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HOW TO MAKE 
 PERFECT COFFEE 
 
 By W. S. QUINBY 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE W. S. QUINBY COMPANY 
 OF BOSTON AND CHICAGO - IMPORTERS 
 AND ROASTERS OF LA TOURAINE COFFEE 
 
' ^S^a'^<yJi(^rk. 
 
 Copyright, 1922 
 
 W. S. Quinby Company 
 
 Boston 
 
 C-1 
 
 MAR 30 1822 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 C1AB73167 
 
HOW TO MAKE 
 PERFECT COFFEE 
 
 By W. S. Quinby 
 
 THERE is only one test you apply to the coffee you 
 serve in your restaurant. 
 
 Do the people like it? Do they go away saying, "That 
 was a delicious cup of coffee"? 
 
 Coffee is, after all, a very important part of a good meal. 
 If the coffee is not good, patrons will get the feeling that 
 something was wrong, something not quite up to standard. 
 
 On the other hand when the coffee is supremely good, it 
 will impress itself strongly and bring patrons back to you, 
 smiling in anticipation of a real treat. 
 
 ' We have all had the coffee crank say to us at some time 
 or other, "Let's go around to Blank's for lunch. Did you 
 ever try the coffee there? It's fine!" 
 
 The test of your coffee is whether you send coffee lovers 
 away with a grin or a grouch. And the secret of good coffee 
 is all in one word — flavor. 
 
FLAVOR 
 
 FOR people who do not know coffee, the perfect flavor 
 — the rich, real coffee flavor — is a hard thing to capture. 
 But once you understand the nature of coffee, and get 
 the right coffee — it becomes simple. Flavor depends on 
 these two things. 
 
 The first thing you must have is quality in your coffee. 
 It is not necessary to pay an extravagant price— but your 
 coffee should be the product of experts. It should be 
 selected from the finest types and kinds, and blended with 
 a skill that brings out the genuine essence of each kind of 
 coffee that goes into it. Then the blend must be roasted 
 as carefully as the noted chef will prepare a sauce or a 
 pudding. Modern coffee production has standardized the 
 processes of the coffee factory, but quality itself is never 
 standardized. Quality depends on men — and every coffee 
 roaster will have a different standard. 
 
 The second thing of utmost importance to serving de- 
 licious coffee is the preparation. 
 
 There was an old Chinese philosopher who declared that, 
 next to the spoiling of fine children by false education, 
 the worst practice he knew was "the spoiling of fine tea 
 by false manipulation." To the Chinese, tea was a national 
 institution. With us, coffee is a national institution, and 
 the poor treatment our old friend coffee so often receives 
 is really a shame. 
 
 Coffee making, in spite of its importance, is one of the 
 things most neglected in every kitchen. The reaspa-'lTiay 
 be the very simplicity of making good coffee^Jhtany case 
 it is a responsibility that is often left--tt5any ordinary 
 
helper who is without intelhgent training, and the result 
 drives the true coffee lover to despair. 
 
 The brewing of your coffee almost ranks of first impor- 
 tance, because the finest coffee in the world will show an 
 undesirable side if it^ is improperly brewed. 
 
 I / 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF COFFEE MAKING 
 
 THE fundamental necessary to making good coffee is to 
 know the physical nature of coffee, and the action of 
 coffee properties in contact with hot water. So you should 
 not have coffee made by an employee who is ignorant of 
 the properties of the coffee bean. 
 
 Starting out some twenty years ago in the coffee and tea 
 business, the writer was imbued with the idea of quality — 
 of producing a blend of coffee that could not be, improved 
 upon. But he has found that it is not enough for the im- 
 porter and roaster to rigidly uphold the standard of his 
 product. The true coffee merchant must go farther and 
 give time and knowledge to helping the restaurant and 
 hotel man to an understanding of the principles of coffee 
 making. 
 
