ON  THE  USE  OF   COFFEE  LEAVES  IN  SUMATRA. 
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USE  OF  COFFEE-LEAVES  IN  SUMATRA. 
From  the  Overland  Singapore  Free  Press,  published  Jan.  3, 
1853,  we  extract  the  following  letter  signed  "  Jin  old  Sumatran," 
upon  the  use  of  coffee-leaves  for  the  preparation  of  a  beverage  in 
the  island  of  Sumatra.  We  briefly  alluded  in  the  Pharmaceutical 
Journal  for  June,  1852  (Vol.  -xu5  p.  578,)  to  a  project  for  employ- 
ing coffee-leaves  in  this  country  as  a  substitute  for  tea. 
"  In  the  Singapore  Free  Press,  of  the  17th  September  last,  are 
extracts  from  the  Colombo  Observer,  by  which  it  appears  a  patent 
has  been  taken  out  by  Dr.  Gardner  (known  to  us  by  his  travels  in 
South  America*)  for  preparing  the  coffee-leaf  in  a  manner  to  afford 
a  beverage  like  tea,  that  is,  by  infusion,  6  forming  an  agreeable, 
refreshing,  and  nutritive  article  of  diet.' 
"  It  may  be  interesting  to  Dr.  Gardner,  his  friends,  and  the  pub- 
lic in  general  to  learn,  that  an  infusion  of  the  coffee-leaf  is  an 
article  of  universal  consumption  amongst  the  natives  of  this  part 
of  Sumatra  ;  wherever  coffee  is  grown  the  leaf  has  become  one  of 
the  very  few  necessaries  of  life  which  the  natives  regard  as  indis- 
pensable. 
"  The  coffee  plant  in  a  congenial  soil  and  climate  exhibits  great 
luxuriance  in  its  foliage,  throwing  out  abundance  of  suckers  ami 
lateral  stems,  especially  when  from  any  cause  the  main  stem  is 
thrown  out  of  the  perpendicular,  to  which  it  is  very  liable  from 
its  great*  superincumbent  weight  compared  with  the  hold  of  its 
roots  in  the  ground.  The  native  planters,  availing  themselves  of 
this  propensity,  often  give  the  plant  a  considerable  inclination,  not 
only  to  increase  the  foliage,  but  to  obtain  new  fruit-bearing  stems 
when  the  old  ones  become  unproductive.  It  is  also  found  desirable 
to  limit  the  height  of  the  plant  by  lopping  off  the  top,  to  increase 
the  produce  and  facilitate  collecting  it,  and  fresh  sprouts  in  abun- 
dance are  the  certain  consequence.  These  are  so  many  causes  of 
the  development  of  a  vegetation  which  becomes  injurious  to  the 
quantity  of  the  fruit  or  berry  unless  removed;  and  where  this  super- 
*It  is  Dr.  John  Gardner  of  London  who  exhibited  prepared  coffee -leaves 
at  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851.  Mr.  George  Gardner,  late  superintendent 
of  the  Botanical  Garden  at  Peradenia,  Ceylon,  and  author  of  Traiels  in  the 
Interior  of  Brazil,  died  in  Ceylon  in  March,  1849.— Ei>.  Pharm.  Joum. 
23 
