334 Memoir upon Coffee. 



are hermetically closed ; and Che atmosphere, being always 

 darnp, presents, in my opinion, a great obstacle to the de- 

 siccation. 



When perfectly dried, the succory root iS carried to the 

 frying-place: it is here that the operation is almost entirely 

 finished; it is roasted like coffee in large plate-iron cylinders, 

 which are turned continually, upon a very strong turf fire, 

 which soon reduces it to a charry state. It is also the more 

 or less advanced state of this charring which establishes the 

 difference we distinguish in the qualities, of this pretended 

 salubrious coffee ; so that the three kinds known in com- 

 merce are only the same substance, approaching more or 

 less the nature of the residue of the vegetable decorriposi- 

 tion produced by the action of the fire. In order to obtain 

 au uniform colour always, the workmen are guided in the 

 work by specimens which are constantly before their eves. 



After being roasted, the root is reduced into, powder by a 

 mill ; the powder is then passed through a coarse sieve, and 

 distributed into parcels of four, eight, and sixteen ounces 

 each, which are neatly sealed up, and the name of the ma- 

 nufacturer with his place of residence put upon the cover. 

 This is the exact manner in which this marvellous coffee is 

 introduced to the public as a substitute for the true kind. 



Succory root, prepared as we have seen, reduced, in a 

 word, to an almost charry state, is mixed with coffee, 

 throughout all Holland, in very variable proportions ; it is 

 also the substance which communicates to the infusions of 

 coffee that l)lttcrness which is considered as very salutary by 

 the vul<rar, and at the same time refreshing, and as modify- 

 ing the too heating virtues of the coffee. The favourable 

 ideas thus formed of it have spread so much, that at present 

 many are contented with this root alone, without the addi- 

 tion of any real coffee at all. It has been extended to the 

 French provinces, where there is at present j^ great demand 

 for this new produce of Dutch industry : it possesses, how- 

 ever, no other virtue than that of colouring, n)ore or less 

 strongly, tiie water in which it is boiled or infused, and of 

 communicating to this liquid the bitterness of the saline 



substance 



