The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-03-31
How to Maze Coffee.

With all the new tangled coffee pots and
numerous inventions in this line. the secret of
making coffee is a very simple one 1t is only
to get the delicious, aromatic, oily substance
! out of the grounds without allowing it to evap-
| crate. A common practice with cooks IS TO
| grind their coffee over night, and put it on to
| boil for half an hour or more before breakfast
| time 1t does boil, and quite often the fiuid
| which is poured out of the coffee pot after
wards, has only its brown color and bitter taste
left to tell it BY all that makes 1t delicious and
palatable having been wasted. The usual cof-
| fee receipts give too great an amount OF water
| by allowing for some to boil away
There is no need of that, pint Of boiling
water instead of quart,to cup full OF ground
coffee will make good proportion if the coffee
| IS to be somewhat strong; if less strength than
this will make, is desirable, it is better to add
to the amount of boiling water. Watering the
coffee afterwards with cold water is inadmiss-
BILE.
Mix the coffee with enough cold water to
make it paste, beat it little with a spoon 50
that all of the grains may be moistened, put
this paste into bright tin coffee pot in another
-
water, as soon as this boils turn it into the pot
containing the coffee paste and set the pot back
from the fire. where the water will keep hot,
but not boil The aroma, which is the life of
the coffee, does not in this case pour out of the
pot and become lost. The coffee also rather
sleeps than SINNERS. When ready to serve,
draw it for moment over the fire, just long
enough to bring it to the boiling point but no
longer, for coffee should never be boiled.
Then carry it to the table in the pot in which
it was made Coffee made in this way should
be beautifully clear, without the clearing OF an
egg. When the egg is used, either the shells
can be thrown into the coffee paste, or the
white turned in upon il and stirred, but not
beaten. The advantage of making coffee IN
this manner, is that a small quantity goes
further, and that it can always be ready for the
breakfast bell, even if prepared sometime be-
fore. The bright metal pot holds the heat bet
ter than one that is blackened or smoked,
which in this case cools fast, and does not look
so well upon the table.
We must. however, pre-suppose that the COT
fee kernels have been roasted to warm, brown
color and not burned or charred, If we expect
the coffee making to be perfect success.
Coffee contains, beside the aromatic princi-
Pile, which is resident in its oil, two other con-
stituents: One of these ia an alkaloid called
Caffeine, which has bitter taste; the other
one is Tannic Acid, and is astringent. The
two last, when unmodiied by the presence Of
the first, tend by their natural qualities to weak
en- the tone of the stomach, to impair its elias
ITCHY and to hinder digestion. The aromatic
priuciple not only neutralizes this effect, but
acts upon the stomach as gentle stimulant
and promotes digestion. On account OF the
presence of tannin in coffee. it is considered
better to dispense with the milk, especially
when the stomach of the one who uses 1T is
weakened by digestion. When we understand
how readily coffee gives out all of its useful
and nutritious properties by stepping, we are
prepared to see how worse than useless 1t is to
attempt to gain more by boiling. or by again
using the residue or grounds which will afford
little more than a solution of alkali and tan