 The purpose of this booklet is to disseminate these 
 principles in a form which can be quickly grasped by the 
 coffee maker as well as those who direct him. It is the 
 story of one man's experiences with the handling of coffee 
 in many hundreds of restaurants and hotel kitchens. 
 
THE DOUBLE NATURE OF COFFEE 
 
 MANY good things we enjoy have to be carefully sep- 
 arated from the undesirable elements which nature 
 mingles with them in the raw state. Coffee is one of these. 
 
 Coffee on the tree is a small red fruit, not unlike a cherry 
 in appearance. Before the green bean reaches us there are 
 several preparatory processes: the removal of the outer 
 pulp, then of the inner shell and "silver skin "; the separat- 
 ing, washing and drying of the beans. Even after the hard, 
 dry beans are roasted and cleaned, coffee is not yet reduced 
 to the delicious essence which tastes so good in the cup. 
 From this time on, however, the responsibility for securing 
 the right flavor passes from the roaster to the coffee maker. 
 
 Now, all roasted coffee contains two elements. One of 
 these elements produces the good, savory coffee taste 
 which for centuries has been the delight of mankind. This 
 is the element which we desire to extract in the greatest 
 abundance. It is "flavor." i; . 
 
 But coffee also contains another element — "bitterness." 
 Many people think that we. would get the perfect cup of 
 coffee if we could extract the flavor in such a way that no 
 bitterness at all would come with it. This is a mistake. A 
 very small proportion of bitterness is not only unavoidable, 
 but adds a certain essential quality to the taste. However, 
 if too much bitterness gets in, it will make the drink un- 
 palatable. 
 
 The following table shows the difference in actual 
 "flavor" and "bitterness" content, when the coffee is 
 made properly and when the job is done carelessly. 
 
 6 
 
PROPERLY MADE 
 
 Flavor, per cup 2.22 grains 
 
 Bitterness, per cup .29 grains 
 
 IMPROPERLY MADE 
 
 Flavor, per cup 1.75 grains 
 
 Bitterness, per cup 2.35 grains 
 
 The ideal cup of coffee, as shown above, should contain 
 the smallest possible suggestion of bitterness, with all the 
 flavor that can be extracted. By observing the proper 
 care, we can get about the right proportion of both every 
 time. 
 
 The nature of flavor and bitterness themselves help us to 
 do this. Flavor is a lively element, quickly affected by 
 boiling water, but never responsive to cool water. Bitter- 
 ness, on the other hand, while slower to act, is compara- 
 tively indifferent to the temperature of the water. It will 
 respond either to hot or cold water. 
 
 So if we should put ground coffee into luke-warm water, 
 hardly any flavor would be extracted, but the analysis 
 would show the presence of a large proportion of bitterness. 
 Also if we should put ground coffee into boiling water, and 
 leave it there too long^ both the bitterness and the flavor 
 would come out, but the bitterness in such quantities that 
 it would completely overcome all good flavor. 
 
 There is obviously a middle ground, a way to get all the 
 flavor and very little of the bitterness. And this, of 
 course — bearing in mind the action of both — is to bring 
 ground coffee in contact with boiling water, and thus ex- 
 
 / 
 
tract the flavor, but not to leave them in contact long 
 enough for too much bitterness to be extracted. And by 
 "boiling water" I mean water that is actually bubbling at 
 a gallop; that is 212 degrees hot. When water is only steam- 
 ing it is not boiling. Water will always steam when warmer 
 than the air. 
 
 In this way has been worked out the principle o( pour- 
 ing boiling water over the coffee, instead of boiling the 
 coffee in the water. The pouring process is what is called 
 filtration or "leaching" coffee, and is by far the best of 
 any known ways to make it. Pour boiling water through 
 the coffee? Why, that seems simple enough! Why are you 
 making all this to-do about a small matter like that? Any- 
 body can make good coffee if that is all there is to it! 
 
 Yes, it is simple. Anybody can do it. Then why is it 
 that so large a percentage of our coffee is ruined in the 
 making? It has long been a matter of wonder why it should 
 be so hard to persuade coffee makers to follow the few 
 simple rules that are necessary to brewing good coffee. 
 
