Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-05-15
COFFEE Fit TO DRINK.
Africans Enjoyed the Beverage Before
David Was King of Israel and
Taught It's Beauties to
the ArabianS.
Now Grown Extensively Where the
Most of 1t Comes From.

Who doesn't love cup Of good coffee ?
And how many men have been made mis-
cradle all day 10y the nasty LIQUID which
slandered the pure nectar for which it was
named. One of the star boarders in Puck
IS represented standing off his landlady in
the following unique fashion:
Mr. Springhall your board bill is not
settled.
No, and it will not be until your coffee
Is settled, and a host who have suffered
the same affection will endorse Mr.. Spring
hall as long as he needs friend.
Coffee has long been regarded rather
more than a luxury White not in the
nature of an absolute necessity, since life
may be supported without its aid. vet let a
man who has been accustomed for years TO
| the beverage start down to his work with
out 1t and he will find a whole legion of
demons digging at his brain ali day. never
deserving him unit! a new day shall grant
him privilege to begin anew. Business
will drag, figures will lie clerks will get
lazy or employers unreasonable. and all
the myriad ends of hard luck will tangle
themselves in his hair and tug at it till he
wishes the world and all its folies would
sink IN the depths of Prophecies Wood
worth s general ruin. Next morning new
life comes back with the first sip of Mocha
or Java, or the milder Brazilian bean, and
after scant cupful has been swallowed
10. body and brain are rendy and eager
for the trials of the day. Coffee or no
coffee means all the range IRON sanity to
madness; from solyency to 20 cents on the
dollar
BE it known then that coffee has been
made and drunk in Ethiopia and Abyssin-
la from time immemorial The tree
grows wild in those countries, and tombs
old as the christian era contain abundant
evidence hat coffee was a fayorite bever-
age with the duSky kings long before
Solomon sent his fleets across the sees and
his caravans across the desert And in
that country, where they have known ii
the longest and are presumably the best
acquainted with it, the natives do not
roast the berry, but make decoctiOn of
it green. In this custom they are imitat-
ed by the ArabiGns who have enjoyed its
cheering aroma for hundreds of years In
these lands, generous quantity of the
choisest plants are poured in the kettle,
and kept just below the boiling point for
hours. The older the berry is before they
use it the better it is liked, but no prepare
ton beyond curing is required Perhaps
half an hour before the beverage is served
the heat wall be increased, and while the
coffee never bois suriousy as with so
many heather cooks in christian kitchens
it is kept excessively hot They will make
about one forth the liquid from pound of
berries, that christian cooks produce, but
the amber stream which runs from their
rude kettles is all coffee. The whole
grains have been stepped until they give
up the last touch Of strength. and the
drinker does not burden his stomach with
a gallon of water. but secures all the re-
suits of the most perfect cooking with half
a gill of the fluid
In 1878 Leonard Reawol, a German
physician who was content to travel before
the time of steamships and sleeping cars,
found the berry am its resultant beverage
in the east and introduced both into Eu-
rope. But Frankish chiefs soon discover
ed that roasting made the product mildc~
and more fitting for a weaker western
palate. The active principle in coffee, the
caffeine, was reduced, and the aroma was
heightened. And one other thing, the
bulk was greater. In short. the more deli
cate stomach and the more greedy eye of
the European were both served by the
oven process, and from that day TO this
christians roast their coffee
Coffee grows now in almost every trOpi-
cal country under the sun. The Dutch in
troduced it into Java from Mocha in 1890
and shoots from the green trees there
were taken to the botanical gardens in
+,,.,lo,,, aud Iaua avar. 81 1aa Iaor, Y,vp
pagated as one of the chief objects Of
pride in commercial Holland From these
trees. which are raised simply 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 gather
ed from them, but every one who drinks
coffee is interested in studying the curious
tree from which the berry IS gather ed.
From the island of Java tie plant was
transferred to the West Indies, and at
once took root successfully, partially in
Martinique. whence a goodly proportion
of the coffee used in the United States is
drawn.
Still, in a commercial way, the importa-
tions to this country are chiefly from Bra
I'll: Java sends us the second largest share
and Ceylon Is third. In point of excel
lence the Mocha has always been consider
ed the best coffee, and easily commands
the highest price. 1t comes from Arabia
and the natives there, aside from the ma
hobs. can the more readily part with the
berry since they. like the natives of Sum
atra. make, decoction of the leaves in
stead of the commonly chosen bean. If
they lived in this country people would try
and argue them out Of this notion, mold
Ing that they must drink nothing but
coffee. Just as they now argue against
butterine instead Of butter, no matter If it
does answer the same purpose But the
people of Sumatra and some other not
countries know that in the leeFo> Of the
coffee tree a larger proportion Of the caf-
feline Is found even than in the grain.
What blessing Il would be if in some
economical Chicago boarding houses,
where the hired giri unshain- coffee
mill right ia the middle of 5-o'clock
dream. this custom of using the leaves in-
stead could be introduced
The tree IN Its wild state grows from
ten Ia twelve feet high. but under u!tiya-
tioh it is pruned down to six or eight feet
with branches almost from the ground
Il