The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-27
A CUP OF COFFEE.
Origin, Growth, Effects of and Injuries
From the Aromatic Berry.
From the Sacramento Bee.

From, the Sacramento Bee.
SIN searching for the origin of Coffee"
said the professor, authors have agreed to
to assign its birthplace to Ethiopia. When
it was carried to Arabia it soon became nat
uralized. In a search for the earliest men
ton of it, one writer, inspired with that
reverence which has sought to find out all
things in the Sacret Book assures us that
coffee is mentioned in the history of King
David where it is stated that this was the
potion which was offered by the hand of
fair Abigail to calm the excited monarch
The proof urged in favor of this Biblical
claim is that the drink offered was prepared
from something roasted.
"While visiting Paris" continued the
lecturer, 81 was agreeably surprised to find
in a museum portion of the original cof-
fee shrub which was brought to France.
| Probably no more precious sample of this
| berry exists in the world. Coffee, at the
| time of its Introduction into use, was very
| expensive, selling for from $50 to $25
pound. Such price led to It's general Gull
| tivation, and soon, instead Of it being the
monopoly of Arabia, whence it was first
| derived, il was grown in the East and West
Indies, Bengal and South America, and now
large amounts of it are grown in Java,
| Ceylon, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa RIGA and
| Brazil The production of the latter coun-
try is the largest, being about $4,000
quintals annually one sack genrally hold
| ing about one quintal. While coffee can
| only be cultivated in a warm climate, yet
| it cannot bear eat heat. The seed is first
| planted in a cool, shaded nursery, the infant
| plant being scrupulously screened from the
| RAYS of the sun. II is next transplanted to
| the fields destined for its growth and there
| it is carefully cultivated for nearly five
years before the product is sufficiently
abundant to be remuneratlve. The shrub
usually reaches height of from twelve to
fifteen feet, and is well covered by leaves of
dark, glossy green. Small flowers of
snOw-white color spring from the stem at
the foot of the leaf. When in full bloom the
appearance is exceedingly charming. The
flowers are soon transformed into round,
green berries, which, ripening, present the
appearance of red cherries From two to
| three crops of mature berries may be gath
cred annually. The work of preparing the
berries for market is partly done by hand
and partly by machinery. Each berry
should have two grains on it. yet some
times but one is found, and this one is espe-
cially priced and commands the highest
price. The pulp of the berry is sweet to the
taste.
ga chemical analysis of coffee, after be-
ing burned, shows that it contains 20 per
cent. of water and about 50 per cent. of
cellulose-a substance resembling starch
and grape sugar. The agents which espe-
cially distinguish it are caffeine and coffe-
one. The former belongs to that group of
chemical agents called alkaloids. Coffeone
is volatile oil, the result Of an essential
change in coffee produced by roasting. To
this subtle and fugitive principle the aroma
of coffee is due, and in roasting this oil per-
meates the entire grain, but if the heat be
too great, or continued too long, it is dissi-
pated and lost. Experiments show that
caffeine and coffeone have different effects
on the animal body, the caffeine acting as a
transient stimulant, while the coffeone is
more prolonged in its effects and exercises
a sedative or tranquilizing action. But in
drinking an ordinary cup Of coffee two
actions are obtained, stimulation proceeding
for fifteen minutes the stage of ISOLATION or
reDDSe u