All About Coffee Part 55

Since the spread of the use of coffee to western Europe in the seventeenth century, the development of the trade has been marked, broadly speaking, by two features: (1) the s.h.i.+fting of the weight of production, first to the West Indies, then to the East Indies, and then to Brazil; and (2) the rise of the United States as the chief coffee consumer of the world. Until the close of the seventeenth century, the little district in Arabia, whence the coffee beans had first made their way to Europe, continued to supply the whole world's trade. But sprigs of coffee trees were beginning to go out from Arabia to other promising lands, both eastward and westward. As previously related, the year 1699 was an important one in the history of this expansion, as it was then that the Dutch successfully introduced the coffee plant from Arabia into Java. This started a Far Eastern industry, whose importance continues to this day, and also caused the mother country, Holland, to take up the role of one of the leading coffee traders of the world, which she still holds. Holland, in fact, took to coffee from the very first. It is claimed that the first samples were introduced into that country from Mocha in 1616--long before the beans were known in England or France--and that by 1663, regular s.h.i.+pments were being made. Soon after the coffee culture became firmly established in Java, regular s.h.i.+pments to the mother country began, the first of these being a consignment of 894 pounds in 1711. Under the auspices of the Netherlands East India Co.

the system of cultivating coffee by forced labor was begun in the East Indian colonies. It flourished until well into the nineteenth century.

One result of this colonial production of coffee was to make Holland the leading coffee consumer per capita of the world, consumption in 1913, as recorded on page 290, having reached as high as 18.8 pounds. It has long been one of the leading coffee traders, importing and exporting in normal times before the war between 150,000,000 and 300,000,000 pounds a year.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRE-WAR AVERAGE ANNUAL PRODUCTION OF COFFEE BY CONTINENTS

Fiscal years: 1910-1914

Total pounds: 2,311,917,200]

The introduction of the coffee plant into the new world took place between 1715 and 1723. It quickly spread to the islands and the mainland washed by the Caribbean. The latter part of the eighteenth century saw tens of millions of pounds of coffee being s.h.i.+pped yearly to the mother countries of western Europe; and for decades, the two great coffee trade currents of the world continued to run from the West Indies to France, England, Holland, and Germany; and from the Dutch East Indies to Holland. These currents continued to flow until the disruption of world trade-routes by the World War; but they had been pushed into positions of secondary importance by the establis.h.i.+ng of two new currents, running respectively from Brazil to Europe, and from Brazil to the United States, which const.i.tuted the nineteenth century's contribution to the history of the world's coffee trade.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRE-WAR AVERAGE ANNUAL PRODUCTION OF COFFEE BY COUNTRIES

Fiscal years: 1910-1914

Total pounds: 2,311,917,200]

The chief feature of the twentieth century's developments has been the pa.s.sing by the United States of the half-way mark in world consumption; this country, since the second year of the World War, having taken more than all the rest of the world put together. The world's chief coffee "stream," so to speak, is now from Santos and Rio de Janeiro to New York, other lesser streams being from these ports to Havre, Antwerp, Amsterdam, and (in normal times) Hamburg; and from Java to Amsterdam and Rotterdam. It is said that a movement, fostered by Belgium and Brazil, is under way to have Antwerp succeed Hamburg as a coffee port.

The rise of Brazil to the place of all-important source of the world's coffee was entirely a nineteenth century development. When the coffee tree found its true home in southern Brazil in 1770, it began at once to spread widely over the area of excellent soil; but there was little exportation for thirty or forty years. By the middle of the nineteenth century Brazil was contributing twice as much to the world's commerce as her nearest compet.i.tor, the Dutch East Indies, exports in 1852-53 being 2,353,563 bags from Brazil and 1,190,543 bags from the Dutch East Indies. The world's total that year was 4,567,000 bags, so that Brazilian coffee represented about one-half of the total. This proportion was roughly maintained during the latter half of the nineteenth century, but has gradually increased since then to its present three-fourths.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRE-WAR AVERAGE ANNUAL IMPORTS OF COFFEE INTO THE UNITED STATES BY CONTINENTS

Fiscal years: 1910-1914

Total pounds: 899,339,327]

The most important single event in the history of Brazilian production was the carrying out of the valorization scheme, by which the State of So Paulo, in 1906 and 1907, purchased 8,474,623 bags of coffee, and stored it in Santos, in New York, and in certain European ports, in order to stabilize the price in the face of very heavy production. At the same time, a law was pa.s.sed limiting the exports to 10,000,000 bags per year. This law has since been repealed. The story of valorization is told more fully in chapter x.x.xI. The coffee thus purchased by the state was placed in the hands of an international committee, which fed it into the world's markets at the rate of several hundred thousand bags a year.

