type; and to two thousand or three
thousand dollars for the two-bag type.

One coffee-roaster-machinery manufacturer has recently brought out a
gas-fired, electrically operated fifty-pound miniature coffee-roasting
plant designed for retail stores, which comprises a roaster, a rotary
cooler, and a stoning device, that sells for six hundred and fifty
dollars.

[Illustration: ROYAL GAS COFFEE ROASTER FOR RETAIL STORES]

Retail coffee roasting is similar to the wholesale operation. When the
cylinder has become heated, the green coffee is run in and allowed to
roast in the revolving cylinder for about half an hour. If the coffee is
the average green kind, the full heat may be applied at once; but if old
and dry, a lesser degree is used. When the roast begins to snap, the
flame is turned lower to allow the beans to cook through evenly; and
when nearly done, it is almost extinguished. During the operation, the
roasterman, who may be the proprietor or a clerk delegated to the work,
frequently "samples" the coffee by taking out a small quantity with his
"trier" and comparing the color of the roast with a type sample. When
the colors match exactly, the coffee is dumped automatically into the
cooler box just below the cylinder opening; and when sufficiently cooled
off, is ready for grinding to order.

A large number of retailers roast coffee in their stores; and the most
successful find that besides being able to make a feature of freshly
roasted coffee, they can save money and increase their sales. One
progressive grocer found that he was able to get eighty-eight pounds of
roasted coffee out of one hundred pounds of green coffee, as compared
with the wholesaler's eighty-four pounds; that he could buy green coffee
at a closer price than roasted; and that it cost him less for labor,
fuel, overhead, and similar items, than it did the wholesale roaster to
turn out a roast.[340]

[Illustration: BURNS HALF-BAG GAS ROASTING, COOLING, AND STONING OUTFIT]

[Illustration: LAMBERT JUNIOR GAS ROASTING, COOLING, AND STONING OUTFIT
FOR RETAIL STORES (Capacity fifty pounds)]

A chain of coffee specialty stores in which the coffee is roasted fresh
every day was started in California about the year 1916; and according
to reports, it met with almost instant success. In this system, the
proprietor buys the green coffee in large quantities, and it is roasted
in each of his specialty stores, which are located in public markets,
store window