to become a cheap substitute for tea. There seems to be no doubt that coffee leaves contain the principle caffeine in sufficient abundance for the making of a valuable beverage, but the presence of an unpleasant senna-like odor militates greatly against its popularity as a regular drink, and there exists also the difficulty that of depriving the tree of its foliage damages the crop of berries and injures the tree itself. On berry-producing trees therefore only the leaves obtained in the ordinary pruning operations would be available, and these would seem to yield so small a supply as not to be worth the cost of collection, while growing the shrubs for the leaves alone would be a very questionable undertaking. Yet there appears to be no valid reason why in the event of the berry crop failing a portion at least of the leaves might not be gathered and prepared in the form of coffee if any means can be invented for removing the objectionable odor.

=Whey Coffee=--Another very novel substitute for coffee is prepared of whey from milk, which is evaporated down in open vessels or vacuum pans until most of the water is driven off and a thick paste remains. During the process the whey is kept constantly stirred, the stirring being continued until the pasty mass becomes cold, when it is rolled into cakes and dried at a temperature of boiling water, after which it is broken up and moulded into pieces about the size and form of coffee beans. The next operation is that of roasting, which is more preferably performed by first mixing them with an equal quantity of raw coffee, the roasting process thus turning the whey-paste beans into a rich brown color, which on cooling are ground with another percentage of coffee. The compound yields a pleasant and agreeable beverage and may find some use as a harmless if not really nutritious ingredient in the lower priced coffee preparations.

In Brazil and other South American countries the fruit of the Wax palm is used extensively as a substitute for coffee, being very rich in caffeine and possessing nutritious properties, while recently a substitute for coffee has been introduced to England and the continent of Europe under the name of “Mochara,” which is simply a preparation made from ripe figs, roasted and pulverized, which is sold at about half the price of coffee. Another illustration of the modern craze for replacing every genuine article by an inferior substitute is to be found in the announcement of a company to work a recent patent for making coffee out of dates. In New Zealand the berries of the _Coprosma_ have been proposed as a coffee substitute, while the seeds of the _Cassia_ have been lately imported into England from the river Gambia and sold there under the name of “Negro Coffee.” But although such substitutes and admixture are demanded, yet it appears to be impossible to replace coffee altogether, all the elaborate attempts made by the French chemists during the wars in the early part of this century being unsuccessful in providing any approximate substitute for coffee.

=Kola-nut Coffee.=--The diminishing production of coffee in Java, Ceylon, and other countries of East Indies has given rise to the suggestion that the cultivation of the Kola-nut as substitute for coffee should be undertaken, which not only as a stimulant, but as an article of food, possesses the essential properties of coffee, and is even said to be richer in the active principle, _caffeine_. Heretofore this product has been raised chiefly for medicinal purposes only, but its acceptability as a stimulating and nutritious beverage is rapidly growing, possessing as it does a high value, because of its power of enabling men to sustain great effort as well as to endure long fasting. It is fast finding a place in commerce in the same order as that held by coffee, the beverage being called at the present “Kola-nut Coffee,” but the term “Kolatina,” has recently been proposed as more appropriate for the decoction, and to which there can be no reasonable objection. The beverage prepared from the Kola nut resembles that made from coffee, and is both pleasant and agreeable, and for persons troubled with weak indigestion “Kolatina” is found to be better adapted than either tea or cocoa. This is the bean which Stanley speaks in several of his works on African exploration as possessing much greater sustaining power than either tea, coffee, or cocoa; the natives, he states, carry these beans in their pockets and eat them during long marches. The beans are first ground and put up in packages, with directions for making the infusion, one teaspoonful being sufficient for a cup of Kolatina. A concentrated essence is also made from the beans, and an acerated drink called “Kola champagne,” very agreeable to the taste and recommended by physicians.

