Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/20

16 escape at a moderate heat from an open vessel. The process may then be continued at a higher temperature in a vessel closed to prevent the escape of the aroma, and constantly agitated to avoid charring the grains and expelling the oil, by which its bitter quality is made to predominate and the aromatic is lost; a slight excess of heat injures the quality of the coffee. The process should be stopped when the beans are of a chestnut brown; they have then lost about 20 per cent, in weight and gained 50 per cent, in bulk. When removed from the fire, the vessel should be kept closed until cool, that the aromatic vapor may be reabsorbed as much as possible. After roasting, it deteriorates by exposure, and should therefore be soon used, unless kept in tight vessels. It may be injured by absorbing the odor of other substances. Even the raw coffee is liable to be damaged from this cause, and it is found objectionable to ship it in vessels that have been previously freighted with sugar; a few bags of pepper have spoiled a whole cargo of coffee. Freshly roasted and ground coffee tied up in linen has been found to ignite spontaneously. After roasting, the coffee is ground to powder. Boiling, if continued, will cause a loss of the aroma, and increase the bitterness; hence an infusion obtained by steeping is preferable to a decoction, but the water should remain in contact with the coffee long enough to extract the greater portion of its agreeable qualities, which is not the case in the use of the percolating apparatus introduced by Count Rumford, and afterward variously modified. In Arabia the berry is coarsely broken in a mortar, boiled smartly, and strained before drinking. In Asia coffee is used in a thick decoction. In Sumatra the natives make use of the leaf of the plant instead of the seed, ascribing to it more of the bitter and nutritious property. It may also be cultivated for the leaves where the production of seed would fail from unsuitableness of climate or soil. The leaves are moderately roasted and then rubbed to powder in the hands, and this powder is used like tea. The infusion is said to resemble in taste coffee, as usually prepared, and tea combined. It is a remarkable fact that the same peculiar principle should exist in three or more vegetable productions, which, though not at all resembling each other in other respects, have been selected as beverages by almost all nations, some adopting one of them and others another. This fact, pointed out by Liebig, as also that this principle furnishes the elements of the bile, is suggestive of a peculiar adaptation of it to the needs of the human system. This principle, called theme in tea and caffeine in coffee, is theobromine in cocoa, and the same is recognized in the gvarana officinali* and the ilex Paraguensis, which have long served the aborigines of South America the purposes of tea. Coffee and tea are both used in temperate regions; but in the colder climes tea appears to be generally preferred, and is frequently exclusively employed. The northern limit of the coffee-consuming portion of the world is about 60. The best coffee of commerce is the Mocha, and next to this is the Java. The seeds of the former are small and of a dark yellow color; those of Java and the East Indies are larger and of a paler yellow; while those of the West Indies and Brazil have a bluish or greenish gray tint. The Mocha coffee is grown in the province of Yemen, in Arabia; but much of the coffee sold under that name is produced in the East Indies and sent to Mocha, where -it is reshipped, while no inconsiderable portion of it comes from Africa and Brazil. Java coffee is distinguished into pale yellow, the newest and cheapest, and brown, which is the oldest and most esteemed. These varieties depend on the curing and the age of the coffee. The principal markets for Java coffee are Holland and the United States. The greatest coffee-producing country is Brazil, more than half the coffee consumed in the world being produced there. It is the great commercial staple of the empire, and its principal market is the United States. Besides the provinces adjacent to Rio de Janeiro, the coffee plant flourishes in the shade of the Amazon forests, and, with moderate care, yields two annual crops; and the Ceara coffee, much esteemed, grows on the mountain slopes, at an elevation of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea. In the province of Para the coffee plant is seen growing on almost every roadside, thicket, or waste. The coffee of Brazil has little reputation, and is even underrated. This is attributed by Prof. Agassiz to the fact that " a great deal of the best produce of Brazilian plantations is sold under the name of Java, or as the coffee of Martinique or Bourbon, while the so-called Mocha coffee is often nothing but the small round beans of the Brazilian plant found at the summits of the branches and very carefully selected." The total exports from Eio de Janeiro and Santos are stated at 401,127,200 Ibs. in 1869-'70, 468,063,200 Ibs. in 1870-'71, and 327,226,080 Ibs. in 1871-'2. The amount of coffee received into the United States from Brazil has been as follows for a series of years: Year Pounds. Value. Year. Pounds. Value. 1860 1865 1866 186T 1868 156,583,272 80,529,223 166,929,289 147,136,981 199,326,171 116,984,135 7,798,370 13,707,820 15,386,844 1869 1870 1871 1872 205,473.604 183,413,456 257,472,708 194,218,511 $19,255,967 18,322,580 24,339,488 23,970,822 In 1868, 15,822,501 Ibs. of coffee from Brazil were imported into Great Britain; in 1869, 22,267,953; in 1870, 14,057,893; and in 1871, 23,066,344. Next to Brazil in extent of production is Java. The amount exported from Java and Sumatra to Europe in 1860 is stated at 122,790,923 Ibs.; in 1869, 121,655,798; and in 1870, 156,010,912. Almost the entire production of Java is shipped to Holland. The amount thus received into Holland in 1867 was