34 COFFEE. 



fill half -full of boiling milk, add your coffee, and you have a de- 

 licious beverage that will be a revelation to many poor mortals 

 who have an indistinct remembrance of, and an intense longing 

 for, an ideal cup of coffee. If cream can be procured so much 

 the better, and in that case boiling water can be added either in 

 the pot or cup to make up for the space occupied by the milk 

 as above ; or condensed milk will be found a good substitute for 

 cream. 



In order to emphasize some of the important points previously 

 mentioned, as well as those in the above recipe, I shall recall 

 points before noticed. Endeavor to have fresh roasted coffee, 

 and, where practicable, grind it yourself. Xever use cold milk, 

 as coffee to be good must be hot ; cream or condensed milk, how- 

 ever, may be used cold, owing to the much smaller quantity re- 

 quired, and by most persons one or the other will be preferred to 

 milk. In cold weather rinse out the coffee-cups with hot water 

 just before pouring out the coffee. 



Coffee should be served as soon as made, for it rapidly deteri- 

 orates if left stewing upon the stove. This is one of the principal 

 reasons why the coffee served at hotels and restaurants is so often 

 of poor quality. It is not made often enough, and is usually kept 

 simmering in a copper-boiler, which alone is sufficient to spoil the 

 best coffee ever grown. If the coffee lacks clearness, and when 

 milk is added turns dark, it is an indication that it is stale or the 

 milk sour. Freshly made coffee ought to have a clear, amber- 

 brown color, which milk will render lighter instead of darker. 

 When coffee is served immediately after making it does not 

 greatly matter in what kind of vessel it is boiled ; a common tin 

 coffee-pot will do, although one made of block tin is to be pre- 

 ferred. It should be sei'ved in an earthenware or porcelain cof- 

 fee-pot, either being much better than nickel or silver-plated, 

 and, in order that no heat may be lost, the vessel should be rinsed 

 with hot water before the coffee is turned into it from that in 

 which it is made. Some connoisseurs prefer an earthen pot in 

 which to prepare it, and advocate placing the coffee in a fine linen 

 bag, allowing it to simmer, not boil, for ten or fifteen minutes. 



I now pass to the consideration of modes of making and serv- 

 ing coffee in foreign countries. Many of the recipes and much 