=Chicory=--The common root of the Endive or “Succory” plant, as used along with coffee was originally a Dutch practice dating back to over a century ago, but for many years after the nature of Chicoried coffee was kept a profound secret by the Dutch dealers until 1801, when the secret was first disclosed. The fact that for over a hundred years it has been successfully used as a substitute for and recognized addition to coffee, while in the meantime innumerable other substances have been tried for the same purpose and abandoned indicates that it must be agreeable, if not beneficial, to many constitutions besides imparting to coffee additional color, body and pungency, and may, by acting as a sedative, tonic and diuretic, modify its stimulating and exciting effects, and is at least in very general, almost universal, use at the present time. It is extensively cultivated in Belgium, Holland, France, Germany and other European countries, being principally prepared from the old, stout and white roots of the plant, which after washing are sliced into small pieces, and kiln-dried, in which condition it is usually sold to the chicory roasters, by whom it is parched or burned, until it assumes a deep-brown color, after which it is ground, the fine dust being separated from the coarse and granulated parts. In its external characteristics it closely resembles ground coffee, but is entirely destitute of its pleasing and aromatic odor, neither does it possess any trace of the alkaloid--caffeine--which give their peculiar virtues to coffee, tea and other diet drinks. It occupies a peculiar position, however, since very many coffee consumers deliberately prefer an admixture of chicory with coffee to the pure article alone, notwithstanding that it is entirely devoid of the essential oil for which coffee is so valued. Differing diametrically in their botanical nature and chemical composition as well as in their physiological properties and action. Again, coffee is the fruit of a tree, while chicory is the root of a herbaceous plant, and it is a well-established fact that of all parts of either vegetables or plants the fruit and seeds possess the most active and nutritious properties. This is no doubt due to their being freely exposed to the influence of light and air--agencies which invariably promote chemical changes in the plant itself and so effect the elaboration of those complex organic substances on which the activity of all plants depends. While on the other hand it is manifest that, as roots are concealed from these powerful agencies, they cannot be richly endowed with active properties, there being but few roots containing either alkaloid or volatile oil--the properties which give to coffee its unique virtues. The distinction therefore between the properties of the seeds and roots of plants in general is very important, and especially so in the case of coffee and chicory, the infusion of the latter being heavy, black, mawkish and entirely destitute of aroma; that of the former being light, rich, fragrant and refreshing. Coffee containing three active principles: caffeine, volatile oil and tannin, chicory possessing no such analogous constituents. Coffee exerting very marked and highly important physiological effects of a beneficial character in the human system, while there is not a single proof that chicory exerts any one of these effects, it being very questionable, in the contrary, whether the properties it does possess are not really injurious. None of these or analogous principles are to be found in any of the substitutes or adulterants of coffee, so that the latter cannot possess a single one of the peculiar and beneficial properties of coffee, being simply a deception on the stomach of the consumer.

Chicory contains neither _caffeine_ nor essential oil like coffee, and is neither exhilarating nor pleasant in taste, while on some persons it acts as an irritant and purgative. Some so-called coffees contain large quantities of it, even to the extent of 95 per cent., which it would be more correct to call such a mixture “adulterated chicory,” rather than coffee, which term it seems entitled to only as a matter of courtesy, chicory being in its turn also subject to adulteration in many forms, two very common adulterants being beet-root and mangel-wurzel. As to the nutrition possessed by chicory, it contains only about one-half the nitrogenous substances of coffee and even that quantity in no way benefits the consumer, as these substances are insoluble in water and are wasted in the infusion. It has been proved also that even the chicory itself is extensively adulterated, as all of the substances found in adulterated coffee have also been discovered in ground chicory. Viewed under a magnifying glass the component fibres and elementary structures of the different substances used in the adulteration of coffee present peculiarities and characteristics that enables the experienced observer to identify without difficulty the particular substitute or adulterant employed. The principal adulterant, chicory, being readily distinguished by the size, form, and ready separation of the component cells of the nut, as well as by the presence of an abundance of spiral vessels of a dotted form. Whole roasted beans, peas and cereals may be best detected by the respective size, form, texture and other characteristics of the starchy granule, of which such substances are chiefly composed.

