A STORY OF COFFEE

e [Music] coffee is produced in a majority of the Latin American republics in each the story of coffee varies this is a story of Brazilian coffee coffee from the southern section of Brazil coffee from one of Brazil's thousand of coffee [Music] plantations quite naturally we start with a seed which is carefully selected and planted in beds 3 in apart and 2 in deep in large shaded [Music] nurseries in about 2 months the seeds germinate when the seedlings reach a height of 8 in they are transplanted and still later at about 6 months they are again transplanted at 18 months the small trees are put into loose baskets and the tree basket included is placed in a hole about 2 ft [Music] deep after the hole has been filled a ditch is dug around the new Coffee Tree to retain the water needed by the young plant in several months the new coffee tree has become rugged and strong and in 3 years a few berries may appear but full production is not achieved until the fifth or sixth year the leaves of the trees are always green slightly waxy and from 4 to 5 in long as the plantation develops careful cultivation is essential in time also fertilizer must be added to replenish the [Music] [Applause] soil when the coffee trees are in bloom the white flowers turn the plantation into a sea of white soon the coffee berries appear first green then yellow then red somewhat resembling [Music] cherries in stripping a tree of its ripe red berries a piece of canvas is placed on the ground to catch the berries as they fall each tree Bears approximately 2 lounds of coffee annually and will produce full crops from its 5th to its 20th year when several Workers Unite in stripping a tree leaves and branches may drop with the berries on the canvas however when this is picked up most of the leaves can be removed by [Music] hand the rest are eliminated by a quick toss of the large C finally the Picker has only the clean berries left during the day hundreds of bags are filled with coffee berries good pickers average 2 to 500 lb of coffee a day wagons carry the bags of freshly picked coffee to large storage tanks near the plantation [Music] headquarters bag after bag is dumped into a huge concrete tank which is filled with water upon entering the washing tanks the coffee barriers are kept in motion by long poles this agitation prevents the Beres from being affected by the hot sun especially if exposed for any length of time after the barriers have been allowed to soak for a sufficient period they are sled through concrete canals clear cold water carries the berries along until they reach the rotary washers here they undergo a vigorous washing process which removes grit and other foreign substances from the outer covering of the coffee beans [Music] continuing through other canals the bearers are SLO to waiting [Music] buckets within a few seconds the cart is filled and ready to be wheed seed away the excess water draining from Holes in the [Music] bottom the washed berries are now ready for drying on a concrete platform as large as a football [Music] field the drying process requires Ires about 3 weeks if the weather is good but during this period the coffee must be turned at regular intervals so that drying is [Music] uniform to protect the coffee from dampness and possible rain it is raked into piles at the end of each day and covered with canvas [Music] once this tedious drying process has been completed the Coffee Bean is ready to be separated from its outer protective covering many plantations in Brazil maintain their own huling and processing plants hulling machines remove the outer covering which has been around the beans up to this time as soon as the coffee beans are H they are graded by size in automatic C ing machines the shaking action causes the beams of different sizes to drop into their proper compartments although the sizing is completely automatic and extremely accurate sharp eyes and skillful fingers make a rapid checkup inspection when the grated coffee is bagged it tips the scales at 130 lb and is ready to be sent to the plantation warehouse for storage until ordered for [Music] shipment on receipt of shipping orders the coffee is transported by truck to the nearby railroad which takes it from the plantation to Santos Santos is the modern coffee shipping Port of Brazil the Santos coffee exchange is the heart of the business life of the greatest coffee exporting city in the world exports amount to more than 1 and a half billion pounds of coffee every [Music] year it is no wonder that the streets of Santos are crowded with coffee brokers who sell their coffee on the streets or in the offices of the many exporters every sale to an exporter is represented by a sample as soon as a sample of coffee is received it is carried to the grading department where experts examine the green coffee by its fragrance as well as by its [Music] appearance these rigid tests as well as others guarantee the quality of the coffee [Music] beans usually only a few imperfections are found in the samples pouring the green coffee beans into a cve is the method used for determining the size of the beans [Music] the final test is to roast a small sample make a cup of coffee and have an expert taste it to determine its flavor characteristics [Music] exactly during these tests the big Sachs of coffee have been waiting in huge warehouses in Santos but now that all the tests are passed the coffee is ready for export to the markets of the whole world and especially to the United States as soon as the coffee is loaded into trucks and moved through the streets of Santos the story of Brazilian coffee is almost at an [Music] end now it is only a matter of filling the holes of Swift Oceano vessels and carrying the coffee to the United States where eventually it will find its way into millions of American homes