Coffee and chocolate have a long been part of the human experience and have become vital to many people, each in their own way. Coffee, an important commodity for generations, is for many, an essential start to their day and a tool to keep them going through boring meetings. Movies and television shows feature scenes in coffee shops that mirror real life. Chocolate has also become an essential part of life for many a sweet tooth. There are chocolate Easter bunnies and Valentine’s Day candy, and it is also an excellent partner for peanut butter and in coffee drinks. That is why, for this post about the Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, I thought coffee, and its occasional companion chocolate, should share the spotlight.
The journal included regular columns for both the coffee and cacao trade. The regular column “Green Coffee Trade of New York” usually listed the members of the Green Coffee Association of New York City. The “Tea and Coffee Premium Trade” column in the July 1925 issue had a few charts on world coffee, which included production and consumption for 1905-1924 as well as data related to stocks, prices, and more.
The “Cocoa and Chocolate Trade” column was also a regular feature and there were two things in the October column to mention. One item looked at the newly established New York Cocoa Exchange at 124-26 Water Street, which was organized on October 1, 1925, and received a welcome from the New York Coffee & Sugar Exchange. The other item was a chart with the “Chemical contest of well-known brands of cocoa,” which listed companies like Stephen F. Whitman, Great A & P Tea Co., and Hershey, with information on the percent of water, fiber, fat, etc. in their products.
The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal featured ads for several different coffee brands, but being from New Orleans, the ads for chicory, which was and still is used a coffee filler, intrigued me. I grew up with chicory coffee and had not thought about the companies that supplied it like EB Muller & Co., Henry Franck Sons, Inc., American Cereal-Coffee actually selling chicory.
I spent some time exploring the articles in the 1925 issues of Tea and Coffee Trade Journal particularly those about various places around the world. These articles included: “Santos Coffee Industry in Pictures” (December), “Cacao in the British Empire” (November), “Is this Mild Coffee’s Opportunity?” (July) and “With the Coffee Mission in Brazil” (July). A small piece in the October issue about roasting coffee and cacao asserted that using gas in the roasting process was superior to using coal.
There were a few items in the 1925 issues related to the 15th annual convention of the National Coffee Roasters Association, scheduled for that November in St. Louis. The August issue had the layout of the Exhibition Hall for the convention, while two other articles, one in September, and another in October, were pre-conference material intended to get members excited for the upcoming convention. The September piece included a schedule of events while the one in October looked at the roasting trade in St. Louis, with information on the roasting companies located there and photos of their various company buildings. Businesses mentioned included, DF Blanke Tea & Coffee Co, Steinwender-Stoffregen Coffee Co., HP Coffee Co, Biston Coffee Co., Norwine Coffee Co., Rothe-Homeyer Coffee Co., H-A-S Coffee Co., Meyer Bros. Coffee & Spice Co., Huthsing Coffee Co., Nash-Smith Tea & Coffee Co., Hanley-Kinsella Coffee & Spice Co., and St. Louis Coffee & Spice Mills. The December issue had a full conference run-down in which they announced the new officers, looked at newly adopted resolutions, and included photos of association officers and committee members. There was also quite a bit about the industrial exhibits with brief write-ups of individual exhibitors and even some photos of their booths. Of course, it wasn’t all business because the journal included some information on entertainment and leisure activities.
Science & Business has created other coffee and chocolate-related content if you want another fix. This includes posts about caffeine, coffee maven Alice Foote MacDougall, iced coffee, and the New Orleans French Market. And if you didn’t read the first post, please give it a read.
Do you want more stories like this? Then subscribe to Inside Adams — it’s free!