Good prices were realized for all coffee sold; and the plan was successful, not only financially, but in the achievement of its main object, the prevention of the ruin of planters through overproduction.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRE-WAR AVERAGE ANNUAL IMPORTS OF COFFEE INTO THE UNITED STATES BY COUNTRIES

Fiscal years: 1910-1914

Total pounds: 899,339,327]

Another valorization campaign was launched by Brazil in 1918, and a third in 1921. Early in 1918, the So Paulo government bought about 3,000,000 bags. Subsequent events caused a sharp advance in prices, and at one time it was said that the holdings showed a profit of $60,000,000. The Brazil federal government appointed an official director of valorization, Count Alexandre Siciliano. A federal loan of 9,000,000, with 4,535,000 bags of valorized coffee as collateral, was placed in London and New York in May, 1922.

European consumption during the last century has been marked by the growth of imports into France and Germany; these being the two leading coffee drinkers of the world, aside from the United States. Germany held the lead in European consumption during the whole of the nineteenth century, and also in this century until all imports were stopped by the Allied navies; although, in actual imports, Holland for many years showed higher figures. Both Holland and England have acted as distributers, re-exporting each year most of the coffee which entered their ports. In the last half-century, the chief consumers, in the order named, have been Germany, France, Holland, Austria-Hungary, and Belgium.

However, with the removal of the duty on coffee in the last-named country in 1904, imports trebled; and Belgium took third place. The table at the top of this page shows the general trend of the trade for the last seventy years.

TREND OF EUROPEAN COFFEE CONSUMPTION FOR SEVENTY YEARS

_Year_ _Germany_ _France_ _Holland_ _Aus.-Hung._ _Belgium_ (pounds) (pounds) (pounds) (pounds) (pounds) 1853 104,049,000 48,095,000 46,162,000 44,716,000 41,270,000 1863 146,969,000 87,524,000 30,299,000 44,966,000 39,305,000 1873 215,822,000 98,841,000 79,562,000 71,111,000 49,874,000 1883 251,706,000 150,468,000 130,380,000 74,145,000 62,846,000 1893 269,381,000 152,203,000 75,562,000 79,438,000 52,046,000 1903 403,070,000 246,122,000 78,328,000 104,200,000 51,859,000 1913 369,347,000 254,102,000 116,749,000 130,951,000 93,250,000

Most of the coffee for these countries has for many years been supplied by Brazil, even Holland bringing in several times as much from Brazil as from the Dutch East Indies. Special features of the European trade have been the organization, in 1873, and successful operation, in Germany, of the world's first international syndicate to control the coffee trade; and the opening of coffee exchanges in Havre in 1882, in Amsterdam and Hamburg, in 1887: in Antwerp, London, and Rotterdam, in 1890; and in Trieste in 1905.

The advance of coffee consumption in the United States, the chief coffee-consuming country in the world, has taken place through about the same period as the advance of production in Brazil, the chief producing country; but it has been far less rapid. From 1790 to 1800, coffee imports for consumption ranged from 3,500,000 to 32,000,000 pounds. The figures in the next column show the net importations of coffee into this country since the beginning of the nineteenth century.

The chief source of supply, of course, has been Brazil; and the commercial and economic ties created by this immense coffee traffic has knit the two countries closely together. Brazil is probably more friendly to the United States than any other South American country, as shown by her action in following this country into the World War against Germany. She also grants the United States certain tariff preferentials as a recognition of the continued policy of this country of admitting coffee free of duty. The chief port of entry of coffee into the United States is New York, which for decades has recorded entries amounting from sixty to ninety percent of the country's total. Since 1902, New Orleans has shown a big advance, and in 1910 imported some thirty-five percent of the total. The only other port of importance is San Francisco, where imports have been increasing in recent years because of the growth of the trade in Central American coffee.

COFFEE IMPORTS, UNITED STATES, FOR 120 YEARS _Net Imports_

Year Pounds Year Pounds 1800[x] 8,792,472 1906 804,808,594 1811[x] 19,801,230 1907 935,678,412 1821[x] 11,886,063 1908 850,982,919 1830[x] 38,363,687 1909 1,006,975,047 1840[x] 86,297,761 1910 813,442,972 1850 129,791,466 1911 869,489,902 1860 182,049,527 1912 880,838,776 1870 231,173,574 1913 859,166,618 1880 440,128,838 1914 991,953,821 1890 490,161,900 1915 1,051,716,023 1900 748,800,771 1916 1,131,730,672 1901 809,036,029 1917 1,267,975,290 1902 1,056,541,637 1918 1,083,480,622 1903 867,385,063 1919 968,297,668 1904 960,878,977 1920 1,364,252,073 1905 991,160,207 1921 1,309,010,452

[x] Fiscal year ending Sept. 30; all other years end June 30.

