ncisco did not have a
trading exchange until 1918, in which year the Green Coffee Association
of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce began operations.

_Growth of the Coffee-Roasting Trade_

The wholesale coffee roasting business in the United States seems to
have started in the closing years of the eighteenth century. In
February, 1790, a "new coffee manufactory" began business at 4 Great
Dock Street, New York, and the proprietor announced that he had provided
himself at considerable expense with the proper utensils "to burn, grind
and classify coffee on the European plan." He sold the freshly roasted
product "in pots of various sizes from one to twenty weight, well packed
down, either for sea or family use so as to keep good for twelve
months."

A second roasting plant started up at 232 Queen Street, New York, nearly
opposite the governor's house, toward the close of 1790. This second
coffee roasting plant was known in 1794 as the City Coffee Works. James
Thompson operated a "coffee manufactory" at 25 Thames Street in 1795. In
this year there was also the "Old Ground Coffee Works" in Pearl Street,
formerly Hanover Square, "three doors below the bank at number 110,"
operating "two mills, one pair French burr stones" but no orders were
accepted here for less than six pounds, at "two pence advanced from the
roasting loss."

Other coffee manufactories followed in the large towns of the new
states; and, always, the coffee was treated "on the European plan." This
meant that it was "burnt over a slow coal fire, making every grain a
copper color and ridding it all of dust and chaff." There was usually a
difference in price of three to four pence a pound between the green and
roasted product. Packages of roasted coffee under the half-dozen weight
were sold in New York in 1791 for two shillings and three pence per
pound, allowance being made for grocers at a distance. In those days,
the favorite container was a narrow-mouthed pot or jar of any size. This
was the first crude coffee package. In retailing the product,
cornucopias made of newspapers, or any other convenient wrapping, were
first employed; but, with the introduction of paper bags in the early
sixties, the housekeeper soon became educated to this more sanitary form
of carry package, and its permanence was quickly assured.

The following were listed in Longworth's _Almanack_ as coffee roasters
in New York in 1805: John Applegate; Cornelius Cooper; Benjamin Cut