628 Of the Excellent Qualities of Coffee. 



have been presented with the two kinds of coffee at 

 the same time, without being told in what manner they 

 were prepared. 



I have likewise made coffee with cold water and 

 afterwards heated it, but this I have always found to 

 be of a very inferior quality : it is very bitter, and not 

 unfrequently of a sour, disagreeable taste, especially 

 when the cold water is a long time in passing through 

 the coffee in powder, and when they are suffered to 

 remain together over night. 



The fine aromatic substance is either not extracted 

 by cold water, or it escapes afterwards while the coffee 

 is heating. The fact is that very little of it can be 

 perceived in the coffee after it has been heated ; nor 

 does coffee so prepared possess those exhilarating 

 qualities which render that beverage so delightful in 

 its effects when it is made in perfection, and taken 

 before it has had time to be spoiled by cooling. As 

 coffee is an expensive article, which must be imported 

 into Europe from hotter climates, the economy of it 

 deserves attention. Now it is quite certain that boil- 

 ing water extracts from the prepared grain more of 

 those particles which give the agreeable taste and 

 flavour to the coffee, or, in other words, that give it 

 strength, than an equal quantity of water less hot. 

 This fact has been ascertained by many experiments, 

 and is now generally acknowledged : it is indeed not 

 a little surprising that it should ever have been called 

 in question, for the agency of heat in facilitating solu- 

 tion of this kind has long been known. 



As all kinds of agitation must be very detrimental 

 to coffee, not only when made, but also while it is 

 making, it is evident that the method formerly prac- 



