5o6 



The Country Gciitkivoman 



grains of extract of tea, or 66 grains of coffee. 

 These i^roportions will be obtained when 

 263 grains of tea (about two and a-half tea- 

 .spoonfuls), or 2 oz. of freshly roasted coffee 

 are infused in a pint of boiling water ; and 

 the amounts of the several constituents dis- 

 solved are about as follows : — 



Constituents. Tea, grs. Coffee, grs. 



Nitrogenous matters 1 7 "2 



Fatty matter 



Gum, sugar, and extractive 317 



Mineral matters 9"i 



Total extracted 58-0 



44 'O 

 3-0 



[73-0 



So that tea yields to a pint of fresh water 

 about 22 per cent, of its weight, and coffee 

 about 20 per cent. Lehmann found that 

 only 1 5 J^ per cent, of tea was dissolved by 

 water; whereas, Sir Humphrey Davy esti- 

 mated it at 3^2 per cent. No doubt the 

 quality of the water as well as that of the tea 

 affects the results, for distilled water will ex- 

 tract from 40 to 44 per cent, of black tea, 

 and nearly 50 per cent, of green ; but for all 

 this, about 22 per cent, is a good average. 



Tea is generally measured into the tea-pot 

 by the spoonful, and Dr Edward Smith has 

 made a curious inquiry into the average 

 Aveights of a spoonful of different kinds of tea. 

 The results are here shewn : — 



WEIGHT OF A 



Black Teas. 



POONFUL OF TEA. 



Green Teas. 



Oolong 39 



Congou (inferior).. 52 



Flowery Pekoe 62 



Souchong 70 



Congou (fine) 87 



Hyson 66 



Twankay 70 



Fine Imperial ... 90 



.Scented Caper ... 103 



Fine Gunpowder. 123 



From which it would seem that from three to 

 seven teaspoonfuls of black tea, or from two 

 to four of green, are required for a pint of 

 infusion of the strength already given. 



COCOA IT.S VARIETIES. 



Cocoa is best made by boiling the mixture 



for a little while, for it nearly always contains 

 a large proportion of starchy matter, which 

 has been added to dilute the rich fat of the 

 cocoa. Indeed cocoa contains so much 

 butter or solid fat (from 48 to 50 per cent.), 

 that it is necessary to reduce it with some 

 easily digestible substance, as starch, lentil 

 powder, carageen moss, Iceland moss, sugar, 

 &:c. — hence the various preparations of it 

 cSiW&di grajiulated cocoa, soluble cocoa, chocolate, 

 &c., the processes for making which I will 

 briefly describe. When the berry is roasted 

 and is cold, it is passed through a machine 

 called a " kibbling-mill," which deprives it of 

 its husk, and of the thin skin which surrounds 

 the kernal or nib. If the nibs thus cleaned 

 are ground in proper mills, they form the 

 variety of cocoa called flaked cocoa, but if 

 other preparations are to be made, the nibs 

 are ground between heated rollers or other- 

 wise, until they form a smooth paste, when 

 the diluting substances are mixed with it and 

 are thoroughly incorporated. If soluble cocoa 

 is to be made, the diluting material is sugar 

 with some kind of arrowroot, as tous-les-mois, 

 maranta, curcuma, &c. If chocolate is re- 

 quired, the diluting material is sugar only, 

 with some flavouring agent, as vanilla ; and if 

 fancy preparations, as carageen uioss cocoa, 

 Iceland moss cocoa, lentil cocoa, &c., are re- 

 quired, then these several substances are in- 

 corporated. Granulated cocoa \%di preparation 

 of cocoa, with sugar and starch, so ground as 

 to form a coarse powder, in which the parti- 

 cles of broken cocoa are covered with a 

 layer of sugar and starch. It is obvious that 

 whenever the mixture consists of starch or 

 other farinaceous substance, the solution of 

 the cocoa preparation must be boiled; but 

 when sugar has been used, as in chocolate, 

 which is the most antient preparation of it, 

 the combination is such as to require no cu- 

 linary treatment, or, at most, the action of 

 boiling water or boiling milk. 



