Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-03
How the FaVerite American Bever.
age is Adulterated.
A FEW VERY SIMPLE TESTS.
Benefits Derived From Moderate Coffee
Drinking.
WHERE THE BEST BERRIES CONE FROM
WRITTEN FOR rHx DISPATCH. ]

|
coffee was first taken up and welcomed b,
these people when it was introduced from
Abyssinia. But in spite of the fact that i
enabled their hearers to keep awake during
services, the Mohammedan priests were op
posed to its use by the people; they held tina
it was an intoxicating beverage, and conse
quentlv forbidden by the Koran. As il
usually the case under similar circumstances
the people went right on using coffee for III
arousing effect. and gradually it came intc
use as q common beverage among the
Arabians.
From Arabia it wended its way of favor
Westward to Constantinople. Here also the
MohommedanI priests opposedli It bitterly be.
cause of the number of people that the
coffee houses took from attendance at the
mosques. To remedy matters the Sultan
placed heavy tax on the product, notwith-
standing which coffee spread in favor until,
about the middle of the sixteenth century, it
was introduced into England by Turkey
merchant, who was wont to give his friends
a sip of the beverage. Soon, however, too
many visitors began to bore him, when he
started his Greek servant in business by
setting up the first coffee house In London.
After that coffee soon became a popular
household beverage, though not now so pop
ular in England as tea. In America, how
ever, much more coffee than tea is con-
| sumed. The first cargo of coffee landed in
the United States in 1909. A short time ago
there was IN the neighborhood of 100, 900, 900
pounds of the product in this country, and
| afoat on the wav here.
BIG COFFEE DRINKERS.
OF IA leading countries, Holland heads
the list in coffee consumption, about 21
pounds for each man, woman and child
being annually consumed there; European
Russia stands at the bottom of the list,
averaging only little over an ounce per
capita; while the United States is rated
fifth, consuming annually about eight
pounds per individual inhabitant.
As with all vegetable products, coffee
varies in quality, according to the district
having belts of country, usually small in
extent, where the chemical constituents of
the soil and the climate are such as to pro-
duce berry possessing delicacy of flavor
not to be produced elsewhere.
The principal American localities at pres
ent growing and exporting coffee are Brazil,
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Venezuela, Guiana,
Peru and the West India Islands. From
the East we get coffee from Java, Ceyloa
and Arabia. The latter country furnishes
the celebrated "Mohka," or Mocha, which
is probably the most popular and finest
favored product of its kind. 1t is said,
however, that but few thousand pounds Of
it ever gets west of Constantinople, the
bulk of what Is sold as Mocha coffee coming
from India and the various American coffee
growing districts.
All genuine coffee of commerce is obtained
from the coffee plant which is an evergreen
shrub belonging to the same natural order as
the quinine yielding plants. 1t is about six
feet high as cultivated; is covered with a
beautiful large, shining leatherY leaf and
bears berry greatly resembling COM
mon cherry. Within this berry, and cor
responding to the cherry-stone, are two
semi-globular seeds, having their fiat sur
faces In contact. Each of these seeds make
a grain of commercial coffee. Thev are
tough and horny, and, before roasting, are
about as little suggestive of the rich aroma
of delicious breakfast cup of coffee as one
could well imagine. They possess neither
the taste nor smell of coffee in any degree
These qualities so delicious to our senses are
developed in the roasting, and are due to
the formation of certain aromatic, oily
product called caffeine. This is very differ
ent from caffeine, which is the active prin-
ciple Of coffee, and which gives to the latter
the gentle stimulating property that makes
it so popular.
WHY WE DRINK COFFEE.
Few people perhaps are aware that thev |
drink coffee for its stimulating effects, and |
most persons, if asked why they drink it, |
would answer: Because it tastes good, of |
course" But that is not the reason, never
theless; it is for its stimulating properties
that people drink it. The active principle.
caffeine, is also the active principle of tea, in
which plant it is present in double the guam
tity existing in coffee, and is called theme,
A remarkable thing in this connection is
that man, even in his wild state, should have
selected for his everyday beverage the only
plants of all the earth's fora that contain
this principle, caffeine. There are, besides
tea and coffee, two or three other plants that
contain this principle, and they are also used
to make beverages.
does not act as a food, but it lessons waste of
tissue, and thus acts as an indirect nutrient
When drunk as beverage it has the effect
of removing mental fatigue and unrest
Incidentally. it is used to overcome drowsi-
ness, especially that due to opium poison
ing, in which the active principle, caffelne,
is often used, on account of being more con-
centrated. Caffeine is also prescribed for
nervous headache and other nervous
troubles; it is stomachic tonic, promoting
appetite and digestion, and has been sue
cessfully used in the treatment of spasmodic
asthma Probably no other article of diet
has given rise to the discussion that coffee
has; some writer's have claimed that Its
effects are pernicious, others that they are
highly beneficial. As is usually the case.
the truth lies between these extremes;
the moderate use of coffee Zone |
cupful at each meal and none be-
tween times) is salutary, promoting, as it
does, the appetite and digestion, and caus-
ing the mind, when not too much agitated,
to rest easy. Of course when used to mois-
ten and prepare a mouthful of food for swal-
lowing, and thus take the place of proper
mastication and in salvation, coffee drink
ing is pernicious But this is not the proper
way of drinking coffee. Drink it with your
meals ii you want to; but do not take it into
your mouth when your mouth contains
food.
HOW COFFEE IS ADULTERATED.
There is popular idea that coffee is some
times adulterated. To ascertain to what
extent this idea has a foundation in fact. 21
samples of roasted coffee, ranging in price
from 16 to 35 cents per pound, though chiefly
If the lower priced grades, were examined
and to some extent chemi-
,aIly. The following aduIterations were
ound:
Chicory in seven samples.
Turnips in two samples.
Rye in four samples.
Acorns ~ in one sample.
Beans or peas in three samples.
Sawdust in three samples.
Pebbles in one sample.
Caramel in adulteratiVe quantities in four
amples. ,
Chicory, with one exception, was only
ound in the ground cofees. 1t is the ,
round and roasted root of plant of the ,
lsndelion family. In some parts of Europe !,