Litchfield enquirer., 1830-04-15
COFFEE.

1 There are probably many house keep ] CTS who will be interested in the followin. <. simple rules for the preparation of an i'm portant item of domestic luxury. 1t i. somewhat remarkable that an infusion which may be made with great ease, and in very short space of time, is, in many families, the cause of more vexation and 1 complaint than all the other petty annoy ances of the household put together. The suggestions below, which we copy from the Virginia Literary Musedm, may be the means of smoothing the diurnal irritation of many an unquiet spirit.-BOst0n Adv.
 list. The raw coffee should be round and small grained. free from dirt and of a 1 light color. It should have no appearance l of mouldiness, and be quite free from any strong smell. It should not be long kept in sacks with other provisions, as there is Do-substance more apt to obtain strong and disagreeable odors from the presence ofits neighbors. Rum injures it: and Miller 1 even goes so far as to state, that few bags ofpepper, on board ship from India, up- on one occasion spoiled the whole cargo. 2. When the grainsi are large, and flat, and of green color, they should be kept on hand, in dry situation, a long time be- fore use. Every West India planter knows this fact, although his interest too often in- duces him to send the article to market be- fore it is old nd>dry enough.
 3. Roasting coffee is by far the most diff ficult operation of the hodsekeeper i; when carried far enough, an aromatic oil is form ed by the heat and forces itself out upon the surface of the grains, giving them a glossy appearance, and an odor which is considered their perfection !; yet too little roasting prevents the aroma from appear ing, and too much completely volatilzes it, leaving nothing but a flat, bitter taste. The heat should be strong and the opera ton shortened as much as possible, with out burning the grains. The roaster should be close or we'll covered all the time, and, in order to improve the looks and flavor, a small piece of butter may be added to the coffee, while parching.
 4. When thus prepared, coffee may be preserved for use in large quantities. with out losing much of its freshness, providing the vessels containing it, be kept all we'll covered. .s s..g... .... ...
 5. An infusion of coffee is better than decoction, simply because the heat, in the last case, being stronger and more lasting, drives of more of the aromatic oil. 1t is better, therefore, 10 grind the coffee very fine, and then expose it by means of a fine strainer, to the action ofboiling water, than to boil it any length of time. Heat al- though unavoidable, injures the flavor, and the best coffee remember to have tasted, was made by exposing the powder to a pres sure of cold water; a teaspoonful of this extract. thrown into a cup of hot water is sufficient. It is not bad method to allow the ground coffee to lie in cold water be- tween meals. and then prepare it by adding hot .water.---Just in proportion to the con- tinuance of heat in this and the last opera ton. the fragrance disappears, and is re- placed by strong butter taste, which ac- cording to the experiments of Chenovix, depends upon the presence of tannin (re- sembliEg that in tan bark.) Roasting, be- sides forming these bitter substances, de- prives the coffee of its nutritious qualities.
 From ike Washington 7slsgraph.
 Steamboat Explosion. are indebt- ed to an intelligent gentleman, a passenger on board the Helen McGregor, for the fol- lowing interesting narrative
 On the morning of the 24th of Feb'y the Helen McGregor stopped at Memphis to deliver freight and land number of pas sengers, who resided in that section of Ten nessee. The time occupied in so doing could not have exceeded three quarters of an hour.-When the boat landed, went ashore to see gentleman with whom l had some business. I found him on the beach, and, after short conversation, re- turned to the boat. recollect looking at my watch as passed the gangway. It was half past eight o'clock. A great num- Der of persons were standing on what is called the boiler deck, being that part of the upper deck situated immediately over the boilers. It was crowded to excess, and presented one dense mass of human bodies. In few minutes we sat down to breakfast in the cabin. The table, al- though extended the whole length of the cabin. was completely filled, there being upwards ofsixty cabin passengers, among whom were several ladies and children. The number ofpassengers on board, deck and cabin united, was between four and i've hundred. had almost finished my breakfast when the pilot rang his bell for the engineer to put his machinery in mo- IAS | .