C O F 
C O F 
they are plucked, the wound foon cicatrizes, and nothing 
follows. The fruit of the coffee in St. Domingo, when 
perfe&ly. ripe, appears like a final! oval cherry. Under a 
red and finning fkin a whitifli clammy luicio'us pulp pre- 
fents itfelf, which generally indoles two feeds. When the 
feeds are opened, tliev are found covered with a white, 
ligneous, brittle, membrane, denominated p&rchment ; on 
the infide of which is another lilver-coloured membrane, 
exceedingly thin, and feeming to originate from the fif- 
fure of the feeds. 
Dr. Mofely, phyfician to Chelfea hofpital, who piiblifhed 
h Treatile on the Culture and Properties of Coffee, in 
1792, is a ltrong advocate for extending the growth of 
the coffee-tree in our Weft-India iflands. Ke has fatisfac- 
torily fh,evvn, that it is a practicable and advantageous 
fpeculation ; the labour light; and many parts of it per¬ 
formed by children. The fituations and foil where it 
is carried on mult be dry, and, of courfe, healthy. Cof¬ 
fee plantations, in particular, may be conlidered as a 
nurlery of uleful inhabitants for the colonies. The foil 
heft fuited for coffee is happily fuch as can be fpared from 
every other purpofe. Large trafts of poor land, which 
now lie wafte and ufelcfs, may be,rendered as profitable 
as the beft, without the mortality and cafualties attend¬ 
ant on fevere labour in hot climates. The numerous 
families which would live on coffee-plantations, difperfed 
in fmall fettlements in the interior parts of the iflands, 
would occaiion the mountainous and woody lands to be 
cleared and opened; and to be interfefted with roads and 
eafy communications. Thus the refldents would live in 
fafety, and ail forts of property acquire a proportionate 
value and fecurity. The retreats of fugitive negroes 
would be laid open, plunder and depredation prevented, 
and confpiracies for rebellion deprived of their hiding- 
places. And thus the credit of the planter, and fecurity 
of the merchant, Hand on a firm bafts. 
Dr. Titford, of Spanifh-town, Jamaica, with a view 
alfo to encourage and improve the growth of coffee in 
our Weft-India iflands, has lately communicated a paper 
on this fubjeft, to the fociety for the encouragement of 
arts, manufaftures, See. in London; and of which the 
f ollowing is an extraft : “ Coffee being an article lately 
much encreafed in demand in Europe and America, and 
in confequence commanding a high price, which has in¬ 
duced many planters lately to cultivate it; I beg leave 
to fufomit to the fociety a plan for fending it home in a 
better and more improved ffate than now done. The 
mode now ufed in general by the planter, when the cof¬ 
fee is ripe on the trees, is as follows: They bring the 
coffee to a machine called a peeling-mill, where it is di- 
vefted of its,outride fkin and pulp ; after which, it is put 
in heaps, and undergoes a flight fermentation ; then 
fpread out, and dried on platforms or terraces, until it is 
perfeftly cured, when it is ftored until all the crop is got 
in. The berries ripening fo fafr, it requires every exer¬ 
tion of the planter’s ftrength to get in the fruit in due 
time. When the crop is over, they begin to prepare it 
for market, by again putting it in the fun, and carrying 
it to the peeling and winnowing mills, where it is totally 
diverted of its coats and impurities, and the broken and 
bad coffee picked out, after which it is fit for market. 
It'muft be obferved, that only the molt confiderable cof¬ 
fee-planters have the above mills ; the finall and needy 
planters beat out their coffee in large wooden mortars, 
or troughs, by which a wafte is made by breaking the 
berry. When any coffee is kept for private life, or ifland 
confumption, it does not undergo the above proceffes; 
but the ripe fruit, as it is picked from the trees, is fpread 
out in the fun, and fimply well dried, and beat out as it 
is wanted for ufe or fale. Coffee is well known to im¬ 
prove, when fo preferved, by drying it in the berry; but 
to daily impair and fall off, when it is divefted of its co¬ 
verings, as it is now fent to market; for which reafon the 
planter does not beat out his coffee till ready to fend it. 
