CPFKE HORTr-S JAMAICENSI-S. 217 



any article it comes in rontact with, esprciall}- sugar, rrim, or pimenta, and being 

 stowed tw> near these commfxliijes in the slii|), ihey coniinunicate their disagreeable, taste 

 and sniell, which even tlie iire, in parrhing, cannot again seperate from the coffee.- 

 1 he, greatest care shonKI th;refbro be taken to keep such articles entirely seperate, 

 and to patk the coffee in the driest and soundest casks ; and, if possiijle, to ship it oa 

 such vessels as are entirely loaded v/ith coffee. 



Front many samples of Janiaira coffee, carefnlty cured and sent to London, it ap- 

 peareiJ tliac it was equal to tiie best Arabian cutiee ; and lUe dea.lers pronounced sonic 

 of them even superior. 



The following obser\-atiotis on the quality cf coffee, are taken from Dr. BcoTie's 

 Hibtory of Jamaica : 



" It is a generiu remark in England, and indeed a certain one, that coffee imported 

 from America does not answer so -well as that of the growth of Ai'abia, nor is it owing 



- (as some iniagiue) to any foreign fume or vapours it coight have contracted in the pas- 

 sage, though great care should be .nlways taken to pix?vent any acquisition of tlii;' na- 

 ture ; for even tliere, what is commonly used, will neither parch nor mis like the 

 Turkey coffee ; but this has been hitherto owing to the want of okservation, or know- 



. jng the nature of the grain, most people being attentive to the quantity of the produce, 

 '.vhile the qualities are but seldom considered. 



" I have been many years in those cxilonies, and, being always a lover of coffee, 



- have beeti often obliged to put up with the produce of the countiy in its diiVerent 

 states. Tiiis gave me room to make many observations upon the giain, and 'I dare say 



'they are such as will be constantly found true ; and, if rightly regarded, will soon put 

 -the inhal)itants of our American colonies in a way of supplying the mother country with 

 as good coffee as we ever had from Turkey, or any other part of the world : For the 

 -easier understanding of this assertion, I shall set down the-remaiks I have made as they 

 *ccur : 



. ' 1. New coffee will ever parch or luix well, use what art you will. This proceeds 

 from the natural clamminess of the juices of the grain, wiiich reqiures a space of time 

 -proportioned to its quantity to be wholly destroyed. 



" 2. The smaller the grain, and the less pulp the berry has, the better the coffee, 

 and the sooner it will parch, mix, and acquire a flavour. 



" 3. The drier the soil, and the warmer the situation, the better the coffee it pro- 

 duces will be, and the sooner it will acquire a flavour. 



" 4. The larger and the more succulent the grain the worse it will be, the more 

 clammy, and the longer in acquiring a flavour. 



" 5. The worst coffee, produced m America, will in a course of years, not exceed- 

 ing ten or fourteen, be as good, parch and mix as weW, and have as high a flavour as 

 .the best we now have from Turkey, but due care should be taken to keep it in a dry 

 place, and to preserve it properly. 



*' 6. Small grained coffee, or that which is produced in a dry soil, and warm situa- 

 tion, will in alwut three years be as good, and parch as well as that which is now com- 

 monly used in the coffee houses in London. 



*' These are facts founded on repeated experiments, which I have tried from time 

 "Jto time, during my residence iu Jamaica, though it be very rare to see what a man 



i f may 