 Human nature is a curious thing. It sometimes seems 
 that by telling people how to do it wrong we would get 
 better results. You have heard of the department store 
 owner who had many exits to his store, but just one par- 
 ticular door through which he requested the ladies not to 
 pass. Invariably they would go out that door. Then a 
 happy thought struck him. He had a big sign painted over 
 the door with the word "EXIT" upon it. Ahtr that he had 
 no trouble. The shoppers didn't want to go out that way 
 any more. 
 
 I am going to tell a few of my experiences with coffee 
 
makers later on. But first let us establish the proper way 
 to make coffee. 
 
 ACCURACY AND CARE ESSENTIAL 
 
 AT the bottom of any system of coffee making the 
 c first requirement is accuracy. Leave nothing to guess- 
 work or chance. Carefully measure your coffee and water 
 each time the coffee is made; follow the same directions 
 day after day, and at frequent intervals check up your 
 weights and measures, inspect your urns, leach bags and 
 other utensils, and thereby avoid the numberless accidents 
 which produce poor coffee. 
 
 THE LEACHING METHOD 
 
 THE standard leaching urn with a close mesh bag is the 
 best to use. This method, by chemical test, shows the 
 nearest perfect solution of coffee of any known way. In 
 fact, properly leached coffee is almost bitter-free. Pres- 
 sure urns and other patented methods have never yet pro- 
 duced results that can equal the ordinary leaching urn. 
 As a rule other devices extract too much bitterness in- 
 stead of the perfect balance of coffee properties. Methods 
 of making coffee advertised to get strength with the use of 
 a smaller quantity of coffee result in an excess of bitterness 
 and lack of flavor. All experience proves that a gallon of 
 water cannot be turned into properly flavored coffee with 
 less than eight ounces of dry coffee. No method can possibly 
 bring out more because it is not there to be had. 
 
With the standard leaching urn use a fine ground coffee. 
 Some advocate pulverized coffee, but our experience has 
 shown that pulverized coffee, used in large quantities or 
 during rush hours, is inclined to pack and mat and become 
 unmanageable. Moreover, extreme fineness is no assurance 
 of the best results. As a matter of fact, coarse ground coffee 
 gives us the more flavory drinking quality, but requires 
 the use of so much coffee per gallon that it becomes too 
 expensive for practical use. 
 
 RULES FOR MAKING COFFEE 
 
 AMOUNT OF COFFEE TO USE 
 
 For Hotels — Use in proportion of ten to twelve ounces 
 per gallon for breakfast and luncheon, according to the 
 strength desired; and for after dinner, fourteen to sixteen 
 ounces per gallon. 
 
 For Restaurants — Use in proportion of eight to nine 
 ounces per gallon, except when making one or two gallons 
 at one making, when at least ten ounces per gallon should 
 be used. 
 
 ORDER OF PROCEDURE 
 
 I. See that you have at hand correct amount of cor- 
 rectly weighed dry coffee. 
 1. Note grind of coffee. 
 
 3. See that you have a plentiful supply oi fresh boiling 
 water in hot water urn. 
 
 4. See that the gauge shows plenty of water in jacket 
 of coffee urn and that it is at top temperature — i.e., 
 practically boiling. 
 
 10 
 
5- Look in coffee urn to see that it is in proper condition. 
 
 6. See that leaching bag is sweet, then put in urn. 
 
 7. Put correct amount dry coffee in leaching bag. 
 
 8. Note that water in the hot water urn is boiling — not 
 only blowing off furiously, but that the water in 
 
 ' gauge is moving up and down. 
 
 9. Heat hot water measure by rinsing with hot water. 
 
 10. Rapidly as possible draw correct number of meas- 
 ures of water and put through coffee, keepingVm 
 cover down between measures of water and being 
 careful not to pour water on fast enough to over- 
 run top of bag in urn. If it overflows stop it by 
 stirring with a spoon, never with cold water. 
 
