370 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
About Coffee- 
Last month China tea was discussed. We will 
now offer a few items on coffee, to be followed 
with further notes on coffee-pots, on cocoa, choc¬ 
olate, etc. Has any one an adequate conception 
of the amount of coffee consumed ! From the 
best data at hand we think the total production 
can not be less than five to six hundred million 
pounds a-year —perhaps more. The curious 
may estimate how many sheets of wrapping pa¬ 
per, and how long a string it would take to put all 
this coffee up in pound packages ; how many cups 
of liquid coffee it would make ; how large a lake 
this liquid would fill ; how many persons would 
consume it if ail drank two cups at breakfast ; 
how much sugar and how much cream would be 
required to fix it, etc. 
The seeds of several kinds of plants are used 
for coffee. The seeds of the Arabian coffee-tree 
are the main supply, however. This grows wild 
in Southern Abyssinia, Africa, from whence it 
was probably introduced into other countries. 
It is now extensively cultivated in Ceylon, and 
other East Indian countries ; in the West India 
Islands ; in Braz'd, South America, and in many 
other tropical regions. Its commercial value d 
pends considerably upon the climate and soil, 
but its flavor, and the quality of the beverage 
produced, are more dependant upon age and the 
manner of preparing the liquid. 
Fig. 1—Arabian Coffee Tree (Coffea Arabiaca.) 
Hight about 18 feet. 
Fig. 1 exhibits the general form and appearance 
of the tree. The specimen shown is about 18 
feet high. The hight of the tree varies in differ¬ 
ent countries, from 8 or 9 to 18 or 20 feet. It is 
covered with smooth, shining, dark leaves, 2$- to 
3 inches long. 
Fig. 2 shows the form of the leaf, flowers, and 
seeds or coffee berries. The size of the berries 
varies with the quality and location of the soil. 
The plants are raised from seed sown in beds 
and nurseries, and transferred to fields when 
six months or more old. They do not produce full 
crops of berries until the third or fourth year, but 
continue bearing 12 to 15 years or more. They 
do best on a dry, warm soil. The higher and dry¬ 
er soils produce smaller but better flavored ber¬ 
ries. 
As before stated, the flavor improves greatly 
by keeping. Some of the smaller kinds will attain 
nearly their full flavor in two or three years, while 
larger poorer kinds continue to improve for 12 or 
fifteen years, or more. The poorest kinds, if kept 
long enough, will become better than the best 
kinds when recently gathered. 
Few persons are aware how similar the effects 
of coffee upon the system are to those of China 
tea. Indeed, the three effective ingredients or 
constituents of coffee strongly resemble those ot 
tea. The aroma and flavor of tea are brought 
out in the drying process, and a similar result is 
obtained in roasting coffee. In long keeping, as 
well as in roasting, a volatile oil is developed in tire 
coffee berry. This oil is similar to that described 
in tea, but is in much less quantity. In roasted 
coffee it scarcely amounts to an ounce in 3,000 
pounds, yet upon tiffs small portion of oil and its 
variable quantity depends the value and variations 
in price of the different kinds of coffee. Payen 
says, that if this volatile oil could be extracted 
and used in flavoring the poorer kinds, it would 
Fig. 2—Leaf, flower, and berries of the Coffee Tree— 
Leaf 2} to 3 inches long. 
be worth in the market as much as IB8.000 a 
pound ! Direct experiments upon the human 
system have been made with this oil. It was found 
that a quantity no greater than the four-hundred- 
thousandih part of a pound, or the twenty-five- 
thousandth part of an ounce (less than one-sixtieth 
of a grain!) taken daily, produced a gentle per¬ 
spiration, dispelled hunger, moved the bowels 
and exhilarated the brain ; while double inis min¬ 
ute quantity (the amount obtained from t lb- of 
coffee) induced violent perspiration, or sweating, 
with sleeplessness and incipient congestion. 
Unroasted coffee contains about one part ir. 
twenty of an astringent acid, similar in effect to 
oak-bark tea. There is less in roasted coffee, but 
still enough to produce marked tonic or strength¬ 
ening effects. This astringent principle is much 
less than in tea ; hence it operates less to con¬ 
stipate the bowels, while the oil above described 
has a cathartic effect. We have known persons 
so sensitive to this, that a single cup of coffee 
would almost invariably produce a movement of 
the bowels—sooner than a tablespoonful of cas¬ 
tor-oil, or an equivalent of other cathartic medi¬ 
cines. The powerful effects of these minute 
quantities of ingredients in coffee and tea would 
indicate a greater degree of caution in the con¬ 
sumption of large potations of either beverage, 
for let it be remembered that the effect is the 
same, whether the oil, etc , be separately swal¬ 
lowed, or taken in the liquid as usually prepared. 
