The Opelousas courier., 1890-07-19
'CURIOslTIES OF COFFEE
THE ODD TREE FROM wHrcH nur
BERRY Is GATHERED.
The Arabians Make the Beverage
From Green Berries andSLeaves-
Introduction to Eurone.

NASAD the
Green Berries andSLeaves-
Introduction to Europe.
Coffee has been made and dranL a.
Ethiopia and Abyssinia from time i'm
memorial. The tree gr6wsswild in those
countries, and tombsl ola assthe Christian
era contain abundant evidence that coffee
vas a fayorite beyerageSwith the duskp
Kings long before Solonl On sent his fleets
across the seas and his caravans aerossI
the desert. And in that. country. where
Ahey have known it thel ~longesf and arg
presumably the best ac( ,aainted with III
the natives do not rod sttthe berrv<h M
make a decoction of It'll tereen. Ivn+ This
custom they are initiate d5Rby the Arabians
who have enjoyed its dbkerinp aSoma for.
hundreds of years. In these lands :
generous quantity of It'll b choicest gra;ns
lie poured in the kett lie. and rant met
below the boiling poin ! for hours. The
older the berry is befe me they use IL the
better it is liked, but no preparation he.
yond curing is require a. Perhans fsif
an hour before the be, kuage is tserveA tba
heat will be increase /, and while the
coffee never boils flu, EousayF as with 90
many heather cooks in Gzhgsstian Kitchens.
II Is kept excessivel FAshylot. They will
make about one-fourt r sfhe liquid from q
pound of berries thsEa Christian cooks
produce, but the amir r stream which
guns from their rudefks tiles is all coffee.
The whole grains have been stepped until
they give up the LAST touch of STRENGTH
and the drinker do les not burden His
stomach with a gal lion Of water, but.
secures all the resnlt J of the most perfect
cooking with halls a gill Of the fluid.
In 1878 Leonhan | Renwolf, a German
physician who wasi content to travel be-
fore the time OF sd eamships and sleeping
cars, found lthe berry and its resultant
beverage in the East, and introduced
both into Europe. But Frankish chefs
soon discovered tttatY roasting made the
product milderN and 4nore fitting for a
weaker western% palate. The active
principle in coffeess the seaEeine, was re-
duced, and the aromal rwas' heightened
And one other thing, Sthe bulk j..
greater. In short, the Amcre d.
stomach and the more greefH ey ! - the
European were both server ( by oven n :
cess, and from that day + Q ,;s cbr;st;an.
roast their coffee.
oeflse Grows in almost every
tropieai country Mer the sun. The
na1eh 1ntr 1eo IA it into Java from
Mocnas - %, and shoots from the
49, sises acre were taken to the boz
.anloaa ga ,dens in Amsterdam, and have
"a. slA' Abeen p~ropagated as n of the
.ans objects Of pride in commercial Hol-
a. From these trees, which are raised
7 lnpay to show the form of the plant In
ITS native state, other trees have been
taken and are still grown in Paris. Of
course no product is gathered from them,
but every one who drinks coffee is inter
eestea in studying the curious tree from
vHhSch the berry is gathered. From the
island Of Java the plant was transferred
10 The West Indies, and at once took
root successfully, particularly in Mar
Unique, whence o good1y proportion of
the coffee Ped in the Uuited States Is
drawn.
Still, in a commercial way, the i'm
"a HfQA hHblJAh ~ bll9 G00G1A 6O 1A11lJ
from Brazil; Java sends us the second
largest share, and Ceylon is third. In
point Of excellence the Mocha has always
been considered the best coffee, and
easily commands the highest price. 1t
comes from Arabia, and the natives
there, aside from the nabobs, a the
more readily part with the berry, since
Ethev. like the natives of Sumatra, make
Il deeoction Of the leaves instead Of the
commonly chosen bean. 'These. leaves,
snbtong ovate and five inches in length,
evergreen, opposite, shining and leathery,
are gathered, dried and stepped, produce
In all respects the same result that is de-
rived from the grain.
The tree iii its wild state grows from
ten to twelve feet high, but under culti-
vation it is pruned down to six or eight
feet, with branches almost from the
ground. The flowers are small, white
and fragrant, clustered on the axllls or
~fointure pf the leaf with the branch. Il
bears i berry of not unpleasant taste,
which becomes dark red when fully ripe,
and which IL much liked by natives.
Within this plum-1ike fruit are two cells
lined with a tough membrane, each con-
tanning d single seed. in shape an lrregu-
lar hemisphere. These are the coffee
grains, and they lie with their fiat SIDES
together until the crushing Of rollers md
the constant moving of machines burst
the skin and pulp and force them out.
They are then dried and further agitated
I'LL the last vestige of the fruity sheath