 11. At once repour coffee, making sure measure is hot 
 before drawing coffee into it. Repour entire mak- 
 ing — i.e., if water is five gallons repour five gallons. 
 
 12. Rest five to ten minutes. 
 
 13. Repour at least 50% of the make. 
 
 1 4. Let ripen five to ten minutes. 
 
 15. Serve. 
 
 16. Remove the leach bag and coffee grounds fifteen to 
 twenty minutes after coffee has been finished. 
 
 WATER 
 
 Too much importance cannot be placed upon the kind of 
 water used in making coffee. The following directions are 
 vital and should be adhered to: 
 
 Use fresh water. Boil hard and use at once. 
 Don't use water out of jacket or from under urn. 
 Don't use water out of the hot water system. 
 
Water becomes dead or stale even in a tight hot-water 
 urn, and must be kept fresh by drawing all the water out 
 of the urn every night. 
 
 THE LEACH BAG 
 
 The leach bag must be of standard shape. If it runs to 
 a peak the water will go out the sides instead of through 
 the dry coffee. 
 
 The leach bag must be kept clean and sweet. Rinse in 
 clean, cold water and never in warm or hot water. Keep it 
 in cold, sweet water. Muddy or cloudy coffee is caused by 
 the grounds getting into the coffee either by bubbling over 
 the top of the bag and working under the ring, or because 
 the mesh of the bag is too coarse. A fine mesh bag will pre- 
 vent fine coffee grounds going through, but a double bag 
 is better, if very clear coffee is desired. If the coffee starts 
 to bubble over the top, stir quickly with a big spoon and 
 let the air out. Never use cold water to stop it. 
 
 Remove the leach bag and coffee grounds fifteen minutes 
 after the coffee is fully finished. 
 
 CARE OF URNS 
 
 New urns must be well boiled out with coffee before us- 
 ing, to eliminate the taste of lead from the joints. Keep 
 the urn clean, including the faucets, which gather grease 
 fast. Scald and scour thoroughly once each day. Positively 
 do not allow water in the jacket to leak into the urn. Look 
 into the urn each day before making coffee, to see that no 
 water has leaked in over night. 
 
 Keep the water in the jacket of the urn at all times near the 
 boiling point. No coffee will hold its flavor ten minutes if 
 
allowed to get cool, and all coffee is ruined if allowed to 
 cool and then warmed up. 
 
 The urn and all utensils must be hot from start to finish. 
 Urns with siphon attachments should be tested by gallon 
 measure often; better still, measure all water with gallon 
 measure. Siphon urns are, in fact, unreliable, because 
 water will siphon at as low as 190 degrees, which is 11 
 degrees less than boiling point. 
 
 CREAM 
 
 The following per cent fat is recommended in your 
 cream : 
 
 18 to 20 per cent cream for coffee made eight ounces to a 
 gallon. 
 
 11 to 25 per cent cream for coffee made nine to ten 
 ounces. 
 
 30 per cent cream for coffee made twelve ounces and up. 
 
 Fresh cream is necessary — not just sweet, but fresh. 
 You will be surprised to note how differently coffee will 
 show when served with very fresh cream or when cream is 
 nearly sour or chilled. 
 
 Have your cream tested for fat occasionally. 
 
 SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES 
 
 MANY and varied have been the vicissitudes of the 
 writer during a fifth of a century's activity trying to 
 persuade coffee makers to stick to the rules. There are all 
 sorts of haphazard methods and make-shift ways that one 
 encounters. For example, in the matter of measurements, 
 you will find the man or woman who uses "a cup of coffee 
 to a pitcher of water." Sometimes when you ask how much 
 
 13 
 
coffee and water they are using they will tell you that they 
 do not know; but this sort of blunt honesty is rare. i\s a 
 general rule the coffee maker insists that he has the right 
 measurements, and only by making him go through the 
 motions do you find out just where he has gone wrong. 
 
