as investigated in the
laboratories of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research of the
University of Pittsburgh in 1915; and Dr. Raymond F. Bacon submitted a
report that showed that the boiling method produced the highest
percentage of caffetannic acid and caffein; the French drip process the
lowest. The investigation disclosed also a more palatable brew at 195 deg.
to 200 deg. F. than at the boiling point.

Another notable contribution to the science of coffee brewing was made
by the Home Economics Laboratories of the University of Kansas in 1916.
The experiments extended over one year. They showed that strength and
color in coffee brews are independent of blend and price and are most
fully obtained by pulverized granulation, which was found to be the most
efficient; that the consumer pays for flavor and that filtration yielded
the best brew. The French drip, or true percolator, did not figure in
these experiments.

At the 1915 convention of the National Coffee Roasters Association, Mr.
Aborn reported that 4,000 copies of the committee's findings on grinding
and brewing had been given away: and the facts were further circulated
in 2,000,000 booklets issued during two years. He told of tests which
showed that while there might be reasons of commercial expediency for
packing ground coffee, it could not be defended as a quality principle;
also that plate-grinders produced a more efficient drawing granulation
than roller grinders, and that the idea that the steel-cut process
eliminates dirt was an absurdity, as "the finest ground coffee is not
dirt but coffee in its most efficient drawing condition." He added, "I
have paid no attention to chaff removal in these tests as the
uselessness of such removal has been repeatedly shown up." The reference
here was to his 1914 and 1913 reports, in which it was stated that
"removing the chaff in the steel-cut process does not remove any of the
tannin, and for this purpose the steel-cut process is wholely futile,
and a wasteful and unnecessary tax upon cost", and that "the removal of
the chaff appreciably affects the flavor and depreciates the cup value."

This report repeated previous findings against the pumping percolator as
producing an inefficient brew and being a very faulty utensil. Mr.
Aborn concluded his report by saying:

The old time boiling method has fewer and fewer defenders and holds
its own only as a superstition. I therefore pass it over as a
disc