ised food
package than the fruit of the coffee tree. It seems as if Good Mother
Nature had said: "This gift of Heaven is too precious to put up in any
ordinary parcel. I shall design for it a casket worthy of its divine
origin. And the casket shall have an inner seal that shall safeguard it
from enemies, and that shall preserve its goodness for man until the day
when, transported over the deserts and across the seas, it shall be
broken open to be transmuted by the fires of friendship, and made to
yield up its aromatic nectar in the Great Drink of Democracy."

To this end she caused to grow from the heart of the jasmine-like
flower, that first herald of its coming, a marvelous berry which, as it
ripens, turns first from green to yellow, then to reddish, to deep
crimson, and at last to a royal purple.

[Illustration: SPECIMENS OF COPPER COVERS FOR PULPER CYLINDERS

1--For Arabian coffee (_Coffea arabica_). 2--For Liberian coffee
(_Coffea liberica_). 3--Also for Arabian. 4--For _Coffea canephora_.
5--For _Coffea robusta_. 6--For larger Arabian, and for _Coffea
Maragogipe_.]

The coffee fruit is very like a cherry, though somewhat elongated and
having in its upper end a small umbilicus. But mark with what ingenuity
the package has been constructed! The outer wrapping is a thin,
gossamer-like skin which encloses a soft pulp, sweetish to the taste,
but of a mucilaginous consistency. This pulp in turn is wrapped about
the inner-seal--called the parchment, because of its tough texture. The
parchment encloses the magic bean in its last wrapping, a delicate
silver-colored skin, not unlike fine spun silk or the sheerest of tissue
papers. And this last wrapping is so tenacious, so true to its
guardianship function, that no amount of rough treatment can dislodge it
altogether; for portions of it cling to the bean even into the roasting
and grinding processes.

[Illustration: DRYING GROUNDS, PULPING HOUSE, AND FERMENTATION VATS,
BOA VISTA. BRAZIL]

[Illustration: PULPING HOUSE AND FERMENTATION TANKS, COSTA RICA]

[Illustration: COFFEE PREPARATION IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA]

[Illustration: GRANADA UNPULPED COFFEE SEPARATOR

Shown in combination with a Guatemala coffee pulper]

Coffee is said to be "in the husk," or "in the parchment," when the
whole fruit is dried; and it is called "hulled coffee" when it has been
deprived of its hull and peel. The matter forming the fruit, called the
coffee berry, covers two thin, hard