 MISTAKES OF MEASUREMENT 
 
 I REMEMBER one case in the restaurant of one of our 
 customers. I watched the coffee maker prepare a four- 
 gallon quantity. He did the work well, measured every- 
 thing properly, and when the coffee was finished it looked 
 perfect. Then he drew a half gallon of water and turned it 
 into the coffee. 
 
 "Why did you do that?" I asked. 
 
 "The coffee looked too strong to me," he replied. 
 
 Of course the result was a cup of coffee decidedly below 
 the standard, and this illustrates how the personal whims 
 and fancies of the coffee maker often result disastrously to 
 the coffee. Many old-fashioned customs that are wholly 
 erroneous are followed. For example, in one case I found 
 the coffee maker putting salt into the dry coffee because 
 his folks at home used to do it! Naturally the flavor was 
 changed and not a true coffee flavor. 
 
 Then there was the case of the woman who, I found, was 
 breaking eggs, yolks and all, into the dry coffee and mixing 
 them together. When she put this mixture into the bag 
 and poured on the boiling water you can imagine the 
 sticky mass which resulted. The water could neither get 
 through the caked-up bag nor reach the albumen-covered 
 coffee. Why did she do it? Oh, because she had heard 
 somewhere that it improved coffee to put eggs in it!* 
 
 H 
 
 * Eggs are of value only to help clarify. 
 
To return to the matter of measurements, I must tell of 
 one more case, because it is typical. Only recently in one of 
 our fine restaurants I noticed that the coffee was not satis- 
 factory, and had no particular snap. I called the proprie- 
 tor's attention to it. 
 
 "Well," he asked, "what do you think is the trouble?" 
 
 I told him that, without looking into it, the flavor to me 
 was that of coffee made with too little dry coffee for a gal- 
 lon of water, but there might be other causes which would 
 produce such a flavor. Before leaving I said: 
 
 "Won't you see that your boys are sticking to the 
 schedule of weights?" 
 
 A day or two later I dropped in again. The coffee was 
 still the same. The proprietor told me he had talked to 
 the man. 
 
 "He is following weights," he continued, "and the boys 
 are making coffee exactly according to the rules. It must 
 be the coffee that is at fault. I am not satisfied myself, and 
 was just going to send for you." 
 
 "Let's go down and see what the boys are doing," I 
 suggested. He led the way to the storeroom and we ques- 
 tioned the man who had charge of weighing the coffee. 
 
 "Are you sure your weights are right?" I asked. 
 
 "Of course," he replied. "I'll show you." 
 
 This is the usual answer. Naturally employees do not 
 readily admit that they are at fault. However, he picked 
 up a can in which he had the right amount, put it on the 
 scale, and put the weight opposite it with perfect confi- 
 dence. The proprietor turned to me with one of those "I- 
 told-you-so" glances. I asked: 
 
 15 
 
"Do you put that can into the urn with the coffee?" 
 
 Then they both tumbled to the fact that the man had 
 been including the weight of the can as though it were 
 coffee. No further explanation was needed for the poor 
 quality of the coffee. 
 
 Sometimes we get the wrong proportions of water and 
 coiTee through some cause that is hard to detect. I remem- 
 ber one day a hotel man said to me: 
 
 "Your last lot of coffee is not as good as usual, and I am 
 going to send it back." 
 
 After asking several questions I learned that the coffee 
 became weak after standing for a while in the urn. We 
 went to the urns, drew off some coffee, and watched it for a 
 moment. Then I saw the water slowly rising in the bottom 
 of the coffee jar and the trouble was apparent. The urn 
 had been allowed to dry and the heat had burned the 
 leather washer which connects the inner jar with the outer 
 water jacket. The water was leaking in. Only one thing 
 can cause liquid coffee to weaken by standing, and that is 
 added water. 
 