The only reason why more marked effects are 
not generally observed is, that the quantity 
consumed at a time by one person is seldom as 
much as an ounce, and further, the system gradu¬ 
ally becomes somewhat accustomed to the effect. 
The liquid from three or four ounces of coffee, if 
taken at one time by a person unaccustomed to 
this beverage, would produce violent, if not fatal 
effects. Can we wonder then, that those drink¬ 
ing freely of strong tea or coffee are troubled with 
weak, unsteady nerves, neuralgia, headaches, and 
a hundred other ailments'! With these, as with 
all other stimulants, an exhilaration is first pro¬ 
duced ; then follows a depression of spirits, by 
which time another dose of stimulant is felt to be 
needed, and is usually taken. With this common 
sense view of the matter, it is the bight of ab¬ 
surdity to accustom growing children and young 
persons to the use of coffee or tea It is worse 
than absurd ; it is cruel It is equivalent to com¬ 
pelling them or allowing them to carry a chain 
that will wear into their flesh a sore difficult tube 
healed, which must ever after be daily dressed 
with a mollient ointment. 
We will say nothing of the practicability or the 
impracticability of breaking from the habit, by 
those already long in its chains, but having set 
(orth the dark side of the picture, will refer to 
the few bright spots there are, which may be 
slightly consolatory to those who cannot do with¬ 
out their “ cups.” 
Coffee contains a variable quantity—one pound 
in a hundred, more or less—of Caffeine , a sub¬ 
stance almost, if not exactly like the Thcine in 
China tea. An ounce of coffee contains, say 4 to 
5 grains of caffeine. Eight or ten grains taken 
daily produce a more frequent pulse, a stronger 
beating of the heart, trembling, wandering 
thoughts, and incipient intoxication. Small quan¬ 
tities of two or three grains (the amount in £ oz 
of coffee) do not produce specially disagreabie ef¬ 
fects, but lessen the evacuations, and probably 
diminish the waste of the tissues; and on this 
account may be beneficial to weak and aged per 
sons, if the effects be not overcome by previous 
habit. This is small comfort, but may be taken foi 
what it is worth. 
Nourishment in Coffee. —Like tea, coffee con 
tains considerable quantities of nutritious gluten 
gum, and sugar. Of gluten, coffee has about one 
part in 7j ; tea, 1 part in 4. Of gum and sugar 
coffee has about 1 part in 7; tea. 1 part in 5 Bn* 
since a much larger quantity of coffee is used foi 
a cup of infusion, the actual nourishment in a 
cup of coffee is greater than in a cup of tea. It 
is to be remarked, however, that these nourish¬ 
ing elements are not largely dissolved out in 
steeping either tea or coffee. To get the full, oi 
even any considerable portion of the nourishment, 
the “ grounds ” must be eaten after they are 
steeped. This is practiced among some Eastern 
nations, and the custom is to he commended, es¬ 
pecially to those who, from necessity or choice, 
would make every article of food go as far as pos¬ 
sible in nourishing the body. But as shown in 
the case of tea, the nourishment from coffee, it 
taken for that purpose alone, is rather expensive. 
Gluten (the muscle, or lean flesh forming element), 
if obtained tiom coffee, by the consumption ol 
the entire berry, costs about $1 per lb., estimat¬ 
ing the cost of tie coffee at only 13 cents per lb. 
As shown in discussing tea, gluten from beans, 
at $2 per bushel, costs 12 cents per lb , and from 
fine flour at $7 per barrel, 30 to 35 cents per lb., 
reckoning nothing for the large amount of nour¬ 
ishing starch and oil in the latter two substances 
We must defer to another chapter a talk on 
making coffee—including coffee-boilers and coffee 
pots—to be followed by a description and discus¬ 
sion of cocoa and chocolate. 
--— ■»«--- 
Gardening for Lapies. —Make up your leds 
early in the morning ; sew buttons on your hus¬ 
band’s shirts; do not rake up any grievances; 
protect the young and tender branches of your 
family; plant a smile of good temper in your 
face, and carefully root out all angry feelings, and 
expect a good crop of happiness. 
-■*-<—■o— ■ - 
An honest employment is the best inheritance 
that can fall to any one. 
A libertine’s life is not a life of liberty 
