580 



RUBIACE^l. CLXVIII. COFFEA. 



herb. t. 337. Plench. icon. t. 130. Stipulas awl-shaped, undi- 

 vided. Leaves wavy, dark-green and shining above, paler be- 

 neath. Flowers white, sweet-scented, disposed in axillary clus- 

 ters of 4-5. Berries red, cherry-formed. The seeds or nuts 

 are involved in a thin elastic pellucid aril. The coffee-tree is 

 frequently cultivated in the hot-houses of our gardens for orna- 

 ment, where it both flowers and ripens its fruit. It is propa- 

 gated by the berries, which must be sown soon after they are 

 gathered, or they will not vegetate. Cotyledons transversely 

 ovate, 3-nerved at the base, and emarginate at the apex. 



Few vegetable substances have been more generally esteemed 

 for their medicinal and dietetic properties than the berries of the 

 coffee-tree. The plant is fully described by Ellis and several 

 other writers. The coffee-tree is generally regarded as a native 

 of Arabia, but Bruce says it derives its name from Coffee, a pro- 

 vince of Narea, in Africa, where it grows spontaneously in great 

 abundance. The plant does not appear to have been known by 

 the Greeks or Romans, nor are there any facts respecting its 

 origin in the East. It has been well ascertained, however, that 

 the berries were imported into every part of Europe, and used as 

 a favourite beverage, long before it was known of what plant 

 they were the product. Prosper Alpinus has seen the coffee- 

 tree, without fructification, in some gardens in Egypt ; but the 

 first intelligible botanical account was published by Ant. de Jus- 

 sieu, in the Mem. Acad. Scienc. Paris, in 1713. We are in- 

 formed by Boerhaave, in his Index to the Leyden Garden, that it 

 was first introduced into Europe by Nicholas Wisten, a burgo- 

 master of Amsterdam, and chairman of the Dutch East India 

 Company, who gave directions to the governor of Batavia to 

 procure seed from Mocha, in Arabia Felix. These being sown 

 in the Island of Java, several plants were procured, and one was 

 transmitted by Wisten, about the year 1610, to the botanic 

 garden at Amsterdam. From the progeny of this plant, not 

 only the principal botanic gardens in Europe, but also the West 

 India Islands, were supplied with this valuable tree. Soon after 

 its introduction into Holland, it was cultivated by Bishop Comp- 

 ton, at Fulham. 



In Arabia the fruit is dried in the sun upon mats, and the 

 outer coat is separated by means of a large stone cylinder. It 

 is again placed in the sun, winnowed, and packed up in bales. 

 In the West India Islands, as soon as the fruit is of a deep red 

 colour, it is reckoned to be ready for being gathered. Large linen 

 bags, kept open by means of hoops round their mouths, is sus- 

 pended by the negroes from their necks, who pull the berries with 

 their hands, and, after filling the bags, empty them into a large 

 basket. A single negro can easily collect three bushels in a day. 

 As the berries do not ripen together, they are collected at three 

 different gatherings. One thousand pounds of good coffee are 

 produced from one hundred bushels of the berries just from the 

 tree. The coffee-berries may now be dried in two different 

 ways. The first method is to place them in the sun, in layers of 

 four inches thick, on inclined planes. In a few days the pulp is 

 discharged by fermentation, and in about three weeks the coffee 

 is completely dry. The skin of the berries, already broken, is 

 removed by mills, or in wooden mortars. The second method 

 is to separate the grain from the pulp at once, by means of a 

 mill, and the grains are then left to soak in water for twenty-four 

 hours. They are afterwards dried, and then stripped of the 

 pellicle, or parchment, as it is called, by means of appropriate 

 mills. The grains of coffee are afterwards winnowed, and min- 

 gled with the grindings and dust of the parchment, in which 

 state they are put up into bags for sale. 



Culture. The coffee-tree is less cultivated in Jamaica than in 

 Barhadoes, St. Domingo, and some other islands in the West 

 Indies. Richness of soil lessens the flavour of the seeds ; on 

 this account, coffee produced in the dry, hot, arid climate of 



Arabia is always better than that from the West India Islands. 

