Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1863-03-31
COFFEE AND ITS SUBSTITUTES

The use of coffee as a beverage seems to have
originated among the Turks in Arabia, from whence
IL was carried to Europe in 1869 1t has gradually
become national beverage to Europeans and Amer
leans, as we'll as the Moslems and it has been called
one of The chief necesSaries of life among the PED
pie" The coffee bean is the seed of COfea Ara6ica
shrub which grows to about the height of 30 feet
but is usually cut down to about six feet to increase
the yield of the bean. Its cultivation was confined
until within the past century TO Egypt and Arabia,
but is now cultivated in the West India and East
India Islands also in Brazil upon most extensive
scale. single tree sometimes yields about twenty
pounds of beans; and about l, 100 pounds are OBJ.
tanned as the crop of one Of land. There are
number Of varieties Of coffee, but Mocha or Arabian
is sill the most famous. Its beans small and of
dark yellow color Java is a larger bean, and the
color is paler yellow; West India and Brazilian
coffee is of bueish grey color.
Psychologists have endeavored to account for the
extended use of coffee by ascribng to it peculiar
quality for preventing the waste of animal tissue in
the living being This principle is called caffeine,
and is composed Of carbon 8, nitrogen 2, hydrogen
10, and oxygen parts. Roasted coffee contains
about II 90 parts of caffeine. In roasting coffee
great care should be exercised not to overhead it.
because the Catherine in it is so liable to volatze
The best temperature to roast coffee is 392" Fah
and the operation should be performed in a close
revolving vessel. When the beans have assumed a
bright brown Color they should be cooled, if posi-
OV, NeSSel III WHICH Iney nave been roasted,
so as to retain all the aroma that has been developed
by the roasting operation Burnt coffee beans
just as suitable for making an infusion as charred
wood Upon no account, therefore, should coffee
beans he 80 heated as to char them. Coffee should
never be boiled, because the boiling action voatili-
yes the aromatic rosin in it and this constitutes
nearly three per cent. of the beans. IL should be
ground as finely possible and scalded with water
heated to the boiling point 1t can be clarified with
the white of eggs or islnglass. This information re-
lateS to pure coffee.
In Germany and England the poorer classes, who
cannot afford to buy coffee, use mixtures of it. and
in many cases, other substances as entire substi-
tutes. In Germany dried yellow turnps and Chi
cory root mixed together are employed a subst-
tute; chcory is also very generally mixed with
common coffee in England. Lately, several mix
lures and substitutes for coffee have become more
common among our own laboring people on account
of the great rise in the price of coffee In some of
OF our country villages German families roast acOrnS
and use these as substitutes for coffee. Roasted |
rye is an old and well known substitute aud so is
" CObbetts" coffee, which consists Of roasted corn.
Many persons roast white beans and peas and mix |
them with coffee othcIS roast carrots and bects and
make mixture Of them with coffee In some parts |
oil France mixture ofequal parts of roasted chest
nuts and coffee is used.
1t makes very superior beverage to chicory,
turnlpS, and all the other articles mentioned The |
for coffee are innumerabe and SO far as
taste is concerned, this is mere matter Of cultva-
ton II any of these substitutes for coffee contain
I'd caffeine or similar principle, they would an
'WGT the same PURPOSE and their use should DC ill.,
cuicated; but in all the analysis that we have cx-
ahmed oil chIcora, turnips, carrots, beetS, peas 7
beans corn and rye. no such substances as caffeine
S mention, therefore they arc not true substitutes
or 1t IN chemical and physiological sense We
nave been unable to obtain Il satisfactory analysis
81 chestnutS and acorns, but it is we'll known that
n Or,l ard =. ,b,t
exc acid Is very nearly allied To it hence they may
nave close Resemblance To coffee in taste, and per-
laps IN effect alsO-StieHtifc american.