METHODS OF MAKING COFFEE. 75 



derange its functions. Diluents of any kind in large quantities 

 relax the coats of that organ, and impair its efficiency. Notwith- 

 standing all objections alleged against the use of this favorite 

 exotic, it is constantly and extensively growing in public esteem 

 as an exhilarating drink, possessing the good qualities of wine 

 without any of its bad consequences. It is indeed a sign of the 

 good time coming, that there have been opened in most of the 

 great cities of Europe such numerous coffee-houses, where, in- 

 stead of the dram-shop, operatives may regale themselves with- 

 out becoming inebriates. Even in its early days, an old writer 

 of the seventeenth century claimed for the beverage this virtue, 

 when he thus quaintly descants upon its various claims : 

 " Surely it must needs be salutiferous, because so many sagacious 

 and the wittiest sort of nations use it so much. But besides the 

 exsiccant quality, it tends to dry up the crudities of the stomach, 

 as also to comfort the brain, to f ortifie the sight with its steeme, 

 and 'tis found already that this coffee-drink has caused a greater 

 sobriety among the nations. For w r hereas formerly apprentices 

 and clerks, with others, used to take their morning's draught in 

 ale, beer, or wine, which by the dizziness they cause in the 

 brain, make many unfit for businesse, they use now to play the 

 good-fellow T es in this wakefull and civil! drinke." 



The roasting of coffee in the best manner requires great 

 nicety, since much of the quality of the beverage depends upon 

 the operation. It is usually roasted in a hollow cylinder, made 

 of perforated sheet iron, w r hich is kept turning over a brisk fire, 

 to prevent any part from being more heated than another, and 

 w r hen the coffee has assumed a deep cinnamon color, and an 

 oily appearance, and the peculiar fragrance of roasted coffee 

 is perceived to be sufficiently strong, it should be taken from 

 the fire, well shaken, and suffered to cool. Not more than half 

 a pound of coffee should be roasted at once for domestic use ; 

 for if the quantity is greater, it becomes impossible to regulate 



