American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-08-09
DOMESTIC ECONOMY.
Four Ways of Making Coffee.
Ivy JULIET CoRsaN.


cheer and exhilarate.
If we rightly understand its Office as
a food, it should be used chiefly as an
accessory; it lessons the action of the
skin, increases that of the heart, stimu-
lates the nervous system, and rouses the
mental faculties; when coffee is boiled,
its action on the heart and brain is more
intense than when it is taken as a SIM
pie infusion. 1t also aids the digestion
and assimilation of other foods when it
is properly prepared. Intense heat is
necessary to the extraction of all the
virtues of the little brown berry, but
actual boiling dissipates its fragrant
volatile oil End extracts its fannie acid.
This acid, in combination with cream
or milk, hardens their albumen into an
indigestible compound, exceedingly ir-
ritating to the delicate membranes of
the digestive organs. Therefore, in
making coffee, we must endeavor to Sc
cure the requisite strength without risk
ing corresponding loss of flavor or
developing any deleterious qualities. A
series of experiments has convinced, at
least, our household that the making of
a perfect cup of coffee is very simple
matter.
The degree of strength is an affair of
taste. Two ounces, or heaping table,
spoonfuls of pure coffee, ground very
fine, and saturated with absolutely boil
ing water, will make quart Of pleas
ant, well favored breakfast coffee.
Our own favorite morning beverage
has been dubbed by admiring friends
"coffee with stick" and we do not
hesitate to commend it to the readers of
the Christian Union.
To make it, have ready quart of ac-
tually boiling water or milk-by the
way, this sort of coffee possesses the
merit of being makable" in almost
any utensil at hand-a coffee-pot, a tin
pail, an earthen pitcher, or an iron pot
only providing the article is clean.
We delight to brew it in a blue ma
jolica pitcher, wreathed with water
lilies, but then we tried to be poetical
before we were strictly culinary. To re-
turn to our subject: if pitcher be
used, heat it by pouring into it little
hot water (mem.: have spoon stand
ing in the pitcher and it will not crack)
while you heat the coffee for a minute
by stirring it over the fire in a frying
pan. If you use pot or pail, heat the
coffee in that. When the coffee is hot,
pour the boiling milk or water upon it,
and stir with a spoon or stick for 1 min
ute; let it stand by the side of the fire,
where it will keep hot, but not boil, for
l minute; then stir it again for / min
ute; keep by the fire for 2 minutes to
let it settle, and then pour it into the
cups carefully enough to leave the
grounds at the bottom of the vessel.
The object of stirring is to thoroughly
saturate the coffee with the boiling
liquid, so that the grounds will sink by
their own weight.
Any of the forms of coffee mentioned
above may be prepared in the same way,
using boiling water, and the proper
ton of coffee quoted as suitable for each
one.
H.-BY HENRY WARD BEECHER.
have no trouble in getting a very
first-rate cup of coffee. generally get
the best Java and the best Mocha, and
mix them in the proportion of one-third
Mocha to two-thirds Java. After it is
burned-and I prefer having an honest
man do it to burning it myself-and
ground I take one of these coffee-pots
with top to it and strainer. The first
rule is to get good coffee, well burned
and ground; and the second, that you
can not make coffee without using cof-
fee. The man who undertakes to make
quart of coffee out of a teaspoonful of
grounds will find out his mistake. Put
in enough, and when you pour in the
water take care to have it boiling, not
scalding. 1t makes all the difference in
the world whether it has just boiled or
stood on the range all day, having lit
tie added to it now and then. You can
not make good coffee in an ordinary
family, where they keep their kettle 60
ing all day long. The water is sure to
taste smoky. The water is stale, it has
been boiled to death. Have fresh water
put on. But then it is not enough that
it should be scalding hot; it must be
bubbling, boiling hot! I put my coffee
into the top, and pour in just. as much
boiling water as will run down through
and begin to drip at the bottom. Ithen
wait half minute to let the coffee swell
and get moist all the way through;
then pour in slowly all the rest of the
water that am going to, till have got
right up to the lid, and let it run
through. get then coffee that would
make a king dance to drink. 1 don't
know much of the Vienna coffee-pot.
The simpler it is the better. 1 never
touch an egg. In both tea and coffee
there is second taste, and the second
taste of coffee is bitter and acid. Ifyou
desire, therefore, supreme coffee or tea
you have to use enough to get the first
taste, which is fragrant and delicious
result. If you let this stand while,
you get the second, which is more or
less bitter and astringent.
uI.-BY LAICUs.
1 have no ambition to give house,
keepers any directions how to make
coffee. But 1 have had to be somewhat
independent of cooks and housekeepers
in this matter, for all my life have been
accustomed to rise from one to three
hours before breakfast and do the best