In minute structure true coffee is so distinct from all other vegetable substances that it is readily recognizable by means of the microscope, and as the roasting process does not destroy its distinguishing peculiarities, microscopic examination forms the readiest method of determining the genuineness of any suspected sample. The true coffee bean consists of an assemblage of vesicles or cells, angular in form, which adhere so firmly together that they break up into pieces rather than separate into distinct and perfect cells. And, again, by microscopical, physical and chemical tests the purity of coffee can be still further determined with perfect certainty. The mixture of chicory with coffee is best detected by the aid of the microscope, the structure of both which they retain after torrefaction being very characteristic and distinct. The granules of coffee remain hard and angular when steeped in water, to which they communicate but little color, while chicory on the other hand by swelling up and softening imparts a deep brown color to the water, the specific gravity of chicory being also much lighter than that of coffee.

All of the pseudo patent or proprietary ground coffees, put up in bulk or packages, and recommended to the consumer by high-sounding, seductive names and attractive labels, which are annually palmed off in such vast quantities, consist of nothing more than a combination of these adulterants with genuine coffee. So much so that it may be safely said that wherever grinding is done it may be safely set down that more or less adulteration is practised, the ground coffee being put up in packages or in bulk form. The average basis for the compound being composed of the following proportions to every 1,000 pounds: chicory, 100; rye, 200; peas, 400; coffee, 200, and other substances 100 pounds.

According to some English chemists, coffee is adulterated in that country, outside of chicory, with such substances as roasted peas, beans, carrots, turnips, parsnips, potatoes, acorns, beets, lupins and even fragments of the baked livers of oxen and horses. To such an extent is the practice carried there, that it is next to impossible to procure a pound of pure coffee there at almost any price. The evil also flourishes to a great extent in this country, but with the exception that nothing worse than roasted rye, peas, beans and cereal grains are chiefly used for its adulteration. With regard to the propriety of selling chicory with coffee, it may be stated that while it certainly is not right to sell a mixture of coffee with chicory under the name of pure coffee, and unreasonable to compel the manufacturer or vender to specify approximately the proportion of chicory contained in the mixture, this latter is especially desirable, inasmuch as chicory is far cheaper than coffee, and it is, therefore, necessary to protect the public against having chicory palmed off on it for pure coffee. According to the best authorities, coffee, when pure, is a most valuable ingredient of our food, owing to its agreeable flavor, pleasing odor and refreshing and gently stimulating properties, which, if not absolutely necessary, is at least a most desirable constituent of our daily dietary, and any one that deprives it of its true qualities by adulteration or substitution inflicts an injury more or less grave on the public health, because the adulterants are _claimed_ not to be poisonous--that is, directly--but only indirectly injurious. The offense is thought little of, and never punished in this country, with the result that the nefarious practice is rather encouraged than repressed. So that, in considering the many evils of coffee adulteration, we must not overlook the fact that coffee is not only a beverage, but also a drug, antagonistic in action to the _alkaloid morphia_, as well as to other alkaloids of like nature, so that in cases of poisoning its adulteration may lead to the failure of medical treatment, even to the extent of the loss of life.

