The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1881-09-14
HISTORY or C0BlsEB.

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| As coffee Is IN daily uss ID naosi sSasy
household 10 civilized lands and n many
heather committees, It's history eahnot but be
of interest to all our reaaefs.
ln the course of four centuries berry has
made Its way through the whole civilized
world, which was before kpown only as an
article of luxury or food TO the few savage
tribes on the borders Of Abyssinia Bruce
tells us that " Che Galloe, wandering nation
OF Africa, being obliged to traverse immense
deserts in their incursions to Abyssinia. carry
no provision but coffee roasted till it can be
pulverized, and then mixed with butter to
consistency that win suffer it to be rolled up
in balls, one of which, about the size of bill
lard ball, is said to be sufficient to keep them
in health and spirits, during whole days
fatigue, better than loaf of bread or piece
OF meat
! It Is said that an Arabian sheik, who
visited Abyssinia, introduced the coffee. berry
INTO Arabia on his return, and Arabian
keepers of coffee-houses worship him as their
patron. 1t was sometime after, however,
that the drink called coffee was first made, the
berry having previously been eaten as food.
In what manner tho idea of using coffee for
the preparation Of the well-known agreeable
and refreshing drink came into existence is
not known. One version of it, however is as
! follows:
"In the valleys Of Yemen, in Arabia,
lived Dervish who, excepting poor cottage
possessed nothing but few goats. He had
often perceived, with great surprise, that
these animals were extraordinary cheerful and
merry on thoir return from the meadow. Very
anxious to know to what cause this phenome-
non was to be aserises, L.- <sffuweu on q GER
tain day the traces OF his goats, and he per-
ceived that they were eating most eagerly two
twigs and leaves of shrub which hitherto
had been unknown to him. He determined
to follow their example, in order 60 know by
experience what would be the effects of the
use of the plant on himself; and the conse4
quenee was that he also felt an extraordinary
liyeliness and gaiety which made him SO very
talkative that he excited the surprise of all
his neighboring fellow hernits who ate of It
also, and afterwards used It as drink
The ancient Greeks and Romans were en-
tirely unacquainted with coffee. The famous
Ritter in his essay on the coffee-berry, says
we do not perceive that any native writer
of Arabia, or any traveller there, has ever
mentioned this product, even cursoriIy, either
in the times of classical antiquity or in the
period of Islamism before the fifteenth CEN
fury of the Christian era, nor is the name OF
coffee mentioned in any description of the
indo- Egyptian trade. ALI of sudden, how
ever this country appears in the fifteenth anG
sixteenth centuries as tile only fatherand Of
coffee.
! The first mention Of coffee In the west OF
Europe is by Rauwolff, in 1887. In France,
in 1860, several bales were imported from
Egypt, and in 1871 coffee house was opened
at Marseilles In 1859 merchant brought to
England Greek servant, named Pasqua, who
understood the method of preparing and
roasting coffee. This man was the first who
publicly sold coffee in England. Prior to
that time the English at their meals drank
home-brewed ale, or beer, or tea.
The coffees which now come from Java,
Brazil and elsewhere, all owe their origin to
the Abyssinian coffee which has been trans
planted in those countries. Tho word coffee
is supposed to be derived from Kaffa, an Afri-
can town. In Arabia the coffee tree rises to
the height Of thirty odd feet, in the West
Indies it seldom reaches eighteen Or twenty
feet while in Java it is twelve or fifteen feet
in height. When the flowers with which the
tree is covered withcr and fall down, they
leave in their room the fruit, which needs
nearly half year to obtain its full maturity.