Learn more about the objects of the medium-term exhibition “Café, patrimônio cultural do Brasil: ciência, história e arte” and understand the importance of each one to the history of coffee.
Telex Device
1977
Metal and Plastic
Telex was an international communication system by short printed messages. It was a worldwide network with a numerical address plan with single terminals that sent a message to any other terminal. Due to its capacity of immediately receiving the messages and of terminal authentication, this device was used until the end of the twentieth century.
The Olivetti Company was created by Camilo Olivetti in Italy on 1908, initially manufacturing typewriters. On the decade of 1920, the company expanded and diversified its operation under the command of Camilo’s son, Adriano, who enhanced the brand identity. The model TE 315 was released on 1977.
The object was owned by the Brazilian Coffee Institute – IBC – regulatory agency of the product. The collection of this institution, terminated on 1989, was in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture, and was partially stored on Carapicuíba Storage on Baruerí, State of São Paulo. This equipment integrated the collection of Museu do Café on 2005
Sample Cans
w/o date.
Metal
Containers to store samples of 300g of a certain coffee batch. The cans were taken to the exporting companies by the coffee dealers for classification and for purchase offers. They could have a lettering or printing on their covers with the name of the owner company and a side label containing information about the batch, such as the quantity of bags.
This object was owned by Companhia Comercio & Industria de Armazéns Gerais, operating on Santos and Paranaguá. Aside from storing the producers’ coffee, Armazéns Gerais also offered the reprocessing and bounding formation services with different types of coffee. They were also responsible for the emission of the warranty, a document ascertaining the coffee beans storage on the warehouse that was used by the clients seeking bank financing.
The equipment was donated by Associação Comercial de Santos to Museu do Café on 2003
Coffee Cupping Table
c.1952
Metal and granite
The coffee cupping, or coffee tasting, is a step of the coffee classification that determines the quality of the product, which is graded from “strictly soft” (the highest) to “River Zone” (the lowest). The cupping table is the main piece of a set of objects needed to the evaluation made by the coffee tasters.
Its circular granite cover can be turned to allow the professionals to taste the different coffee types on the glass containers and to speed up the work. It has a metal movable support that is generally used to put water glasses to clean the tasters’ palate.
The object was owned by the Brazilian Coffee Institute (IBC), regulatory agency of the product. The collection of this institution, terminated on 1989, was in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture, and was partially stored on Carapicuíba Storage on Baruerí, State of São Paulo. This equipment integrated the collection of Museu do Café on 2005
Tasting spoon
Decade of 1950
Stainless steel and silver
The coffee cupping, or coffee tasting, is a step of the coffee classification that determines the quality of the product, which is graded from “strictly soft” (the highest) to “River Zone” (the lowest). The tasting spoon is part of a set of objects needed to the evaluation made by the coffee tasters.
After smelling the coffee, the classifier taste it using the spoon, then split it out on a spittoon. Normally, those spoons are bathed on silver so as to avoid altering the taste of the coffee to be classified.
The spoon was donated to Museu do Café by Eduardo Carvalhaes Jr. on 2004. It was used on the classification laboratory of Carvalhaes office, traditional coffee dealers established on Santos.
Set of tasting cups
Decade of 1940
Glass
The cups are made of glass, and are used on the coffee cupping, or coffee tasting step.
It is a step of the coffee classification that determines the quality of the product, which is graded from “strictly soft” (the highest) to “River Zone” (the lowest).
Unlike on the consumption preparation method, the boiling water is poured directly on the grinded coffee to the container, without using filters.
The objects were owned by Associação Comercial de Santos and were donated to Museu do Café on 2001.
Spittoon
c.2000
Stainless Steel
The coffee cupping, or coffee tasting, is a step of the coffee classification that determines the quality of the product, which is graded from “strictly soft” (the highest) to “River Zone” (the lowest). The spittoon is part of a set of objects needed to the evaluation made by the coffee tasters. After smelling the coffee, the classifier taste it using the spoon, then split it out on a spittoon.
The equipment was donated to Museu do Café on 2005 by Manoel Teixeira Ogando.
Gamela
w/o date.
Wood
The gamela is a wooden container used to transport small quantities of food or grains. In the coffee warehouse, it was used on the manual bagging. The coffee was put in the determined location and arranged with the shovel in order to form mounds and mix the different types of coffee. Then, the bags were filled by means of the trough and weighted on the Roman scales. The bags were sewed and reallocated on the warehouse. All steps were performed by baggers that could be employed by the warehouse or hired by means of the syndicate because of the demand.
The object was manufactured by Escobar S.A. and donated for Museu do Café by Alcides Yonuguthi on 2004.
Coffee Sack Puncher
w/o date.
Wood and Metal
Aside from storing the producers’ coffee, Armazéns Gerais also offered the reprocessing and bounding formation services with different types of coffee. They were also responsible for the emission of the warranty, a document ascertaining the coffee beans storage on the warehouse that was used by the clients seeking bank financing.
Once they entered the warehouse, the bags were drilled by a bagger to get a sample and determine the size of the grain by means of a sieve. The size determined the place of the bags on the warehouse. The coffee sack puncher could be used afterwards whenever more samples were required. Its conical and hollowed shape allowed the bag to be drilled without harming the weave, thus avoiding a greater grains leakage by the hole.
The equipment was donated to Museu do Café on 2004 by Sérgio Ricardo Lopes dos Reis.
Roman Scale
c.1958
Metal and wood
Metal scale used to weight the coffee bags. The weighting process was performed putting the coffee bag in one of the wooden plates and 20kg weights in the other plate. One coffee bag should weight 60kg, i.e. three weights of 20kg. It was generally used on warehouses by baggers after the assemble of new coffee connections or to check the bag weight.
It was manufactured by Técnica Industrial Oswaldo Filizola, a company founded on 1958 in the State of São Paulo by the engineer Oswaldo Filizola.
The object was owned by the Brazilian Coffee Institute – IBC – regulatory agency of the product. The collection of this institution, terminated on 1989, was in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture, and was partially stored on Carapicuíba Storage on Baruerí, State of São Paulo. The equipment was donated to Museu do Café on 2005.
Sewing Machine
1956
Metal and wood
The sewing machines were used to fix the holes made by the driller and other damages on the coffee bags. Usually, the new bags were used only for exported coffee beans; thus, the other ones were put on reused bags. Bag sewing was a typically feminine work.
Cirdar company was established on 1923 by Nobuyoshi Nakajima, in Tokio, producing printing machines. On 1931, the company started manufacturing and selling small-sized sewing machines. After the Second World War, a period in which the company dedicated itself on manufacturing munitions and military components, Cirdar rededicated itself to the sewing machines, manufacturing them on wide scale on the decade of 1950.
The equipment is part of the set that was owned by Brazilian Coffee Institute – IBC – and was donated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply on 2005.