 THE QUESTION OF WATER 
 
 NEXT to careless measurements it is the temperature 
 of the water that causes most trouble. There are 
 three principal errors that the men make. 
 
 One is using stale water — water that has boiled too long. 
 Another is taking hot water from the hot water pipes. 
 Both of these practices will result in poor coffee. Water 
 should be freshly boiled. 
 
 But the most typical error is the use of water that is not 
 
 16 
 
hot enough^ that is not boiling. Here is one instance that 
 is very common: 
 
 A little while ago I visited a lunch room and found the 
 coffee absolutely bad. I was surprised, because this lunch 
 room had been in the habit of turning out particularly fine 
 coffee. I called the manager's attention to it, and he 
 admitted that it was far from being as good as usual. He 
 asked me what I thought was the matter. 
 
 "Cold water," I replied. 
 
 "No," he said. "The water is boiling. Look at it steam." 
 
 He stepped up to the man who made the coffee. 
 
 "John," he asked, "was that water boiling when you 
 made the coffee?" 
 
 "Yes, sir," said John, promptly. Did John ever say 
 "no" under such circumstances? 
 
 I happened to have a thermometer with me, and on be- 
 ing tested the water proved to be less than 170 degrees. 
 Water boils at 212 degrees. Then I illustrated the fact that 
 water will steam whenever it is of higher temperature than 
 the air. 
 
 While we are on this question of boiling water, let me 
 point out the necessity of keeping all utensils hot. Boiling 
 water will not stay hot enough, nor will hot, flavory coffee 
 stay good if brought in contact with cold substances. 
 Every article used — the water measure, the pot, the cups 
 and saucers, should be made piping hot beforehand by 
 scalding. The simplest trial will prove the importance of 
 this. I was sitting at a hotel table a short while ago with 
 the proprietor. The coffee had just been served. 
 
 "This coffee is good!" he remarked. 
 
 17 
 
"Yes, it is good," I agreed. Five minutes later I asked 
 him to try the coffee again. He did so. 
 
 "It is not so good, is it?" I asked. 
 
 "No, it is not. It has lost flavor." 
 
 "Well," I said, "there's a logical reason. This coflfee was 
 drawn in a cold cup, and the cup cooled the coffee so fast 
 that, as you see, the flavor has gotten away from it." 
 
 MISTREATING THE LEACH BAG 
 
 UNLESS the leach bag is handled properly it will cause 
 ill-tasting coffee. Leach bags should be removed from 
 the urn as soon as possible after the coffee is thoroughly 
 made, or at least raised above the liquid coffee. 
 
 Leaving the bag in gives a poor cup of coffee, because 
 too much bitterness is extracted. Another important thing 
 is to have the leach bag the proper length. Standard leach 
 bags are best, and long leaches are wrong, because they 
 soak in the coffee after making, and because they can- 
 not be removed easily from the urn. Also, a long narrow 
 leach bag allows the water to escape through the side in 
 place of going through the coffee grounds. The restaurant 
 man who wishes to make three gallons of coffee should have 
 a five-gallon urn. By this arrangement the coffee maker 
 has no trouble removing his leach bag promptly at the 
 proper time; and you have the capacity if you want it. 
 
 The cleansing of leach bags also demands special care. 
 They should be cleansed in just one way — rinsed thor- 
 oughly in cold water and placed in a pan of cold water 
 where they will keep sweet until used again. Some res- 
 taurant men are very careful to wash out the leach bags in 
 
boiling water, sometimes even adding a little lye to the 
 water. Then they hang them up over the range to dry, 
 where they catch all the wandering aromas in the air! 
 This method is wrong. The boiling and drying process 
 tends to set the grease, and to sour and rot the bag. 
 
 A cloth leach bag is the only kind to use. Paper leaches 
 are unreliable. One customer told us that our coffee was 
 bitter, and explained that he had tried cutting down the 
 quantity per gallon, but while it was not so bitter it was 
 not good. On investigation I found that he had completely 
 changed his process of making coffee by putting a paper 
 leacher in place of the cloth one. What really happened 
 was that by his new process the water had gone through 
 the paper so slowly that it had extracted too large a per- 
 centage of bitterness. 
 
