dmitted fact that freshly roasted coffee
makes the best infusion, most of the coffee used today is not roasted at
or near the place where it is brewed, but in factories that are provided
with special equipment for the roasting of coffee in a wholesale way.
The reasons for this are various, partly relating to the mere economy of
buying and manufacturing on a large scale, and partly relating to the
trained skill that is needed both for selecting suitable green coffees
to make a satisfactory blend, and for the roasting work itself. The
proportion of consumers (including restaurants and hotels) who roast
their own coffee is so small as to be negligible, at least in the United
States. The average person who buys coffee today, for brewing use, never
sees green coffee at all, unless as an "educational exhibit" in some
dealer's display window.

The reasons just mentioned, which have made coffee roasting a real
business, all tend, of course, to make the roasting establishments of
large size; but this tendency is offset by the problem of distributing
the roasting coffee so that it will reach the ultimate consumer in good
condition. Roasting enterprises on a comparatively small scale (not by
consumers, but by sufficiently expert dealers) would probably be much
more numerous on account of the "fresh-roast" argument, except for the
fact that coffee-roasting machines can not be installed so easily as the
grinding mills, meat-choppers, and slicing machines, that find extended
use in small stores. The steam, smoke, and chaff given off by the coffee
as it is roasted must be disposed of by an outdoor connection, without
annoying the neighbors or creating a fire hazard.

From these general remarks, it can easily be seen that the size of
individual roasting establishments will vary greatly, according to the
skill of the proprietor in meeting the disadvantages of working on
either the smallest or the largest scale. A wholesale plant may be
considered to be one in which coffee is roasted in batches of one bag or
more at a time; and with this definition, nearly all the roasting in the
United States is done in a wholesale way.

[Illustration: A MODERN GAS COFFEE-ROASTING PLANT WITH A CAPACITY OF
1,000 BAGS A DAY

General view of the roasting room of the Jewel Tea Co., Hoboken, N.J.
The equipment consists of twelve Jubilee gas machines in four groups;
each group having a smoke-suction fan, and a drag conveyor over the
three feed hoppers. To