Coffee Ration

[Jeffrey Cohen]

Greetings:
When the soldiers got there coffee rations, did they have to roast the beans or were they already roasted?
Regards,
Jeffrey Cohen

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: Coffee Ration

Moved to Camp of Instruction for better responses... Jeffery, this is where ground level questions can be asked on here, FYI.

[Silas]

Re: Coffee Ration

Depends upon whether the issued beans had been roasted or not.

[Tyler Gibson]

Re: Coffee Ration

Short answer, Yes.

[Silas]

Re: Coffee Ration

When I first saw the question, I had the same thought, Tyler. Then, I thought about this : http://legal-dictionary.thefreedicti...pound+question

[Jeremy Bevard]

Re: Coffee Ration

Coffee was issued both green and roasted. Green coffee beans are smaller then roasted so in the same space more green can be transported than roasted. Green coffee also lasts much longer. In doing research I have several primary accounts talking about needing to roasting their beans.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Coffee Ration

Agreed -- green or roasted. I get the impression from the sources that green was more prevalent pre- and early war, but the army moved more to ordering it delivered ground and roasted. One reason might have been to save time and spoilage when the roasting was given over to individual soldiers or messes, rather than cooks in established posts. Commissary Kilburn, in "Notes on Preparing Stores," provides the following specs for coffee:

"COFFEE.

"Rio coffee is almost always used in the army. It should be regular in grain, bright color, not wanting in strength. New Rio coffee is apt to be rank and strong. All coffee improves in flavor by age, possibly excepting the lowland Rio, (which bleaches by age.) It is never so strong as the upland Rio, which continues green for six months or a year. Upland is therefore the best. It can be distinguished, from its being less regular than lowland, in its being heavier, and if old, by its color. Porto Rico coffee is a better coffee than Rio. Maracaibo coffee is a still better grade, approaching Mocha. Coffee for army use should be of small grain, as soldiers are not apt to parch their coffee sufficiently. A small and regular grain is more easily parched through than a larger one. Deception is sometimes accomplished by soaking Rio coffee, which brings it near the size of Java, and then smoking it, to give it color; it is then sold for Java! 1 Coffee prepared in this way can be distinguished by the smoky smell, and by being soft on biting it. Mocha coffee is of a small and irregular grain; it is a very strong coffee, and is perhaps more economical for sales to officers than Java. Java being a Dutch possession, Holland is the headquarters for Government Java coffee, as it is also for the manufacture of spurious Java.

"Porto Rico coffee, usually green in color, is little used in this country.

"The Mexican coffee is a small, rather regular grain, and is usually of about the same value as the Maracaibo coffee.

"The India coffees are all excellent, Mocha, Java, Sumatra and Ceylon, and valuable in the order named. For officers use these might be purchased, but for the army it must be Rio or St. Domingo, or both.

"Cape coffee is from the Islands. It is a large grain, similar in appearance to Java, not so brown and lighter, greenish yellow. It roasts well and makes good coffee if properly parched. In appearance it is not so desirable. Its mercantile value is usually from one half to one cent per pound below Rio. Green, it has a peculiar aromatic smell.

"Coffee should always be bought for army use with actual tare; Mercantile rules usually allow but part tare, one and two per cent., and sometimes none. An express agreement should therefore be had on purchase.

"For cooling coffee after roasting no water should be allowed to be sprinkled over it; an increase of weight takes place by absorption of water, in some cases of two per cent. In addition to which the aroma and flavor of the coffee is at least partially destroyed, two grand objections, resulting in fraud.

"There are honest roasters and grinders, but with the present high prices the temptation to adulterate on the part of those doing the work for the Government is very great. A cheat of four or five per cent. would be profitable, and I am sorry to say the party doing so may find others to justify him in his rascality, for two reasons: first, that it is Government; second, a more reasonable one, that adulteration improves the coffee. In England and France the use of chickory is almost universal, families buying it as they do their coffee, and making their own mixture.

"The Southern and Western States use generally Rio coffee, whilst the Northern and Eastern States consume mostly the St. Domingo, which is not so strong and is of milder flavor. A mixture of the two is desirable. For the last year Rio has been almost the only kind obtainable, and though the St. Domingo is unsightly it has borne the highest price.

"Coffee should not be stored on ship in contact with pepper or tobacco; either will injure the flavor, particularly pepper."

https://books.google.com/books?id=c5syAQAAMAAJ&dq=intitle%3Astores%20inauthor%3Akilburn&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Whether green or roasted, a contractor would be well advised not to try to cheat the army on such a critical item. In June, 1863, John K. Stetler, a Baltimore merchant, tried to pass off a hundred casks of "prime, roasted and ground Rio" that was discovered upon testing to be adulterated. He was tried by court martial and sentenced to five years in the penitentiary at Albany. I think we can all agree he got off lightly... :)

https://books.google.com/books?id=9zkbAAAAYAAJ&dq=coffee%20contract%20ground%20roast%20rio&pg=PA642#v=onepage&q=coffee%20contract%20ground%20roast%20rio&f=false