Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1863-08-06

the opposite coast to make a decoctiOn
of the burned seeds of an African
shrub or tree, and used it especially
as drink when they desired to keep
awake at night. The Turks had not
at this time become coffee drinkers at
oil. Doubtless the Abyssinians as
signed the origin of the custom to Kaf-
ia, the rcmotest portion of Ethiopia
known to them and hence the name
which the berry received. 1t is some
what remarkable, too, that while coffee
grows freely in all parts of the world,
the best coffee is grown in this same
neighborhood whence the custom of
using it came. The encouragement
Of direct trade with the interior prov
inces opened by Speke's journey will
not be unlikely TO have an effect on
the produce of coffee, and on the quail
ties with which our market is fur
nished. ''
Mocha, the port whose name is at.
tached to the highest grade of coffee,
is not far from Alden. The probabili-
ty seems to be that the superiority of
Mocha coffee is due not so much to
soil or quality Of tree as to the dry
climate which permits a perfect ripen-
ing Of the berry, without requiring
the process of fermentation that is u.s.
ed elsewhere for separating the seed
from the pulp. Mocha furnishes, how
ever, but very small quantity Of cof-
fee to our market, aud the whole
amount exported to all countries is ex-
ceedingly small in proportion to Bra
zil, Java, Ceylon, and the West India
Islands, Most of the Mocha coffee is
used in oriental countries. The trade
might we'll be encouraged, by induc-
ing the inabitants in kaffa and around
Lake Nyahza to grow and trade it for
cotton cloth, or the other articles
which now tempt them to pursue the
elephant for ivory. ssu1
prevalent error is made in attribu-
ting the use of coffee, as of tobacco,
originally to the Turks. They proba-
bly, learned the use Of both from the
Christian nations of Europe The in
habitants of Alden had seen the use
by the Abyssinians of this drink for
centuries without adopting it until
Europe led them to it. If this be so,
much of the traditional veneration FIR
Turkish coffee falls TO the ground.
There is no reason why they should
know how to make coffee any better
than we. Nor do they. The Turks
and Arabs love coffee for the sake of
the burned berry itself. aud not for
the liquid infusion. Hence they use
it more as we use chocolate.
They burn the berry with great care,
pound it in a mortar to an impalpa-
bic powder, and make the liquid mix
ture thick and sweet. They mix a
large quantity of the powder with
cold water in little tin or copper
pot, warm it over Goals till it boils,
put it in sugar, and sip the bot com.
pound with loud noise Of the lips
and liquid. tits unquestionably good
for those who like the taste of the ber-
ry, but it is not at all to the taste of
the lover Of cafe au lan. A common
notion is that the Turks do not use su-
gar in coffee. Where it is scarce
they do not but where it can be pro-
cured at moderate prices they use
large quantities, making their coffee
sweet. 1t has been remarked as Gu
rious that the distinctive principle
known as eofeine in coffee is identical
with the theme i'm tea, and also with
the principle Meobromine in cocoa, which
articles are used for ordinary food or
drink by natives of different parts OF
the world and this same principle
furnishes the human system with bile,
all which goes TO indicate the possi-
bility Of a sort of instructive use of
these articles by men, as naturally as
they use corn for eating. On the 9TH
er hand, however, it must be remem-
bered that the human race lived some
time without lack of bile before they
learned to drink tea, coffee, or cocoa.