Among the coffees largely sold upon the American market are those which go by the name of "Mocha." Because of the commercial value of the true Mocha bean, it becomes necessary to indicate the restrictions which must be placed upon the coffees put upon the market and sold under the name of "Mocha."

This matter has been fully investigated and valuable information obtained through the Department of State and from the consul and consular agent in those districts where the true Mocha coffee is grown and whence it is shipped to America and other parts of the world.

The following quotations are taken from the report submitted to the Department of State from the consular agent at Aden under date of January 3, 1908:

The Mocha coffee is produced in that district of southern Arabia known as "Yemen." The latter is a strip of territory commencing at a point on the Red Sea a little north of the port of Hodeidah and extending first southeast to the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb and then east nearly to Aden. Yemen is, with the exception of a narrow fringe of land along the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, rugged and mountainous, embracing innumerable small, elevated valleys of high fertility which are irrigated by waters from the melting snows. This is the coffee district of Arabia.

The term "Mocha" was bestowed upon "Yemen" coffee early in the last century, when Mocha was the port from which all Arabian coffee was shipped. The formation of huge sandbars in the Red Sea off Mocha, practically barring out all shipping, caused the port to be abandoned, and its trade went to Hodeidah and Aden, the bulk of it going to the latter place.

As all of the coffee raised in Yemen may properly be called "Mocha" coffee, all coffee shipped from the port of Hodeidah comes within such classification. With regard to that exported from Aden, however, the case is somewhat different. There is a coffee grown in the upland regions of Abyssinia, in the vicinity of Harrar, which is known locally and to the coffee trade of the world as "Longberry" or "Harrar" in contrast with that of Mocha, which is sometimes called the "Shortberry." The colors of both coffees are practically the same, but the Abyssinian product has a raw, rank, leathery odor, while that of the berry grown in Arabia is delicate and agreeable. The Harrar berry is much longer than the Mocha one, besides being much less regular in form.

While a considerable quantity of Abyssinian coffee is brought to Aden for shipment to Europe and to the United States, it is doubtful whether very little of it, if any, is exported as being Mocha coffee, the local merchants as a rule dealing in both grades of coffee and being very careful of the reputation of their houses. In Aden the only way in which a dishonest dealer might adulterate Mocha coffee would be by mixing it with the Abyssinian article. Such a proceeding would be at best but a clumsy fraud and would be readily and rapidly detected. It is safe to say that practically all of the coffees shipped directly from Hodeidah or Aden to the United States and labeled "Mocha" are pure and unadulterated.

The consensus of opinion is that the term "Mocha" as applied to coffee, should be restricted as indicated in the above communication from the consular agent at Aden, that is, to coffee grown in that part of Arabia to the north and east of Hodeidah, known as Yemen.