The Sun.
London, England, 1808-10-14 00:00:00

COFFEE AT REDUCED PRICES.

By an ASR passed during the late Session of
,Parliament, to take place from and after the 10th
day of this month, thd•whole of the Custom-house
Duties on Coffee are repealed, and the Excise Du-
ties are reduced from 2s. 3d. to 7d. per
The objea of .this Act is to increase the home
consumption of the produce ,of the British Co-
lonies, the returns for which are made in British
manufaaures, and to countera& the Decrees of
Buonaparte, who attempts to deprive us of every
foreign market for our 'manufactures and colOnial
produce.
Coffee as a beverage forrits an important article
in the food and, comfort of the laborious classes
throughout the greater part of the Continent of
Europe, where its prevalent and extended consump-
tion, until checked by the recent impediments to
commerce, were the best proofs of its grateful and
salutary qualities.
'The best Plantation' Coffee, which is hardly to
be distinguished from Mocha Coffee, may now be
retailed at about 2s. 6d. per lb. and persons who
indulge a prejudice against our Colonial Coffee
ought to be informed that the quantity of Mocha
Coffee at any time imported into this Kingdom.
forms a veny minute fraaion Of the quAntity con-
sumed here. No Mocha Coffee has been sold by
the East India Company since April, 1807. The
quantity then sold was about 100 o• bags, of which
nearly one half remains in the Company's ware-
houses. It may be fairly presumed, therefore, that
many of those who baVe purchased Coffee at the
Trice, add tn;clt..r the wine of Mocha Coffee, hive
been served With Colonial Coffee. This considera-
tion is particularly recommended to the keepers of
Coffee-house;, Inns, and Taverns.
It is recommended to the public to pun'chase their
Coffee unroasted, and to roast it immediately before
it is wanted for use, in cylindrjeal iron coffee-roasters,
taking care to shake it from tipe to time, that it
may not he burnt or scorched in the operation, which
is the work of only a few minutes. Those who
have not conveniences for roasting it themselves
should take care to purchase it neyvly roasted.
Coffee is best made in coffee-pots or biggins,
fitted with muslin strainers, in which the ground
Coffee is to be placed, and boiling water poured
through it, after Wards boiling the free, in order
that the steam may completely extract the flavour
of the ground Coffee-in the strainer. If th,:' ground
Coffee is boiled without being suspended in the
strainer, it, is apt to adhere tri:4lse bbttorn of the put
and burn, in which case thy, tp,•our is injured in the
sammpanner as if the be. viestad been burnt in
roasting ,• but by the'mode here recommended, the
whole strength of the Coffee is extracted, and its
aromatic flavour preserved. In using it, boiled milk
will be found preferable to cold : raw or Muscovado
sugar will strengthen the flavour of weak Coffee, and
refined sugar will heighten the flavour of it if
strong.

It is highly desirable that the provisions of this A&,
and 'directions for the best" mode of making Coffee,
should be generally known, in order that the prin-
ciples of patriotism may 'unite with the gratification
of the palate, in giving efficacy to the intentions of
the Legislature:

Tuesday morning, about two o'clock, a fire broke
out at a house ih Bermondsey-street, which greatly
alarmed the neighbourhood: The whole of the inte-
rior, with the furniture, were dekroyed ; but by the
early arrival of the firemen and engines the flames
were subdued, and the lire happily extinguished with-
out doing any farther damage.
. A fire took place yesterday morning at a house at
Walworth. It was got under with the gutting 'of
_the house, and no further injury. Another, fire
broke out at Mr. James's,' in Botolph-court, at the
same time, and consumed all the upper part of the
house and the furniture.

A fire broke out on Wednesday night at a chan&
lery shop in Hampstead-road, occasioned by a lodger
lektving some wet clothes drying before a good tire
after she had gone to bed: Thy woman, whose
name is Herd, was first alarmed, and the flames were
extinguished after they had destroyed the room. Mrs.,
Herd was seriously burnt in her endeavours to sup
press the flames.
Thursday ,se'nnight a boat; with four tpen in, hers
two of them of th.; name of • lq`K.inlay (father and
son), left,. Greenock harbour for Skipness. When
oft Mount Mount Stuart, Island of Rot hesay, the boat, from
her being old and in bad condition, split, when they.
all perished. This melancholy accident happened
withia.view of several other boats, but which, in
consequence of its blowing hard at the time, accom-
panied with a heavy swell, could render no assist-
ance.—Another boat, supposed also to belong to
Skipness, went down, same day, neat to Pott Ban-
natYoe, in the county of Bute,