 In cultivating the coffee in the West Indies, the berries are sown 

 immediately after being gathered, as they are found to retain 

 their vegetative quality only a few weeks. In three months the 

 seeds so sown produce plants fit for transplanting to the final 

 plantation. In the low lands they are planted five feet apart, and 

 in the mountains ten feet or more. In three years the plants will 

 produce a crop, and continue bearing a number of years. The 

 berries are gathered when they are just about to drop. 



Qualities and chemical properties. When the seeds of coffee 

 are roasted, a portion is converted into tannin by the action of 

 heat, and an agreeable aromatic substance is developed, the na- 

 ture of which has not been ascertained. The same principle is 

 also developed by roasting barley, beans, and many other vege- 

 tables, which, on that account, are occasionally employed as 

 substitutes for coffee, and suit some stomachs better. The in- 

 fusion of unroasted coffee in boiling water is of a yellowish 

 green colour ; but the decoction, by continuing the boiling, be- 

 comes brown, and turbid on cooling. From experiments made 

 chiefly by Cadet, it appears that coffee contains an aromatic 

 principle, a little oil, gallic acid, mucilage, extractive and bitter 

 principle. Other analyses have been made by chemists. M. 

 Grindel found it to contain kinic acid, and M. Paysse has dis- 

 covered what he has endeavoured to show as a peculiar acid, to 

 which he has given the name of coffee acid. More recently, M. 

 Robiquet is said to have demonstrated another principle, which 

 he names Cafeine. It is in silk-like acicular crystals, bearing a 

 resemblance to Benzoic acid. It liquefies by the aid of a gentle 

 heat ; in close vessels it volatilizes, and sublimes in needles. 

 Cafeine is neither acid nor alkaline ; it furnishes a great quan- 

 tity of azote; it dissolves with difficulty in ether, but quickly in 

 water and alcohol. 



Medical properties and uses. It is evident that we are in- 

 debted to the Arabians for our use of this pleasant beverage, as 

 the first rite of Eastern hospitality is the presentation of a bowl 

 of coffee. In Europe it is said to have been first used in Italy, 

 in the year 1650 ; and, according to Dulaine, was introduced at 

 the court of Paris, in 1669, by Soliman Aga, ambassador from 

 the Porte. An Armenian, named Pascal, opened the first Cafe, 

 and Procope the second, in " Rue des Fosses, Saint Germain des 

 Pres." Nearly at the same time coffee was introduced into 

 London. 



By some, coffee is supposed to be best suited to the aged ; 

 and its abuse, as when taken too strong, is said to impair diges- 

 tion, instead of promoting it ; and it stimulates, heats, and pro- 

 duces watchfulness in certain constitutions. The Mahometans 

 of India, who use a great deal of coffee in the same way as we 

 do, witli the exception of combining milk with it, believe it to 

 have the effect of soothing and allaying nervous irritations, and 

 prescribe it to stop the vomiting in cholera morbus. Dr. Ainslie 

 also states, that it is often employed for the same purposes by 

 the Spaniards at Manilla. It is said that Sir John Floyer, dur- 

 ing his residence in Lichfield, found great benefit in his own 

 person by the use of coffee in asthma. Sir John confirms its 

 success in a letter to Dr. Percival ; " On reading the section of 

 coffee," says he, " in the second volume of your essays, one 

 quality occurred to me which I had observed of that liquor, 

 confirming what you had said of its sedative powers. It is the 

 best abater of periodic asthma that I have seen. The coffee 

 ought to be the best Mocha, newly burnt, and made very strong 

 immediately after grinding it. I have commonly ordered an 

 ounce for one dish, which is to be repeated afresh after the in- 

 terval of a quarter of an hour, without milk or sugar." Perci- 

 val's Essays, vol. iii. 



As a general palliative, strong coffee is often serviceable in 

 various kinds of head-ache ; and where its own sedative power 



