1 iO Of Coffee, and the Art of preparing it. 



this aromatic substance, together with a large portion of 

 aqueous vapour with which it was mixed. 



" The liquor which resulted from this condensation, 

 which had* an acid taste, was very high flavoured, and as 

 colourless as the purest water; but il stained the skin of a 

 deep yellow colour, which could not be removed by wash- 

 ing with soap and water; and this stain retained a strong 

 smell of coffee several days. 



*' I have made several unsuccessful attempts to preserve 

 the fragrant aromatic matter which escapes from coffee 

 when it is roasting, by transferring it to other substances. 

 Perhaps others may be more fortunate. But I must not 

 suffer myself to be enticed away from my subject by these 

 interesting speculations, 



*' If the coffee in powder is not well defended from the 

 air, it soon loses its flavour, and becomes of little value j 

 and the liquor is never in so high perfection as when the 

 coffee is made immediately after the grain has been roasted. 



" This is a fact well known to ihose who are accustomed 

 to drinking coffee, in countries where the use of it is not 

 controled by the laws ; and if a government is seriously 

 disposed to encourage the general use of coffee, individuals 

 must be permitted to roast it in their own houses. 



"As the roasting and grinding of coffee take up some 

 considerable time, and cannot always be done viithout in- 

 convenience at the moment when the coffee is wanted ; I 

 contrived a box for keeping the ground coffee, which I have 

 found, by several years' experience, to preserve the coffee 

 much [)etter than any of the vessels commonly used for 

 that purpose. It is a cylindrical box made of strono^ tin, 

 four inches and a quarter in diameter, and five inches in 

 height, formed as accurately as possible within, to which 

 a piston is so adapted as to close it very exactly ; and, when 

 pressed down into it, to remain in the place where it is 

 left, without being in danger of being pushed upwards by 

 the elasticity of the ground coffee which il is destined to 

 confine. 



" This piston is composed of a circular plate of very 

 stout tin, which is soldered to the lower part of an elastic 

 hoop of tin, about two inches wide, which is made to fit 

 into the cylindrical box as exactly as possible, and so as 

 not to be moved up and down in it without employing a 

 considerable force. This hoop is rendered elastic, by 

 means ot" a number of vertical slits made in the sides of it. 



On the upper side of the circular plate of tin, which 

 closes this hoop below, and in the centre of it, there is fixed 



a strong 