The operation of roasting also tends to make coffee soluble in boiling water, as when Raw coffee is perfectly exhausted by means of boiling water it yields up 25 per cent. which passes into solution, while Roasted coffee, on the other hand, when completely exhausted by means of boiling water, yields up 39 per cent. of soluble matter. These figures appear rather high, as in actually using coffee as a beverage we are not in the habit of making anything like a complete extraction, only some 10 to 12 per cent. of the coffee passing into the liquid. From these the facts it will be perceived that the chemical character of coffee provide fairly satisfactory criteria for the recognition of many species of adulteration, the absence of starch alone in genuine coffee offering in itself a character which enables the analyst to at once deal with the whole class of possible adulterants, including many species of grain, while the absence of more than traces of sugar in Roasted coffee can likewise be turned to excellent account inasmuch as Chicory contains no starch, but is highly saccharine even after roasting, the percentage of sugar in Roasted coffee ranging from 0.0 to 1.1, while in Roasted chicory the quantity of sugar ranges from 12 to 18 per cent. The proof of this character is best made by the aid of the copper-reduction test, for which purpose a standard solution of copper is required, which may be prepared by dissolving 34.65 grams of crystalized sulphate of copper in 200 C.C. of water and adding to it 173 grams of double tartrate of potash and soda, with 400 C. C. of a solution of caustic soda, the whole being subsequently diluted with water so as to occupy a litre. The standard solution of copper made in this manner is of such a strength that 10 C. C. are reduced by .050 grams of grape sugar, the best method of using this solution being to take a known volume of it, say 10 C. C. accurately measured out, and dilute it with three or four times its volume of boiling water and then dropping into the boiling copper solution, which is to be added, until the point is just reached when the copper solution is exhausted, and as the reduction of the copper-salt to the state of red sub-oxide of copper progresses, the precipitate will accumulate, and at the same time the blue color will fade from the solution. The last delicate reading is finally effected by half of the reduction between the ferro-cyanide of potassium and copper solutions, for which purpose a little of the liquid is filtered, acidified slightly with acetic acid and tested with a drop of the solution of the ferro-cyanide of potassium. In this triturate, as in all like cases, a rough and rapid estimation is first made, and then a second operation when the quantity is approximately known to make a delicate and careful reading of the exact point. Thus if 100 parts of coffee when infused yield sensibly more than 1 per cent. of sugar, then the presence of chicory or other adulterant may be strongly suspected and a rough calculation of the quantity made. The fact that coffee extract is devoid or almost devoid of sugar, while many of the other natural products yield saccharine extracts, makes itself manifest in many ways, and the specific gravity also of equal quantities of an infusion of coffee being very much lower than the specific gravity of an infusion of chicory and the other principal substances used in the adulteration of ground coffee. Chicory also possessing greater coloring power than coffee, for which reason this character may be rendered available in the testing of coffee, as not only does chicory color water more deeply than coffee, but it colors it with greater rapidity, the oil contained in the coffee hindering the solution of the coloring matter by the water, whereas chicory, which contains no oil, imparts its coloring matter to water with great readiness. All of which tends to render the color-test, when properly applied, the easiest and most available for the detection of chicory or other substances in coffee.

What is known as the “Ash test,” is as follows: Pure coffee when incinerated or burned, yields about 4 per cent. of ash on an average, while the ash of chicory and other adulterants used in coffee amounts to between 5 and 6 per cent. of the residue, the ratio of soluble to insoluble ash being inverted when dissolved in water thus:--

Ash of Coffee. Ash of Chicory.
Soluble, 3.24 Soluble, 1.74
Insoluble, 0.76 Insoluble, 3.52

From this analysis it will be observed that the average ash of coffee when incinerated is about 4 per cent., 3.24 of which is soluble in water, and 0.76 insoluble, more than half of the entire ash consisting of potash in combination with carbonic and phosphoric acids. Magnesia amounting to about 8 and lime to about 4 per cent. of the whole, while it is claimed that soda and silica are entirely absent from coffee ash, great stress being laid on this circumstance. The ash of chicory, on the other hand, which is the main adulterant of coffee, amounts to 5.06 when incinerated, 1.74 per cent. of which only is soluble in water, and 3.32 insoluble, being almost an inversion of figures and from which it may be easily understood why the examination of the ash alone would suffice to distinguish between coffee and chicory, and from which it may readily be determined, an examination of the ash test alone sufficing to distinguish pure coffee from the adulterated compounds.

Another unerring test, known as the “Color test,” is to prepare a saturated solution of common salt and mix a small quantity of the coffee to be tested with ten times its weight of the solution in a test-tube at least three quarters of an inch in diameter, shaking it repeatedly so that the coffee may be thoroughly wetted, and then allow the tube to stand for half an hour. Next, closely observe the color of the liquid and the quantity of coffee floating on the surface as well as the amount deposited in the tube. If the color be a very pale amber and almost all of the coffee floats on top, the sample may be assumed to be pure, but if of a decidedly dark-yellow or brownish hue, it clearly indicates the admixture of chicory or some similar adulterant, in which case there is also a larger deposit for the reasons already stated. This deposit increases and the color of the brine grows darker in proportion to the extent of the impurity in the coffee, as with the addition of only 30 per cent. of chicory the brown color is very marked, so that with a still larger percentage of the adulterant it becomes correspondingly darker.