Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-12-30
Philadelphia Times.


Coffee, which with tea and cocoa con-
tests for the supremacy of the world as
domestic beverage, and the chemical
irtues Of whice are practically the same
"a those of it's two rivals, appears to be
making decided Roadway, judg ed by it's
constantly increasing popularity. This
is to be accounted for partly from the
steady increase in its production and con-
sequent cheapness from this cause. It is
to be presumed however, that the chief
reason for its increasing popularity is
the perfection that has been attained in
preparing it for use.
For many years after coffee began to
be a popular beverage, the householder
purchased it in its green state, roasted or
burned it more properly in the old fash
toned dripping or frying pan, and either
pounded it In mortar or ground it in
hand-miIl. This involved hard work
tried tempers, and an aroma of scorched
coffee all through the house, without pro-
ducing a uniformly satisfactory drink.
One housewife roasted it too little and
another too much, while still in another
household no two roastings would be
alike. There was no means OF determln-
ing when the process of roasting had
reached the greatest state of perfection,
and the general result was haphazard and
without any fixed standard. Within the
Dast twenty years, however, leading cOf-
fee-dealers have employed chemists and
reduced the process of coffee roasting to
n exact science The coffee is now
sold either in bulk or pound packages all
ready for the mill, and the retail grocer
generally does the grinding, SO that all
% housewife has to do is to study the
pre- pairing Of the aromatic beverage for
the table. All the gues5wOrk, burnt fingers,
scorched faces, tried tempers, and tired
arms attendant On the old process of
roasting and grinding are done away
with. From this more than any other
cause the use of coffee is constantly on
the increase.
Coffee. which is a native of Abyssiuia
and other equatorial districts in Africa,
first came into notice about the fifteenth
century. The esrliest written accounts
of its use are by Arabian writers of that
period. In the city of Alden it became in
the latter part of that century very
popular drink, first with lawyers and other
5tudious persons whose occupations made
wakefulness desirable, and soon after
with all classes. From here it's use ex-
tended gradually to the cities on the
eastern shores OF the Mediterranean, and
from thence into Europe. It was public
ly sold in COnstantinople in 1854, and
reached Venice the great trade market of
Europe, in 1916, Burton, in his ''Anato-
my Of Melancholy (1621), is supposed to
be the first European writer to mention it.
"The Turks" he says, have a drink called
coffee flor they use no Wine), SO named of
berry as black aG SCOT and as bitter,
which they sip up as warm as they can
suffer, because they find by experience
that that kind of drink so used helpeth
digestion and prOCureth alacrity." The
first coffee house was opened in London
In 1862 by the Greek servant of a Turkish
merchant, Jew by the name of Jacob
having opened one in Oxford the year
previous. By the end of the century the
English consumption OF coffee reached
one hundred tuns. The first cultivation
Of coffee began in the province of Yemen.
Arabia from which the little real Mocha
coffee that finds its way to market at the
present day is derived. The Dutch trans
planted it from Arabia to Java about
1850, from which IFS culture soon extend
ed through the entire East Indies. Tt was
from some plants sent from Java to Am
sterdam about 1872 that the seed was pro-
cured from which the entire West Indian
and South American product, which now
amounts to four-fifths of all the coffee
grown in the world, originated.
The finest favored coffee is undonbted-
~ the Mocha, grown in Yemen, Arabia
The Mocha berry is small, round AMI of
a dark brown color, the richness of the
color arising from its being allowed to
remain on the trees until SO ripe that it
can be shaken off. There is very little
of this delicious coffee that ever reaches
the American or English markets, the
entire crop being consumed east and
southwark of ConstantinOple. The Or
binary Mocha coffee of commerce Is the
selected berries of the Java and Brazil
product, which resembles the Mocha in
size and shape, the higher price which
1t commands, paying for the trouble of
picking 1T out from the mass of ordinary
berries. In flavor it is no better than
the ordinary coffees from which it is
selected. Java coffee stands next on the
list in point of flavor, and the size and
color of the berries show marked diff
ference from the American coffees, there
IS no great danger of an ordinary good
Judge OF coffee being cheated IN this ar
tlcle. The berry is larger than that of
the American coffees and of q coler vary
Ing from pale yellow to brown, while the
smaller berry of the Rio coffee has a
blush or gray tinge. The Java coffee
is chiefly exported to Holland and the
United States; England drawing its sup
plies from Ceylon and Brazil principal
ly.
Although coffee is widely distributed
and its use common in all civilized coun-
tries, the extent to which it is consumed
varies greatly. The total production of
coffee for the year 1885 was estimated by
reliable authorities at 1916, 10000 pound
or trife over one pound per capita for
the entire population of the world. In
China and Japan, where tea is the com
mon beverage, the use of coffee is prac-
tlcauy unknown, and 1T is probable that
among the millions constituting the pop
ulatIon of European and Asiatic Russia
the consumption is merely nominal. Ths
same may be said of equatorial and
southern Africa, where the plant grows
IN Its wild state, the natives neither know
ing nor caring anything about it's deli
clouS qualities. This practically con-
T.