 CLEAN FAUCETS ESSENTIAL 
 
 A GREASY faucet, like a greasy leach bag, will ruin 
 the coffee. I was called out once to look into a case of 
 bad tasting coffee. I examined the urn and found it per- 
 fectly clean. The coffee was properly ground, and the 
 cream, on being tested, was fresh and sweet. I had the 
 regular coffee maker make the coffee, watching his meas- 
 urements carefully. There was nothing wrong anywhere, 
 apparently. At the proper time after making I tasted the 
 coffee. It certainly had a peculiar flavor. Then I noticed, 
 while he was drawing the cup, that the coffee came too 
 slowly out of the faucet. I had the coffee drawn out and 
 the faucets removed, and found that they were practically 
 stopped up by a greasy sediment, which had probably long 
 
 '9 
 
been gathering there. As soon as the faucets and pipe 
 were cleaned the trouble was ended. 
 
 CREAM MUST BE RIGHT 
 
 THE importance of good cream cannot be over-esti- 
 mated. Cream should not only be sweet, but really- 
 fresh, or it will make a big difference in the flavor. Also, 
 care should be taken to have the right amount of cream 
 for the strength of the coffee you are making. A typical 
 experience was one I had not long ago in a restaurant serv- 
 ing one ounce of 20 per cent cream to a cup. It produced 
 a dark cup of coffee, as there was not enough cream to 
 color the coffee properly. The cream dispenser would drop 
 only one ounce of cream and there was no way of adjusting 
 it. With lyi ounces we found we had a fine cup of coffee, 
 and I persuaded the restaurant man to order a new faucet 
 which would drop an ounce- and a half. 
 
 THE MILL MUST BE WATCHED 
 
 ONE final word about grinding. I was one day called 
 to Providence, R. I., in a hurry by an important 
 customer, who stated our coffee was decidedly off. I 
 reached Providence in time for the lunch hour, and 
 watched the making of the coffee very carefully. Still the 
 result was bad. I questioned the maker on all points. His 
 answers were very satisfactory. I asked him for some of 
 his dry coffee, and I found the grind at least two degrees 
 too coarse. He persisted that his mill had not been shifted, 
 but still it was turning out coarse coffee. Why did it do 
 
So important do we regard the La Touraine Formula, 
 which embodies this ideal, that we guard it as a precious 
 secret. Only a handful of men actually know what the 
 secret of La Touraine goodness consists in. In general 
 terms, however, it may be said to consist in three things 
 rigidly adhered to: 
 
 First: securing the finest types of certain special kinds 
 of coffee from the very best crops the world produces. 
 
 Second: combining these coffees to a carefully worked 
 out blend which brings out the peculiar goodness of each 
 kind. 
 
 Third: roasting them to a certain degree to extract the 
 full coffee richness, which produces the finest flavor of 
 which the blend is capable. 
 
 From the care implied here, it may be seen that for 
 every process in the production of La Touraine, not only 
 skilled men, but life-long coffee experts are required. 
 
 SELECTION 
 
 AS is well known, a more careful standard of coffee 
 production has always prevailed among Boston 
 roasters than in other cities of the country. The first com- 
 panies engaged in the importation of coffee in Boston 
 easily ranked highest in quality. To a great extent this 
 has been because in other coffee centers the buyers were 
 often satisfied to judge the coffee in the green bean en- 
 tirely, and neglect the cup-testing process. 
 
 The coffees that compose La Touraine are not only 
 chosen with microscopic exactness, but rigidly undergo the 
 
 23 
 
cup-test for actual drinking qualities, which cannot be 
 determined merely from the appearance of the bean. 
 
