COFFEE: 



FBOM 



PLANTATION TO CUP, 



CHAPTER I. 



IHTEODTTCTOKT. 



Coffee, a most important item in our domestic economy, is 

 entitled to more attention than it generally receives. At a ma- 

 jority of breakfast tables, "if the coffee is good everything is 

 good," a fact so significant in itself that no other argument is 

 needed to prove' the all-importance of miiform success in the 

 preparation of this one article. 



Books innumerable have been written about this famous berry. 

 It has been made the subject of investigation by savants ; govern- 

 ment commissions have made voluminous 'reports upon the soil, 

 climate, and varieties of the plant desirable for production ; yet 

 little attention seems to have been given to what is really the 

 most important branch of the subject, viz., the selection and treat- 

 ment of the ..bean subsequent to production, so as to ensure with 

 a proper degree of certainty, the development of its admirable 

 qualities in that much-to-be-desired article, a good, cup of coffee. 

 In issuing this work, therefore, while including some facts of gen- 

 eral interest relative to production, I have given greater promi- 

 nence to those which relate to consumption, and are likely to 



