to drink and not to look at.

Since the coming of the large coffee roaster, who delivers roasted
coffee right down the line to the consumer, Santos has come in for its
share of the business. The roasters are getting good results out of
Santos blends, up to fifty percent and sixty percent with West Indian
and Central American coffees. Rio is as much in disfavor in France as it
is in the United States, perhaps more so.

In Brittany the demand is for peaberry coffee, no matter of what
variety. This comes about from the fact that the people of this section
of the country still do a great deal of their roasting at home, and have
become accustomed to the use of peaberry coffee because they do not have
the improved hand roasters, and still do a great deal of their roasting
in pans in the ovens of their stoves. The peaberry coffee rolls about so
nicely in the pan that they get a much more uniform roast.

Nearly all the coffee is ground at home, which is not a bad practise for
the consumer; but perhaps works hardship on the dealer, who can mix some
grade grinders into his blends without doing them any material harm.
Where coffee mills are used in the stores, they are of the Strong-Arm
family and of an ancient heritage. To get a growl out of the grocer in
France, buy a kilo of coffee and ask him to grind it.

Package coffee and proprietary brands have not come into their own to
the extent that they have in the United States, although there are at
present two firms in Paris which have started in this business and are
advertising extensively on billboards, in street cars, and in the
subways. However, most coffee is still sold in bulk. The butter, egg,
and cheese stores of France do a very large business in coffee. Prior to
the war and high prices, there were some very large firms doing a
premium business in coffee, tea, spices, etc. They still exist, and
have a very fine trade; but since the high prices of coffees and
premiums, the business has gone down very materially. They operate by
the wagon-route and solicitor method, just as some of our American
companies do. One very large firm in Paris has been in this business for
more than thirty years, operating branches and wagons in every town,
village, and hamlet in France.

[Illustration: CAFE DE LA REGENCE, PARIS, SHOWING THE TYPICAL
CONTINENTAL ARRANGEMENT OF SEATS]

The consumption of coffee is increasing very materially in France; some
say, on account of the high price of