“ Upon the above fafts } I will endeavour to point out 
Vol. IV. No, 235, 
745 
the advantages that will be derived by coffee being fent 
home in the whole berry, well dried, and alfo the ob¬ 
jections and. difficulties that will attend fuch mode. One 
advantage will be, the caufing lefs' trouble, and requiring 
lei's negro-labour, at a time of the year when the planter 
is the molt employed. And this is an objeft to the 
planter, by faving the hire of negroes, which is very high 
during crop; and fometimes they cannot be procured, 111 
which.cafe the coffee drops off the trees, and is loft. The 
next is the prevention of the coffee imbibing the ill fla¬ 
vour of fugar, rum, pimento, See. which may be fhipped 
with it, and which, I underhand, is the principal ob¬ 
jection to this country coffee being ufed in Eng'land. It 
is prefumed the natural coverings will effectually prevent 
any bad impregnations in its palfage. The-increafe of 
freight will be of fome importance, particularly if coffee 
is cultivated as it has been lately ; but the tranflation of 
labour and trouble from the planter, by tedious negro- 
labour, to the fuperior mechanifm of Great Britain; and 
above all, the improved condition, and fuperior quality, 
in which it is conceived the coffee will arrive at a foreign 
port; will make ample compenfation for fuch additional 
charge. Alfo the ftill farther improvement, until the 
time it is wanted for fale or ufe. If wantedTor the fo¬ 
reign market; in England, mills could be eafily con- 
ftruCIed, fo as to do many thoufand weight a-day; where¬ 
as the expence of mills and other machines in the .Weft 
Indies, are a very heavy contingency to the planter. For 
home-confumption, a retailer might purchafe a fmall 
quantity, and beat it out as he wants it, as lie certainly 
would keep it in the ftate it was improving in ; by which 
the confumer would get coffee of the fineft quality, I 
fnouid hope equal to the Mocha, at a very moderate 
price.”—In confequence of the above reprefentation, the 
fociety for the encouragement of arts, &c. now offer a 
high premium for the importation of coffee in pulp. 
COF'FEE,/. [from niosp kefuah, a mixing together. It 
is originally Arabic, pronounced caheu by the Turks, and 
cahuab by the Arabs.] A comforting aromatic drink, pre¬ 
pared from the berry of the coffee-tree. See Coffea. 
The chemical analyfis of coffee evinces that it poffcffes. 
a great portion of mildly bitter and lightly aftringent 
gummous and refinous extraCt; a coniiderable quan¬ 
tity of oil; a fixed fait; and a volatile fait: thefe are its 
medicinal conftituent principles. The intention, of tor- 
refaftion is not only to make it deliver thofe.principles, 
and make them foluble in water, but to give it a property 
it does not poffefs in the natural ftate of the berry. By 
the aftion of fire, its leguminous talte and the aqueous 
part of its mucilage are deltroyed ; its faline properties 
are created and diiengaged, and its oil is rendered empy- 
reumatic. From thence arifes the pungent fmell, and ex¬ 
hilarating flavour, not found in its natural ftate. The 
roafting of the berry to a proper degree requires great 
nicety: Du Fotir juitly remarks, that the virtue and agree- 
ablenefs of the drink depend on it, and that both are of¬ 
ten injured in the ordinary method. Bernier lays, when 
he was at Cairo, where it is fo much ufed, he was affured, 
by the beft judges, that there were only two people, in 
that great city, in the public way, who understood the. 
preparing it.in perfection. If it be under-done, its vir¬ 
tues will not be imparted, and in ufe it will load and op- 
prefs the ftomach : if it be over-done, it will yield a flat, 
burnt, and bitter tafte, its virtues will be deftroyed, and 
in ufe it will heat the body, and aft as an aftringent. 
Fourteen pounds weight of raw coffee is generally re¬ 
duced, at the public roafting-houfes in London, to eleven 
pounds by the roafting; for which the dealer pays feven- 
pence-lialfpenny, at the rate of five {hillings for every 
hundred weight. In Paris, the fame quantity ,is reduced 
to ten pounds and an half. But the roafting ought to 
be regulated by the age and quality of the coffee, and by 
nicer rules than the appearance of the fumes, and fuch 
as are uiually praftiled; therefore the reduftiun mulfc 
confequently vary, and no exaft ftandard can be afeer- 
91> tained-. 
