S94 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Febrtjary 1, 1884. 



ful beverage which may be of service to- some of our 

 readers. 'J'he niaking of coffee requires a little care, 

 and certain rules must not be neglecled if the real 

 virtues of the aromatic berrj' are to be perfectly utilized. 

 These are orieHy stated as follows by Dr. Poore : — 



1. Be sure that the coli'ee is good in quality, fresh 

 roasted and fresti gr^uud. 



2. Use sutlieient colfce. I have made some experi- 

 ments ou this point, and I have come to the con- 

 clusion, that one ounce of coffee to a pint of water 

 makes ])onr cofi'ee, ou>'-anda-half ounce of cofl'ee to a 

 pint of water makes fairly good cofi'ee, two ounces of 

 coffeoto a pint of water makes excelleut coffee. 



3' As to the form of coffee pot, I have nothing 

 to say. The varieties of coffee machines are very 

 numerous, and many of them are useless encumbrances. 

 At the best they' cannot be regarded as absolutely 

 necessary. The Brazilians insist that coffee pots should 

 on no account be made of metal, but that porcelain 

 or earthenware is alone permissible. I have been in 

 the habit of late of havmg my coffee mode in a 

 common jug provided with a strainer, and I believe 

 there is nothing better. 



'4. Warm the jug, put the coffee into it, boil the 

 water and pour the boding water on the coffee, and 

 the thing is done. 



o. Coffee must not be boiled, or at most it must 

 be allowed just to "come to the boil " as cook says. 

 If violent ebullition takes place the aroma of the coffee 

 IS dissipated and the beverage is spoiled. 



Due attention being given to these simple require- 

 ments, and premising, of course, that the coffee is not 

 adulterated and of good quality, we can promise as the 

 result a "cup of cofi'ee" of such exquisite aroma 

 as is unhapijiiy strange to the experience of most 

 people in iingland, where the proper mode of 

 preparing coffee for the table is certainly not pop- 

 ularly understood. We are pleased to assist m 

 .imelioratiug this unfortunate state of things by 

 miking a further quotation from Dr. Poore's lect- 

 ure : — 



The most economical 'way of making coffee is to put 

 the coffee into a jug and pour cold water upon it. 

 This should be done some hours before the coffee is 

 wanted, overnight for instance, if the cofl'ee be required 

 for breakfast. The light particles of coffee will 

 imbibe the water and fall to the bottom of the jug in 

 course of time. When the coffee is to be used, 

 stand the jug in a saucepan of water or a bain-marie 

 {i.e., in a water-bath as a chemist would say), and 

 place the outer vessel over the fire till the water 

 contained in it boils. The coffee in this way is 

 gently brought to the boiling point without violent 

 ebullition, and we get the nuaximum extract without 

 any loss of aroma. 



There is, however, a preliminary to all this which 

 we must lot omit to mention, as it is of cardinal im- 

 portance. The cofl'ee berries should be roasted as shortly 

 as puss lie before leing ground for iufusion ; the 

 coffee drinker ought to have his coffee rousted and 

 ground at heme, or make arrangements to secure a like 

 result. This is not a difficult matter, for ii is quiet 

 easy to roast coffee in "a small frying pan or a pip- 

 kin, or any suitable vessel," and it can be pulverized 

 without tile help of a mill, but care should be taken 

 nut to pulveriz- it too liuely, as this injures the 

 tastii and flavour. And this should be especially noted 

 that raw coffee does not deteriorate, but actually im- 

 proves by being kept in a dry place. The older the 

 raw ceffee, the better it is, and therefore the thrifty 

 housekeeper need not hesitate to buy it in qunulity — a 

 bag at a time, if he rinds it convenient, but he must, 

 we need hardly point out, le certain that the raw coffee 

 so bought by him is of really good quality. 



We perceive that Dr. Poore denounces every adulter- 

 atiiu of coffee, and that ha very justly quahlicB a 



admixture of chicory as an adulteration. He states as 

 follows : — 



But I hear somebody say, "Chicory is not an ad- 

 ulteration, for Mr. Gladstone says so ;" and it is quite 

 true that iu his Budget Speech for 18S2, the following 

 words fell from the lips ot that eminent statesman : 

 "At present every description of admixture with coffee 

 is permitted, and we have long proceeded on the 

 principle that the admixture of chicory with coffee was 

 not an adulteration, that it was an admixture rooted 

 in the habits of many countries, and that people would 

 not drink coffee without it. But of late a practice 

 has grown up of producing all kinds of substitutes 

 under the name of coffee, and that, I cannot but think, 

 must in some degree account for the strange and 

 singular state of the figures that I have laid before the 

 committee. We shall not attempt to interfere with 

 the admixture of chicory with coffee, but, we propose 

 that it should not be allowed to introduce other mis- 

 cellaneous admixtures with coffee." 



Accordingly, by Act of Parliament, chicory was as it 

 were called to the Upper house, and cofl'ee and chicory 

 in the eyes of Mr. Gladstone and the Right Hon. Joseph 

 Chamberlain are now convertible terras, so that a new 

 word seems necessary for the brown powders which are 

 sold in the shops as breakfast beverages. As for coffee 

 adulterants, other than chicory, they are now obliged to 

 be sold iu packets bearing the precise labels. They 

 have been raised to tho dignity of patent medicines, and 

 always wear a government badge iu public. 



Now chicory v\a3 called to the Upper House on 

 August 14th, 1*^82, and on the following day a minute 

 was issued by the Board of Customs for the instruction 

 of their officers, in which the following clause occurs 

 — "As dandelion root is very cognate to, and not easily 

 distinguishable from that ot chicory, the officers will 

 not on their own responsibility attempt to distinguish 

 these roots, but will regard them all as chicory." 



So we must imitate our friend the grocer and take 

 off our hats to the dandelion, as he takes rank along- 

 side of the old aristocrat coffee and that parvenu 

 chicory. It is very difficult to see what has been the 

 object of the Government in these regulations. My 

 OH n beliel is that from every point of view, moral, 

 financial, and dietetic, they are a mistake. 



It will be seen from the figures given below that the 

 United Kingdom at present stands lowest as regards 

 its consumption of coffee per head of po}Juiation :— 



Germany consumes 5'00 



Holland consumes 21 00 



Denmark ,, 13-82 



Belgium „ 13-48 



Norway ,, 9 80 



United States 7-('l 



Switzerland,, 7-03 

 -South American Journal, 



TEA DKINKING. 



The medical papers do not sympathize with the 

 Dean of Bangor in his recent denunciatiou of tea 

 drinking. 



The Urilish Medical Journal says that if tea be pure, 

 and free from poisonous "facings," the daily drinking 

 of an infusion of it, in au) thing like moderate quantity, 

 IS free from all risk, either immediate or remote. It 

 declares that an infusion of tea- -good tea, of course, 

 18 presujiposed — is a harmless restorative and stimul- 

 ant, which has taken a high and lasting phice amongst 

 human comforts. Properly used, it refreshes after 

 fatigue, enlivens the dull, and cheers the depressed, 

 while it aids digestion, promotes the removal of an eft'ete 

 material, and has some protective virtue against ex- 

 iremes of heat and cold. 



The Lancet : — To say that over much tea-drinking 

 acts as a dangerous revolutionary force amongst us it 

 scarcely on all-fours with the acknowledged high 



