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Show COFFEE TREE. COFFEE TREE. steam, which they take great pleasure in snufling up as thecoffee is pouring into the cups. They, like all other nations of the with a proper method of drying these husks, and packing them so as to be conveyed to anyconsiderable distance, without prejudicing this agreeable flavour. The Chinese are very careful not to leave their tea-leaves in heaps before they are dried, which would occasion them to heat and spoil: they likewise gather no more at a time than they can dry in less than twenty-four hours, as theyfind, when they have been kept longer, they turn black. These observations may possibly be of some use to those who maybe induced to attempt drying the pulpof the berry for the purpose of making sultana 210 East, drink their coffee without sugar. People of the first fashion use nothing but sultana coffee, which is prepared in the following manner: They bruise the outward husk, or dried pulp, and put it into an iron or earthen pan, which is placed upon acharcoal fire; they then keep stirring it to and fro until it becomes a little brown, but not of so deep a colour as commoncoffee; they then throwit into boiling water, adding at least the fourth part of the inward husks, whichis then boiled all together in the manner of other coffee: the colourofthis liquor has some resemblanceto thebest English beer. The husks must be kept in a very dry place, and packed up very close, for the least humidity spoils the flavour. They esteem the liquor prepared in this manner preferable to any other. The French, when they were at the court of the king of Yemen, ‘saw no other coffee drunk, and they foundthe flayourof it very delicate and agreeable; there was no occasion to use sugar, as it had no bitter taste to correct. {nu all probability this sultana coffee can only be made where the tree grows; for as the husks have little substance, if they are too much dried, in order to send them to other countries, the agreeable flavour they had when fresh is greatly impaired. It may perhaps be worth while for our West India planters to make a trial of drying the outward and inner husk of coffee separately, -in the manner the Chinese do their tea, upon a broad shallow iron pan, turned upwards at the brim, placed upon a stove. They should be kept continually turning, to prevent burning ; and when they are become too hot to be handled, they should be taken off with a kind of shovel, and laid upon a mat on a low table, and shifted about until they cool, fanning them at the same time to disperse the moisture. The pan must be frequently wiped, and kept clean from any clammy matter stick- ing to it, and the process repeated while any moisture is per ceived. They must afterwards be packed close in dry jars, Canisters, or chests lined with lead, such as thetea is sent over in. It will be proper to turn out these husks, after they have lain some days, to examine whether they are thoroughlydry; and if the least damp is felt, it will benecessary to dry themstill more, otherwise they wil! become mouldy, and lose their flavour: for it appears from the Arabian account that they are not acquainted O17 coffee. If the duties and excise upon coffee were lessened, the consumption would be increased ; taste would grow more refined, the best would be sought for, and the price would bein proportion. The present duties are almost prohibitory. It may be worth one’s while to view the effects of these high duties in a political light—I meanin respectto this article. Fora century to come, it is perhaps more than probable that the people of this country will, for one mealat least, make use of either tea, coffee, or chocolate; I speak of the generality. Tea at present takes the lead; whenceit comes, its history, properties, and uses, will be so fully explained, that I shall say no- thing here upon the subject *. It is a question often proposed to physicians, Which is best, tea or coffee? The solution of this point would perhapsbe a diflicult one. Weneither find the Chinese or Turks subjected to any such discriminating effects, as enable the faculty to say, with precision, that one is more injurious than the other. For my own part, I leave it to the experience of individuals. To some people coffee is disagreeable ; they charge it with producing nervous complaints. Tea is not without similar accusations. It seems asif the human frame was, however, so happily constructed, thatit is less in the power of such things to affect it than might at first sight be imagined, ‘The animal powers are apparently such as can convert almost opposite principles to its benefit, if used in any degree of moderation: some drink coffee almost to excess, and condemn tea as injurious; and so coffee is treated in its * See our account of the Tea Plant P2 |