84 SUMATRAN COFFEE LEAVES. 



1853. 



ON THE USE OF COFFEE-LEAVES IN SUMATRA. 



(Benutzung der Caffeebldtter in Sumatra) 



THE existence of caffeine in the leaves as well as in the 

 berries of the coffee-plant has attracted some attention, and a 

 project for substituting them for those of the tea plant has been 

 Dr. Gardner's actually devised by Dr. John Gardner, of London. According 

 coffb^feaves. to this gentleman the leaves require to be subjected to a certain 

 process of preparation before they are used. What this process 

 is I am unable to state ; but specimens of the prepared coffee- 

 leaves were placed by Dr. Gardner in the Great Exhibition of 

 1851, together with the caffeine extracted from them, since 

 which time advertisements have appeared in the Ceylon papers 

 soliciting tenders for the supply of coffee-leaves by the ton. 



Whether these advertisements have met with a response 

 I know not, but in March last my attention was drawn 

 to a letter signed " An Old Sumatran" published in the Over- 

 land Singapore Free Press for Jan. 3, 1853. This letter, which 

 was reprinted in the Pharmaceutical Journal for March (vol. 

 xii., p. 443), states, that on the western side of the island 

 of Sumatra an infusion of terrified coffee leaves is of universal 

 consumption among the inhabitants, so much so indeed as to be 

 regarded as one of the very few necessaries of life. 1 



N. M. Ward. Upon applying to the writer of this letter, who proved to be 

 N. M. Ward, Esq., of Padang, I speedily received the following 

 more detailed communication, since which a box of prepared 

 Sumatran coffee -leaves, kindly forwarded by him, has reached 

 my hands : 



"PADANG, 15th May, 1853. 



"DEAR SIR, It is not without satisfaction that I learn 

 that the notice inserted in the Singapore Free Press on the use 

 of the Coffee-leaf in Sumatra has attracted attention, and 

 obtained increased publicity through the medium of the Phar- 

 maceutical Journal. Although long aware of its value as an 



1 This employment of coffee-leaves was not previously unnoticed. Brande, 

 in his Manual of Chemistry (Lond. 1848, vol. ii., p. 1616), briefly states that 

 the leaves of the coffee-plant are used in Java and Sumatra as a substitute 

 for tea, and that it is probable they contain theine. 



