Coffee-tea. 1 5 



properties, " coffee-tea " has not the same exciting 

 effect as the decoction from the roasted bean ; but 

 against this it should be borne in mind, that it can 

 be produced and sold at less than one-fifth of the 

 cost of the latter. The price of prepared coffee 

 leaves in Sumatra is about three halfpence per 

 pound, and this price is remunerative to the planter. 

 It could thus be very well imported and sold in 

 England at twopence per pound ! Dried coffee 

 leaves contain about i per cent, of Theine, or \ 

 per cent, more than the bean ; they also contain 

 more of another characteristic principle, Caffeic 

 acid ; the great difference in the properties of 

 the two being, apparently, that while the bean 

 contains about 12 per cent, of fat and 7 per 

 cent, of sugar, the leaf possesses but little of either. 

 While, therefore, evidently less nutritious than the 

 bean, the product of the leaves would probably 

 prove better suited to delicate digestive organisms. 



LIBRA lt 



TINIVKKSITV 



CALIFORXIA. 



