74 PREPARATIONS AND QUALITIES. 



ken upon a blanket and spread out to dry in the sun, then rolled, and 

 again dried. The berries are pressed into bags by the negroes in the 

 West Indies, each averaging: 3 bushels a day, and each bushel yielding 

 50 Ibs. of merchantable coffee. Sometimes the coffee is exposed to the 

 sun in layers 5 or 6 inches deep on a platform, when in a few days the 

 pulp ferments and gives off an acidulous moisture, and in 3 weeks the 

 husks are seperated in a mill with fluted rollers and the berries are 

 winnowed. 



The preparation of coffee The Mahommedans make their coffee from 

 the pods as well as the berries, and some say that these are the flow- 

 er of the coffee tree, but they are not so easily transported. The pre- 

 paration commonly consists in roasting the berry in a metalic vessel 

 or cylinder till thoroughly brown, and the grinding as much as is re- 

 quired for the occasion ; as its flavor is soon lost by exposure when 

 burned, and especially when ground. The Turks do not sweeten it 

 by sugar, but add to each dish a drop of the essence of amber, or boil 

 it with 2 or 3 cloves, &c. It is one of the necessaries, it is said, with 

 which they are obliged to furnish their wives. 



When roasted in any quantity, it is common here and in Europe to 

 use an iron cylinder full of holes and turned by a crank over a char- 

 coal fire, now and then taking it up and shaking it. When the oil 

 rises the berry looks bright and oily, and it is of a dark brown ; it is 

 then emptied into receivers and shaken till cold. The smell of the 

 oily matter distinguishes it from peas or beans, barley or rye, which 

 are much substituted by coffee grinders. Care should be used that it 

 is not burned. 



The Mocha coffee is small and of a dark yellow ; the Java and East 

 India coffee are larger and of a paler yellow, and the W. India, Ceylon 

 and Brazil is of a blueish or greenish grey. The outer pulp and the in- 

 ner membrane investing the seeds are used by Arabians ; the former 

 constitutes the coffee a la Sultane. If stowed in ships with rum, pep- 

 per, &c., it is said to acquire a bad flavor, and hence the inferiority of 

 much imported coffee. 



The qualities of coffee are known as those of the Mocha coffee, which 

 is the best ; the next best is Java coffee from the Red Sea, and the 

 cheaper kinds are from the West Indies and Brazil. If underdone its 

 qualities will not be imparted, and its use will oppress the stomach, and 

 if overdone it yields a flat, burnt and bitter taste ; its virtues are then 

 destroyed ; it is heating to the body and acts as an astringent. In 

 Asia, and sometimes elsewhere, the coffee is pounded and each cup is 

 boiled by itself. The Turks do not separate the coffee from the infu- 

 sion, but leave it in the dish. Coffee is best when made in the form 

 of an infusion. In that of a decoction and boiled, as it is commonly 

 prepared, the fine aromatic oil, producing the flavor and strength, is 

 dispelled by the boiling, and a mucilage is extracted which renders it 



