hatches are removed, the coffee is hauled out of the hold by block
and tackle and swung off in slings to the pier, where dock laborers
carry the bags to their proper places. If each cargo consisted of one
consignment to a single importer, and contained only one variety of
coffee, unloading would be a comparatively simple affair. In general
practise, however, the cargoes consist of a large number of consignments
and a variety of grades, necessitating a careful sorting as unloading
progresses. Accordingly, even before the unloading begins, the dock is
chalked off into squares, each square having a number, or symbol,
representing a particular consignment. As the bags come up out of the
hold, the foreman of the laborers, who has a key to the brand marks on
the bags, indicates where each bag is to be placed. Coffee to be
reshipped, either by lighter or rail, is heaped in piles by itself until
loaded on to the lighters or freight cars.

[Illustration: STORING COFFEE BY MARKS AND CHOPS]

[Illustration: HOISTING COFFEE INTO THE STORAGE WAREHOUSES ADJOINING THE
BROOKLYN PIERS]

[Illustration: RECEIVING AND STORING COFFEE AT NEW YORK]

The next step is to transfer the cargo to the warehouse, and to
separate each consignment according to the various kinds of coffee
making up the invoices. When the importer gives his orders to store, he
sends also a list of the different kinds of coffees in his consignment,
called "chops" by the trade, with directions how to divide the shipment.
To do this, the floor of the warehouse is chalked off into squares, as
was done on the dock; but now the numbers, or symbols, in each space
indicate the chops in each invoice, or consignment.

[Illustration: TESTER AT WORK, BUSH TERMINAL, NEW YORK]

[Illustration: LOADING LIGHTERS, BUSH DOCKS, NEW YORK]

The importer naturally is eager to sample the newly arrived coffee.
Sampling is generally done by trained warehouse employees, who are
equipped with coffee triers, sampling instruments resembling
apple-corers, which they thrust into the bags. The instrument is hollow,
and the coffee flows into the hand of the sampler, who places each
sample in a paper bag which is marked to indicate the chop. The total
sample of each chop usually consists of about ten pounds of coffee,
which the importer compares with the exporter's sample.

When sampling for trade delivery, about two-thirds of the bags in a chop
are tried. But when sampling for delivery on Coffee