ORDER RUBIACE-K COFFEE. 455 



cells. The fruit is commonly a berry containing several seeds, 

 inclosed in a fleshy covering ; or it may be a hard capsule 

 merely ; or only one seed may have ripened, which is inclosed 

 in a flesh, forming a drupe, like the Plum. The albumen of the 

 seed is of a horny texture a peculiarity that is well exhibited 

 in Coffee, which consists of the seeds divested of their envelopes. 

 625. Coffee might be obtained from several species of the 

 genus Coffaea ; that derived from one, however, is so superior to 

 the rest, that it alone is commonly cultivated ; and numerous 

 varieties of it, depending in part upon soil and climate, are now 

 known. The native country of the Coffee Plant is Arabia ; and 

 the use of its seed as a nourishing and agreeable beverage, has 

 been traced to a remote period, having been certainly common 

 in Persia as far back as the year 875. Coffee was not intro- 

 duced into Europe, however, before the year 1517; and it was 

 a century and a half before it came into general use, even in the 

 capitals, where Coffee-houses were established. The seeds were 

 at first sold at an exorbitant price, as much as four or five 

 guineas the pound. The plant was introduced into the West 

 Indies by Louis XIV., from a specimen presented to him by the 

 Dutch, in 1714, of which he sent offsets to Surinam, Cayenne, 

 and Martinique ; and from this all the present plantations are 

 descended. The East India plantations were derived from a 

 similar common source, a plant in the Botanic garden at 

 Amsterdam, which had been raised at Batavia, from seed pro- 

 cured from Mocha, in 1 690. The Mocha berries are smaller, and 

 possess a higher flavour, than those which are brought from the 

 "West Indies. This is partly due to the difference of soil and 

 temperature, and partly to a difference in the mode of culture. 

 It would seem as if nearly the same quantity of the aromatic 

 product were formed in each case ; but that, in the large seed it 

 is diffused through a greater quantity of the tasteless albumen, 

 and is therefore less intense. It has been confidently asserted 

 that, if the West Indian Coffee be kept for several years, instead 

 of being roasted and consumed as soon as it can be transported 

 across the Atlantic, its flavour improves, and becomes equal to 

 that of the best Mocha. 



