COFFEE. 



299 



in Turkey they are pounded in large marble mortars 

 to an impalpable powder. The Turks, too, never 

 take sugar or cream with their coffee, and use no 

 pains to purify it from the sediment, drinking it very 

 strong and in small quantities frequently during the 

 day and night. 



As to the effects of coffee on the human body, it 

 is believed to be slightly astringent and antiseptic, 

 moderating the fermentation of food in the stomach, 

 whereby it assists digestion, and is powerfully seda- 

 tive. But in delicate and irritable nervous people, 

 it often occasions watchfulness and tremblings. It 

 has even been accused of producing palsies,and should 

 therefore be avoided by such persons as have a ten- 

 dency to that complaint. Where it agrees, it re- 

 moves headaches, exhilarates, promotes digestion, 

 and counteracts the effects of opium and narcotics, 

 which is the reason probably that it is so much con- 

 ' sumed by the Turks and other oriental nations. It 

 is assuredly one of the best medicines which can be 

 employed in dispelling the fits of periodical asthma. 

 When taken for this purpose, the coffee should be 

 the best kind from Mocha, newly burnt, and made 

 very strong, one ounce in quantity to a dish, and is 

 to be repeated fresh after the interval of the quarter 

 of an hour, and taken without either milk or sugar. 

 This remedy was used for many years by the cele- 

 brated Sir John Hoyer, who wrote upon asthma, and 

 was also prescribed commonly by Or Musgrave of 

 Devonshire. On the Continent, coffee is much used 

 as a remedy, and is sometimes administered with the 

 addition of ice, which is said to increase its virtues. 



Great attention is paid to the culture of coffee in 

 Arabia. The trees are raised from seed sown in 

 nurseries, and afterwards planted out in moist and 

 shady situations, on sloping grounds, or at the foot 

 of mountains. Care is taken to conduct little rills 

 of water to the roots of the trees, which, at certain 

 seasons, require to be constantly surrounded with 

 moisture. As soon as the fruit is nearly ripe, the 

 water is turned off, -lest the fruit should be rendered 

 too succulent. In places much exposed to the south, 

 the trees are planted in rows, and are shaded from 

 the otherwise too intense heat of the sun, by a 

 branching kind of poplar-tree. When the fruit 

 lias attained its maturity, cloths are placed under the 

 trees, and upon these the labourers shake it down. 

 They afterwards spread the berries on mats, and ex- 

 pose them to the sun to dry. The husk is then bro- 

 ken off by large and heavy rollers of wood or iron. 

 When the coffee has been thus cleared of its husk, 

 it is again dried in the sun, and, lastly, winnowed 

 with a large fan, for the purpose of clearing it from 

 the pieces of husks with which it is intermingled. 

 A pound of coffee is generally more than the pro- 

 duce of one. tree ; but a tree in great vigour will 

 produce three or four pounds. 



Th best coffee is imported from Mocha, on the 

 Red sea. This kind, which is denominated Mocha, 

 and Turkey coffee, is of a better quality than any 

 which the. European colonists are able to raise, 

 owing, as it is supposed, to the difference of climate 

 and soil in which it grows. It is packed in large 

 bales, each containing a number of smaller bales, 

 and, when good, appears fresh, and of a greenish- 

 olive colour. The coffee next hi esteem to this is 

 raised in Java and the East Indies ; and that of low- 

 est price, in the West Indies and Brazil. When 

 stowed in ships, with rum, pepper, or other articles, 

 it is said that coffee contracts a rank and unpleasant 

 flavour ; and this has been assigned as a reason of 

 the inferiority of that which is imported from the 

 European plantations. 



The quantity of coffee annually supplied by Ara- 

 bia is supposed to be upwards of 14,000,000 of 



pounds. Before the commencement of the French 

 revolution, the islaiw of St Domingo alone exported 

 more than 70,000,000 of pounds per annum ; and, 

 at the present day, such is the fertility of this island, 

 tliat sufficient coffee is raised to reduce the price 

 greatly in all parts of the civilized world. Almost 

 all the Mohammedans drink coffee at least twice a- 

 day, very hot, and without sugar. 



Tlie excellence of coffee depends, in a great mea- 

 sure, on the skill and attention exercised in roasting 

 it. If it be too little roasted, it is devoid of flavour, 

 and if too much, it becomes acrid, and has a disa- 

 greeable, burnt taste. In Europe, it is usually roast- 

 ed in a cylindrical tin box, perforated with numerous 

 holes, and fixed upon a spit, which runs lengthwise 

 through the centre, and is turned by a jack, or by the 

 hand. Coffee is used in the form either of an infu- 

 sion or decoction, of which the former is decidedly 

 preferable, both as regards flavour and strength. 

 Coffee, as very commonly prepared by persons un- 

 acquainted with its nature, is a decoction, and is 

 boiled for some time, under a mistaken notion that 

 the strength is not extracted unless it be boiled. But 

 the fact is just the reverse. The fine aromatic oil, 

 which produces the flavour and strength of coffee, is 

 dispelled and lost by boiling, and a mucilage is ex- 

 tracted at the same tune, which also tends to make it 

 flat and weak. The best modes are, to pour boiling 

 water through the coffee in a biggin or strainer, 

 which is found to extract nearly all the strength ; or 

 to pour boiling water upon it, and set it upon the 

 fire, not to exceed ten minutes. Prepared in either 

 way, it is fine and strong. There are coffee-machines 

 in which the water is boiled, and the steam pene- 

 trates the coffee, and extracts, to a great degree, the 

 fine aroma. Immediately after, the boiling water is 

 poured over it. Thus the best coffee is made. A s 

 we have already said, in Europe, coffee is generally 

 roasted in a cylinder ; in Asia, however, open pans 

 or tin plates are used, and, if the time allows, a boy 

 is employed, who picks out every bean, when it has 

 reached the right degree of brownness. The same 

 is done by some French people. The second differ- 

 ence in the Asiatic way of preparing coffee is, that 

 they pound the beans, and do not grind them, much 

 preferring the former mode. In Marseilles, we have 

 seen coffee likewise pounded. Whether this is really 

 preferable, we do not venture to decide ; but experi- 

 ence has taught us that the Asiatic coffee is, on the 

 whole, much better than the European. The differ- 

 ence is probably owing to the different way of roast- 

 ing. The Turks and Arabs boil the coffee, it is true, 

 but they boil each cup by itself, and only tor a mo- 

 ment, so that the effect is, in fact, much the same as 

 that of infusion, and not like that of decoction. They 

 do not separate the coffee itself from the infusion, 

 but leave the whole in the cup. It improves the 

 beverage very much to roast and grind the coffee 

 just before it is used. 



The Turks drink coffee at all times of day, present 

 it to visitors both in the forenoon and afternoon, and 

 the opium-eater lives almost entirely on coffee and 

 opium. Beaujour, in his excellent work on Greece, 

 tells of a theriacophage (an opium-eater), who drank 

 more than sixty cups of coffee in a day, and smokea 

 as many pipes. Coffee has been the favourite bever- 

 age of many distinguished men. Napoleon and 

 Frederic the Great drank it freely ; Voltaire liked it 

 very strong ; and Leibnitz drank it also during the 

 whole day, but mixed with more than an equal quan- 

 tity of milk. The best coffee, in the western part of 

 the world, is made in France, where this beverage is 

 in universal request. In fact, throughout the con- 

 tinent of Europe, it is generally drunk. In England, 

 however, tea is a more common drink, although cof- 



