American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-11-01

THE people of the Eastern Archipelago
have no belief in water. They say it will
not quench a 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 vel
come to every berry. The only nonin-
toxicating drink the Sumatran does be-
lieve in is coffee leaf tea, and his faith is
founded on experience. Give him little
boiled rice and plenty of coffee-leaf tea,
and he can work for weeks together in
the rice-fields 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 inn
munity entirely to the virtues of his
favorite 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 good crop of leaves, it
can be probably 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 a 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. Mr.. Ward,
who passed twenty years in Padang, is
loud in its praises. He drank it
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
cd 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 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 a 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
| for use. Some samples of coffee-leaf tea
| were SHOW at the first Great Exhibition,
and were favorably reported upon by tea
tasters and analytical chemists the latter
pronouncing it to contain all the charac-
| teristics of the coffee bean, while richer
| in theme. The infusion is of a deep
brown color, and extremely fragrant, its
odor-like its misunderstanding that of a
mixture of tea and coffee. Dr. Stem
house says: The infusion of the coffee
| leaf has a much greater resemblance to
| that of tea than TO decoction of the
coffee bean, so that, should the coffee-leaf
| ever come into general use in European
countries, it will be rather as substitute
| for tea than coffee. If the leaves were
| only dried at a somewhat lower and better
| regulated temperature, 1 have little doubt
that they would yield an agreeable bev-
| age.''-Chdm6ers' Journal