Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1876-03-15

Hints on COTFEE.-ProfeS>o Daniel
c. Eaton, who occupies the Chair of Bot
any in Yale College. in the course of :,
lecture on Coffee, brought out the fol-
lowing points:
Coffee. rs ii comes to IL. is commonly
called the seeds of the coffee tree. and for
common usage this statement is sufficiently
correct. Bu, it has long been known to
botani>tS that a grain of coffee is really
something more than 4 seed. II is really
a seed enwrapt in the horny portion of the
fruit. and Is therefore more strictly analo-
gous to Il peach pit, which is the stony
inner portion Of the fruit with the seed
contained in it. The tree is not large.
generally from six to ten feet high in cul-
tivation. but when allowed TO grow freely
perhaps three times that size The leaves
are of good size. handsome. polished and
evergreen. not Very unlike orange leaves.
They grow in pairs on the slender. straight
branches. The flowers are little clusters
of fragrant white stars, and it is said that
in 4 coffee plantation there is no time
when some flowers cannot be seen. The
flowers are succeeded by green berries.
which ripen to Il beautiful red. and look
not unlike rather small cherries. except
that they are closely clustered along the
branches.
In lo'l9, the whole production of coffee
in the world was estimated at 1l3. .OO0. 900
pounds. Of which Brazil furnished 400
100000, Java l40. 900, 900, Cevlon and san
Domingo. each 40 OO0, 600, Cuba and Porto
Rico, 25,000, 900, Venezuela and Sumatra
each as much and all otter countries, in
Guiding Arabia, Costa Hica. jamaica. etc.
only 16,ooo,o0o. From these figures il
will be seen that only one man in three
drinks Jaya coffee. and probably only one
in one hundred gets any Nc, la, and vet
you will fad it difficult to buy pound of
coffee in this city tomorrow which the
dealer will call Rio. 1t is all called Mocha.
or Java, or possibly Maracaibo.
BY far the greater part of the coffee
used in the United States is Brazilian or
Rio coffee. Indeed Brazil produces more
coffee than all the rest of the world put
together. There are marked differences
in the appearance of some of these cotfees,
rs well us considerable difference in flavor.
Taking three Of the best known kinds, for
example, iio, Mocha and Java. we notice
that the grains of Java are larger than
either of the others. and of Slight vel
! lowish-brown color. Rio coffee has rather
larger grains than Mocha. and the color
is considerably darker and somewhat more
inclined to greensh.
In flavor Java is much milder than
either of the others, and Mocha is richer
and spicier than Rio, while Rio is the
strongest of the three, and. indeed, is per-
haps the strongest of all cofleeS 1t is
true of all coffee that the fewer broken
and discolored grains in it the better the
coffee. and no cup of coffee can be really
excellent unless all imperfect grains are
removed before the coffee is roasted
The best coffee here Obtainable is m
equal mixture of Java and what is called
Mocha. AS the grains Of one are much
larger than that Of the other thcy should
be roasted separately, bat ground togeth
er.
The common, cheap ground coffees con
tain usually a little coffee. and here the
bulk is supplied mostly with either peas o.
rye. Chicory is too high priced to b,
, used to any great extent. and the peopl,
who think that if their coffee is not reall,
pure, it contains only a little chicorv, ar,
probably drinking peas and rye, mad
dark and bitter with burnt sugar. Th
:, higher sounding the title of the coffee
the poorer the quality as a general thing