Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-10-30
C0tfee-leaf Tea.

THE people of the Eastern Archipelago
have no belief in water. They say it will
not quench mans thirst nor give renew
ed vigor to tired sinews Tea is not
bitter enough for their palate and for
cotfee-the benighted European is wei
come to every berry. The only non-in-
toXicating drink the Samaritan does be-
lieve in is cotfeeleaf tea, and his faith is
founded on experience. Give him little
boiled rice and plenty Of cof1ee-leaf tea,
and he can work for weeks together in
the Tice-tields up TO his knees in mud,
scorched by a burning sun, or drenched
with tropical downpours. Heat, cold,
and wet are alike to him, for they work
him no harm, and he ascribes his i'm
munity entirely to the virtues Of his
tayorite beverage. When grown for its
berries, the coffee plant can only be cult
waited successfully in particular soils and
particular situations; but when it is only
required 10 yield q good crop of leaves, it
can be proftably grown wherever the soil
is tolerably fertile. Mr.. Motley, travelling
up the Chanaku River, saw coffee trees
growing everywhere near the houses, and
in every case noticed that the berries lay
deCaying on the ground as though not
worth consideration. He was impelled
to taste the cotfee-leaf tea, which smelt
exceedingly like green tea, and found it
so pleasant to drink, and so refreshing
after hard day in the sun, that he no
longer wondered at the excessive fond
ness the Sumatrans display for what is
truly their national beverage. MI Ward
who passed twenty years in Padang, is
loud in its praises. He drank 1t
morning and evening, and found it in
valuable, giving immediate relief to hun
ger and fatigue and clearing the brain OF
its cobwebs. The Sumatrans hold that
the best liquor is obtained from leaves
shed by the plants; but their usual meth
Od of proceeding is TO take off the ends
Of the branches and suckers, and break
them up into twelve or fifteen inch lengths
These are fixed side by side in a split
bamboo, so that the leaves all appear on
one side, and the stalks on the other, by
which means equality Of roasting is in
sured, the leaves being roasted together
and the stalks together. After tying up
the bamboo, the truss of leaves and stalks
Is held over smokeless fire, and kept
moving about, so as to roast without sing
ing It, The stalks are considered quite
as valuable as the leaves, and when the
operation is completed, leaves and stalks
are rubbed between the hands into a
coarse powder, and then they are ready
| toruse. Some samples of cotfee-leaf tea
were shown at the first Great Exhibition
and were favorably reported upon by tea.
| ta>ters and analytical chemists, the latter
pronouncing it to contain all the charac-
terlsticS OF the coffee bean, while richer
IN theme. The infusion is of deep
! brown color, and extremely fragrant, It's
odor-like It's Understanding that of a
| mixture of tea and coffee. DR.. Stem
house says: The infusion Of the coffee
leaf has much greater resemblance tc
that OF tea than to a decoction of the
cotiee-bean, so that, should the cotiee-leal
ever come into general use in European
countries, If will be rather as a substitute
for tea Than coffee. If the leaves were
only dried at a somewhat lower and better
regulated temperature, have little doubt
that they would yield an agreeable bev
erage. '-ChdmbefS' Journal.