Grayson County TXGenWeb

ONLY 6 YEARS OLD, PLATTER COMPANY SERVES WIDE AREA
One of the finest coffee and tea packing houses in the nation and one of the largest in the state Is the David G. Platter Coffee Company, 222-24 West Chestnut street.
The business started six years ago, with almost no capital in a modest building on South Mirick where it operated for two years before moving to 209 South Rusk avenue and then to the present location. Each moved increased its capacity fivefold.
The present factory has all modern equipment which cleans and sorts out the immature beans and waste materials at a rate of eight tons a day. The company roasts, blends, packs and ships more than thirty brands for the entire state of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. There are also five different blends of tea, the main ones being “Tea Time Tea” and “Kool”.
Representatives distribute from company branches at Paris, Greenville, Ada, Ardmore, and Denison. Arkansas and New Mexico cities are covered by wholesale distributors.

COFFEE IMPORTED
Green coffee beans are imported from Central and South America, eliminating the cost of in-between buyers. The company pays a premium for the better type of beans which must meet high standards.

Early 1920s coffee testing room at Waples-Platter plant in Denison.
Pictured are W. J. Cockrell Sr., coffee roaster manager; and Lingo Platter, nephew of Waples-Platter founder.
Source: "Grayson County's 140th Birthday," 1985. Also in Hunt & Bryant, DENISON (pictorial history, Arcadia, 2011), page 14.

Samples are roasted in the laboratory roaster, ground and then tested from numbered cups by three experienced blenders. David Platter, president and general manager of the company, explained that the coffee is blended for flavor, aroma and strength without one being able to taste any one particular coffee used.
For instance, in Magic Cup Coffee, the company’s first brand, five coffees are used from Mexico, Arabia, and Columbia, to secure a smooth palatable cup. In Town Talk a lower priced blend, one Brazilian and three Central American coffees are used. Each bag of green coffee is thoroughly tested so that a specific type and character of coffee may reach the consumer in uniformity. The coffee is again checked as it is roasted. From the roaster it is dumped into a cooler. Then a huge fan cleans and sorts the coffee, carrying it to the second-story bins where it comes back by chute to the mills and packing line. From the mill the coffee goes to an automatic weigher and into cellophane packages, tin pails or whatever type of package is desired. All process is untouched by hand.

BUYS TEA GARDENS
Tea is contracted by “the garden”, an entire garden being purchased and shipped at one time in 120-pound, foil lined plywood chests. The tea is purchased by a London representative from Ceylon and India. Tea Time Tea is from Orange Pekoe, grade of India and Ceylon teas. The second brand, Kool, is blended from Pekoe and Orange Pekoe teas from Formosa and Java. Both leading brands of tea are black teas.
Mr. Platter is assisted in the blending laboratory by J.L. Giles, factory superintendent, and Miss Evelyn Wallace, secretary of the company. C.E. Giles, plant foreman, has had twenty years of roasting experience, while J.L. Giles has fifteen years of experience. Miss Anna Beth Wallace is bookkeeper and, Mrs. Audrey Lewis is packing line supervisor.
Jack Robison is the Denison sales representative; Cecil Casteel, Ardmore; A.N. Julien, Greenville; W.H. Osborne, Paris; and Charles Herndon Hale has recently taken over Ada, Okla.