METHODS OF MAKING COFFEE. 



IT may seem almost superfluous to devote a chapter to the 

 discussion of the best method of making a cup of coffee ; but 

 since more depends upon the manner in which it is made than 

 is usually imagined, it may not be inappropriate to offer a few 

 words upon the subject. 



We propose, therefore, to allude briefly to the many modes 

 which have been resorted to for preparing and making coffee, 

 both at home and abroad. While we do not deny the ad- 

 vantages of many of the following methods, it is believed 

 that the process of distillation, by the direct application of 

 steam heat, as fully described in the closing remarks of 

 this chapter, is eventually destined to be the universal favo- 

 rite. First of all, before speaking of the manner of pre- 

 paring the berry as a beverage, we will mention that the 

 leaf of the coffee-plant is used in the Eastern Archipel- 

 ago by the natives as a substitute for tea. They roast the 

 leaves over a clear, smokeless fire, after which they are picked 

 from the twigs, and when immersed in boiling water they form 

 an agreeable drink. A few years ago the attention of the 

 scientific world was drawn to this subject, in the first instance, 

 by Brande, and subsequently by Ward, in his able papers 

 published in the Singapore Free Press and elsewhere. He 

 seems to claim for roasted coffee-leaves a value unsurpassed by 

 the berry itself. " It was well known," he says, " that they had 

 been long employed in Sumatra under the name of coffee-tea." 



