COFFEE. 49 
tree ; but a tree in great vigour will produce three or 
four pounds. 
The best coffee is imported from Mocha, a town on 
the eastern bank of the Red Sea. This, which in Eu- 
rope is called Mocha and Turkey coffee, bears a higher 
price than any which our colonists are able to raise ; 
owing, as it is supposed, to the difference of climate and 
soil in which it is grown. It is packed in large bales, 
each containing a number of smaller bales; and, when 
good, it appears fresh, arid of a greenish olive colour. 
The coffee next in esteem to this is grown in Java and 
the East Indies, and that of lowest price in the West 
Indies. When stowed in ships with rum, pepper, or 
other articles, it is said that coffee contracts a rank 
and unpleasant flavour, and this has been assigned as a 
reason of the inferiority of such as is imported from 
our own plantations. 
The quantity of coffee annually supplied by Arabia 
is supposed to be upwards of fourteen millions of 
pounds. Before the commencement of the French 
Revolution the island of St. Domingo .alone exported 
more than seventy millions of pounds per annum. 
Almost all the Mahometans drink coffee at least twice 
a day, very hot, and without sugar. The excellence 
of coffee depends, in a great measure, on the skill and 
attention that are exercised in the roasting of it. If it 
be too little roasted, it is devoid of flavour ; and if too 
much, it becomes acrid, and has a disagreeable burnt 
taste. In England the operation of roasting is usually 
performed in a cylindrical tin box, perforated with 
numerous holes, and fixed upon a spit which runs 
lengthwise through the centre, and is turned by a 
jack. 
In a medical view, coffee is said to be of use in as- 
sisting digestion, promoting the natural secretions, and 
preventing or removing a disposition to drowsiness. It 
has been found highly beneficial in relieving some cases 
of severe head-ach. 
The outer pulpy part of the berry, and the inner 
VOL. II. D 
