COFFEE. 



895 



first house was opened in that city for the sale 

 of the prepared beverage. 



In 1671, an Armenian named Pascal, set up a 

 coffee house in Paris, but meeting witli little 

 encouragement he removed to London. He was 

 succeeded by otlier Armenians and Persians, but 

 not with much success, for want of address and 

 proper places to dispose of it; genteel people not 

 caring to be seen in those places where it was to 

 be sold. However, not long after, when some 

 Frenchmen had fitted up for the purpose spa- 

 clous apartments in an elegant manner, orna- 

 mented with tapestry, large looking-glasses, pic- 

 tures, and magnificent lustres, and began to sell 

 coffee, with tea, chocolate, and other refresh- 

 ments, they soon became frequented by people 

 of fashion and men of letters; so that in a short 

 time the number in Paris increased to three 

 hundred. 



Coffee houses date their origin in London from 

 an earlier period. The first was opened in George 

 Yard, Lombard Street, by one Pasqua, a Greek, 

 who was brought over in 1652 by a Turkey 

 merchant named Edwards. 



The first mention of coffee that occurs in our 

 statute books, is found in the act 12th Car. ii. 

 cap. 24, (Anno 1660,) whereby a duty of four- 

 pence per gallon, to be paid by the maker, was 

 imposed upon all coffee made and sold; three 

 years after this, coffee houses were directed to be 

 licensed by the magistrates at quarter sessions. 



Coffee cannot be cultivated to advantage in 

 climates where the temperature at any time de- 

 scends below fifty-five degrees of Fahrenheit's 

 scale. The trees flourish most in new soils on a 

 gentle slope, where water will not lodge about 

 the roots. In exposed situations it is necessary 

 to moderate the scorching heat of the sun by 

 planting rows of umbrageous trees at certain in- 

 tervals throughout the field. 



Coffee trees are usually raised from seed in 

 nursery gi'ounds, and are afterwards planted out 

 at regular distances, which vary according to the 

 nature of the soil. Where this is very dry or 

 gravelly, the trees seldom rise higher than six 

 feet, and may be planted five feet apart; but in 

 rich soils, where they attain the height of nine 

 or ten feet, or more, the plants should not be so 

 crowded, and intervals of eight or ten feet should 

 be left between them. 



It is well known, says Mr Ellis, that coffee 

 imported from the West Indies does not equal 

 in its flavour that produced in Arabia and other 

 parts of the East; and it is commonly imagined 

 that this inferiority is principally owing to local 

 causes, and is therefore incapable of being re- 

 medied. The seed of the West India coffee, from 

 growing in a richer soil, and more humid atmos- 

 phere, is larger than that of Arabia. Though 

 there is reason for believing that the superior 

 quality of Turkey and East India coffee is not 



altogether to be referred to the influences of soil 

 and climate, but depends, in part at least, upon 

 the age to which the seeds are kept before they 

 are brought into consumption. Trees planted in 

 a light soil, and in dry and elevated spots, pro- 

 duce smaller hemes, which have a better flavour 

 than those grown in rich, flat, and moist soils: 

 the weight of produce yielded by the latter is, 

 however, double that obtained from the former; 

 and as the difference in price between the two is 

 by no means adequate to cover this deficiency 

 of weight, the interest of the planter naturally 

 leads him to the production of the largest but 

 least excellent kind. Mr Ellis further states the 

 following results of his experience. 



New coffee will never parch or mix well, use 

 what art you will. This proceeds from the 

 natural clamminess of the juices of the grain, 

 which requires a space of time proportioned to 

 its quantity to be wholly destroyed. 



The smaller the grain, and the less pulp the 

 berry has, the better the coffee, and the sooner 

 it will parch, mix, and acquire a flavour. 



The drier the soil, and the wanner the situa- 

 tion, the better will be the coffee it produces, and 

 the sooner will it acquire a flavour. 



The larger and the more succulent the grain, 

 the worse it will be; the more clammy, and the 

 longer in acquiring a flavour. 



The worst coffee produced in America will, in 

 a course of years, not exceeding ten or fourteen, 

 be as good, parch and mix as well, and have as 

 high a flavour as the best we now have from 

 Turkey; but due care should be taken to keep 

 it in a dry place, and to preserve it properly. 



Small grained coffee, produced in a dry soil 

 and warm situation, will be matured in three 

 yeara. 



The trees begin bearing when they are two 

 years old; in their third year they are in full 

 bearing. The produce of a good tree is from 1^ 

 to 2 lbs. of berries. The aspect of a coffee plan- 

 tation during the period of flowering, which does 

 not last longer than one or two days, is very in- 

 teresting. In one night the blossoms expand 

 themselves so profusely, as to present the same 

 appearance which has sometimes been witnessed 

 in England when a casual snow storm at the 

 close of autumn has loaded the trees while still 

 furnished with their full complement of foliage. 

 The mode of culture of coffee in Arabia Felix 

 is thus described by La Roque. The coffee tree 

 is there raised from seed, which the natives sow 

 in nurseries, and plant them out as they have 

 occasion. They choose for their plantations a 

 moist shady situation on a small eminence, or at 

 the foot of the mountains, and take great care 

 to conduct from the high grounds little rills of 

 water in small channels to the roots of trees; for 

 it is absolutely necessary that they should be 

 constantly watered, in order to produce and ripen 