 We select the lots of coffee for their uniformity and den- 
 sity. The last named quality is very important. It is the 
 density and firmness of texture which give richness in 
 drinking, and assure the flavor that lingers on the palate. 
 It is also largely the density or weight of the raw coflfee 
 which makes the cost vary. As in the case of hard woods, 
 the firmer the fiber the higher the price. Cheap coffee is 
 light and porous — or "punky." It can be instantly de- 
 tected by weighing in the hand in comparison with an 
 equal bulk of high-grade coffee. 
 
 THE SECRET BLEND 
 
 AFTER the selection and cup-testing of coffee comes 
 ^ the blending. 
 
 While every process in the growth and preparation of 
 coffee for the market is of great importance to the ultimate 
 quality obtained, experts lay the greatest stress on blend- 
 ing. It is in the factory laboratory, where the secret blend 
 is daily watched and determined, that coffee production 
 becomes truly a high art. 
 
 The different kinds of coffee possess subtle differences 
 in flavor and grade only noticeable to the trained eye and 
 taste. A single type of coffee may produce a liquid of ex- 
 ceptional body. Another may have a livelier flavor. Still 
 another may have more aroma. 
 
 Any one of these coffees when roasted and brewed will 
 result in an excellent cup. But by putting them together 
 
 24 
 
in the proper proportion we obtain a balanced mingling of 
 their qualities which is far finer than any of them alone. 
 
 In determining the standard of the several coffees which 
 go into the blend, extremely close decisions^nvolving a 
 difference in aggregate cost of thousands of dollars — are by 
 no means a rare thing, the same watchful care being exer- 
 cised day after day in the purchase of coffees for this most 
 carefully guarded brand of coffee. 
 
 ROASTING 
 
 NEXT in importance to the blending of the coffee is 
 the roasting process. Many persons believe that 
 when they make coffee for their tables from the beans 
 which have been roasted and ground, they are really 
 "cooking" the coffee. As a matter of fact, all the "cooking" 
 that the coffee receives has previously been done in the 
 heated revolving cylinders, or "roasting drums," under the 
 close personal supervision of a skilled roaster. 
 
 This roasting, in the better class of importers' establish- 
 ments, where quality is the first consideration, is an intri- 
 cate and vital process, requiring not only a thorough 
 knowledge of coffee, but years of training in the handling 
 of equipment, the exact modulation of the heat, and the 
 precise moment when just the turn of color has been 
 reached. Careless and mechanical methods in roasting can- 
 not produce good coffee. 
 
 For this reason the roaster should not only be a coffee 
 specialist, thoroughly versed in the types of coffee which 
 go into his blend, but as much a full-fledged chef as any 
 other master of the preparation of gastronomic delicacies. 
 
 25 
 
He should have the "sixth sense," whereby the master 
 baker knows exactly when his pastries are browned to a 
 turn, for it is the roaster who really cooks the coffee, the 
 preparation for the table merely extracting in solution the 
 oils already released by heat in the revolving drums. The 
 La Touraine roast is of just the right degree to bring out 
 in this particular blend those rich flavors so pleasing to a 
 lover of coffee. 
 
 CLEANLINESS 
 
 N addition to selecting the very best coffees and blend- 
 ing and roasting them perfectly, we make sure that only 
 clean coffees go into La Touraine. 
 
 To this end the beans undergo scouring and win- 
 nowing processes before and after being roasted. Our 
 sanitary and well lighted plant is equipped with up-to- 
 date machinery for these various processes, and from the 
 green bean to the packed carton the coffee is never touched 
 by the human hand. The moment it is taken from the bags, 
 it starts by means of a system of elevators and traveling 
 buckets, on a single continuous round of the plant, from 
 process to process, until it is automatically weighed into 
 packages for shipment. 
 
 La Touraine, when it leaves our factory, is therefore 
 guaranteed to be absolutelv net weight pure coffee, thor- 
 oughly cleansed and free from any vestige of foreign 
 material. 
 
 To sum up the reasons why La Touraine is the best 
 coffee for you to use: — 
 
 26 
 
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