1733 - Francis Dickinson
How the Commissary for Affairs of the Honorable East India Company Buys Coffee
Mocha, Yemen
We have made our Banians speak to the weighers, and desire them to show us how far their dexterity extends, which they have given us a specimen of in the above Coffee, in which we find we have grained above three and a half per cent at the Sale, tho' the manner of doing it is not very commendable, for it is done by giving the weighers a small sum of money, and keeping them constantly supplied with liquors, for which they have given us so great an overweight, and for a small trifle wronged the owners of the coffee of a considerable sum.
Boxhall, Peter
The Diary of a Mocha Coffee Agent
Arabian Studies 1/1974