Throughout the century and a third of steady increase of importations of coffee, Congress has for the most part permitted its free entry; as a rule, resorting to taxation of "the poor man's breakfast cup" only when in need of revenue for war purposes. At times, the free entry has been qualified; but for the most part, coffee has been free from the burden of customs tariff.

The country's coffee trade before the Civil War was without special incident; but since that time, the continued growth has brought about manipulations that have often resulted in highly dramatic crises; organizations to exercise some sort of regulation in the trade; the development of a trade in subst.i.tutes; the advance of the sale of branded package coffee; the inst.i.tution of large advertising campaigns; and other interesting features. These are treated more in detail in chapters that follow.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRE-WAR CHART OF COFFEE IMPORTS

Quant.i.ty and value of net imports of coffee into the United States for the fiscal years 1851 to 1914 in five-year averages. Solid line represents quant.i.ty, figures in million pounds on left side. Dotted line represents value, figures in million dollars on right side]

_Coffee Drinking in the United States_

Is the United States using more coffee than formerly, allowing for the increase in population? Of course there are sporadic increases, in particular years and groups of years, and they may indicate to the casual observer that our coffee drinking is mounting rapidly. And then there is the steadily growing import figure, double what it was within the memory of a man still young.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRE-WAR CONSUMPTION AND PRICE CHART

Import price and per capita consumption of coffee in the United States for the fiscal years 1851 to 1914, in five-year averages. Solid line represents import price per pound. Dotted line represents per capita consumption]

But the apparent growth in any given year is a matter of comparison with a nearby year, and there are declines as well as jumps; and, as for the gradual growth, it must always be remembered that, according to the Census Bureau, some 1,400,000 more people are born into this country every year, or enter its ports, than are removed by death or emigration.

At the present rate this increase would account for about 17,000,000 pounds more coffee each year than was consumed in the year before.

The question is: Do Mr. Citizen, or Mrs. Citizen, or the little Citizens growing up into the coffee-drinking age, pa.s.s his or her or their respective cups along for a second pouring where they used to be satisfied with one, or do they take a cup in the evening as well as in the morning, or do they perhaps have it served to them at an afternoon reception where they used to get something else? In other words, is the coffee habit becoming more intensive as well as more extensive?

There are plenty of very good reasons why it should have become so in the last twenty-five or thirty years; for the improvements in distributing, packing, and preparing coffee have been many and notable.

It is a far cry these days from the times when the housewife s.n.a.t.c.hed a couple of minutes amid a hundred other kitchen duties to set a pan over the fire to roast a handful of green coffee beans, and then took two or three more minutes to pound or grind the crudely roasted product into coa.r.s.e granules for boiling.

For a good many years, the keenest wits of the coffee merchants, not only of the United States but of Europe as well, have been at work to refine the beverage as it comes to the consumer's cup; and their success has been striking. Now the consumer can have his favorite brand not only roasted but packed air-tight to preserve its flavor; and made up, moreover, of growths brought from the four corners of the earth and blended to suit the most exacting taste. He can buy it already ground, or he can have it in the form of a soluble powder; he can even get it with the caffein element ninety-nine percent removed. It is preserved for his use in paper or tin or fiber boxes, with wrappings whose attractive designs seem to add something in themselves to the quality.

Instead of the old coffee pot, black with long service, he has modern s.h.i.+ning percolators and filtration devices; with a new one coming out every little while, to challenge even these. Last but not least, he is being educated to make it properly--tuition free.

It would be surprising, with these and dozens of other refinements, if a far better average cup of coffee were not produced than was served forty years ago, and if the coffee drinker did not show his appreciation by coming back for more.

As a matter of fact, the figures show that he does come back for more.

We do not refer to the figures of the last two years, which indeed are higher than those for many preceding years, but to the only averages that are of much significance in this connection; namely, those for periods of years going back half a century or more. Five-year averages back to the Civil War show increasing per capita consumption for continental United States (see table).

FIVE-YEAR PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION FIGURES

_Five-year Per capita Five-year Per capita Period Pounds Period Pounds_

1867-71 6.38 1897-1901 10.52 1872-76 7.03 1902-06 11.50 1877-81 7.53 1907-11 10.21 1882-86 9.09 1912-16 10.02 1887-91 8.07 1917-21 11.39 1892-96 8.63

It will be seen that the gain has been a decided one, fairly steady, but not exactly uniform. In the fifty years, John Doe has not quite come to the point where he hands up his cup for a second helping and keeps a meaningful silence. Instead, he stipulates, "Don't fill it quite full; fill it about five-sixths as full as it was before." That is a substantial gain, and one that the next fifty years can hardly be expected to duplicate, in spite of the efforts of our coffee advertisers, our inventors, and our vigorous importers and roasters.

The most striking feature of this fifty-year growth was the big step upward in 1897, when the per capita rose two pounds over the year before and established an average that has been pretty well maintained since.