TEA, COFFEE 97 



it would seem useless to attempt to grow tea in places which 

 cannot provide a good supply of cheap labour. 



COFFEE (Coffea arabica). ' They have in Turkey a grain 

 called coffee . . . this drink comforteth the brain and heart 

 and helpeth digestion.' Bacon. 



Our word coffee is in Spanish and French cafe, which is 

 a corruption of the Arabic Qahveh. 



The coffee-tree if left to itself attains a height of twenty feet 

 or more, but when cultivated it is not allowed to grow higher 

 than eight or ten feet. It has handsome, shiny, evergreen 

 leaves, which grow on opposite sides of the stem. The flowers 

 are white, and very fragrant ; they are arranged in threefold 

 clusters, and as many as three of these clusters are often 

 crowded together at the base of a leaf -stalk. Each flower 

 has five petals united at the base to form a tube ; the seed 

 vessel contains two cells with one seed in each. 



The fruit when ripe is dark purple, somewhat resembling 

 a small Kentish cherry. 



The tree goes on flowering for eight months, so that flowers 

 and fruit, in varying degrees of ripeness, all occur in a planta- 

 tion at the same time ; consequently there have to be two or 

 three gatherings in a year. 



The seeds (or berries as they are erroneously called) after 

 roasting become dark brown in colour, and the quality of the 

 coffee depends a good deal on the skill displayed in this 

 operation. In France most families roast their own berries, 

 and warm sunny days, scented with the delicious fragrance of 

 roasting coffee, remain in the visitor's mind as one of the charac- 

 teristic charms of that pleasant land. The grinding of the 

 beans follows next, but this should not be done until the infu- 

 sion is required, as ground coffee very quickly loses its aroma. 

 Unfortunately coffee is often adulterated, usually with 

 chicory, which, though an excellent plant in its own way, is 

 entirely out of place in a coffee-pot. 



Abyssinia seems to have been the original home of the coffee - 

 plant, but it was known to the Arabs as early as the fifteenth 



2203 



