Classic Culinary Arts:

Coffee Recipe

There is a variety of coffees; but, unlike the teas, they do not owe their difference of flavor or color to the curing, but to the soil and climate in which they grow. Coffee grows on small trees. The fruit is something like the cherry, but there are two seeds in it. The beans are separated by being bruised with a heavy roller, and are then washed and dried. The longer the raw berry is kept the riper and better flavored it becomes. In countries where coffee is grown the leaves are used as much as the berry. Like tea, coffee must be roasted, that the fine flavor shall be developed. There are large establishments for roasting and grinding coffee. The work is done by machinery; and nearly always the grains arc evenly roasted, and just enough to give the right flavor. If the coffee, after roasting, is put in close tin cans, it will retain its best qualities for a long time. It can be ground when needed for use. Many persons think that heating the dry coffee just before making improves the flavor. There are many modes of making coffee, each having its advantages and disadvantages. Some people think that by first wetting the coffee with cold water, and letting it come to a boil, and by then adding the boiling water, more of the strength of the coffee is extracted. When there is not cream for coffee the milk should be boiled, as it makes the coffee richer. As soon as the milk boils up it should be taken off of the stove, since it grows strong and oily by much boiling. To many people it is injurious to drink coffee; but physicians say that, taken without milk, it is harmless. Some element of the coffee combines with the milk to form a leathery coating on the stomach, which impairs digestion. A great many substances are mixed with coffee, when sold, to cheapen it,--chicory, beans, peas, rye, and wheat being the commonest. To obtain it pure, the safest way is to buy it unground, unless you purchase of a strictly honest dealer. Coffee drinkers, as a rule, eat less than other people, though coffee, and also tea, have little direct food value; but they retard the waste of the tissues, and so take the place of food. The sugar and milk used with them give some nutriment.