Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1897-12-08
MAKING GOOD COFFEE.
New York Hotels Have Man Especially
For That Purpose.

-
II there is one particular bra acn OF
the culinary art in which the average
housewife prides herself, it is her abili-
ty TO make good coffee. AS far as COM
pounding the favorite breakfast bever-
age is concerned, she nine times out Of
ten does not delude herself, but ask
any man who is the least bit of a bon
Yiveur and he will tell you that not
one woman in a hundred can make aft
ter-dinner coffee that is fit to drink.
The coffee that is set before him at the
family table is as different from the
clear, brown-black stimulating liquid
that is served in the clubs, restaurants
and big hotels as is water from wine.
He wonders why this should be, but
were he to pay visit to the precincts
sacred 20 the stewards Of our large
hotels, and there learn just how much
time, care and money is devoted to the
preparation of this one concomitant Of
a well-served dinner, his respect for
the housewives efforts would probably
increase, while his enjoyment of the
post-prandial nectar would doubtless
be augmented.
One of the most important officials
in every large hotel and restaurant in
the city is known as the coffee man" :"
His sole duty consists in buying, blend
ing and making the gallons of coffee
that are consumed daily by the guests.
He is very apt to have pronounced
ideas regarding blends and mixtures,
but his fad par excellence is the partic-
uiar kind of coffee pot or urn to be
used in concocting the beverage.
The views of the Waldorf coffee man
differ from those Of the superintendent
Of the Imperial; at the Fifth Avenue
another blend and another mode Of
compounding are adopted, while at the
Arena the method Of coffee making is
peculiarly their own. At the Waldorf
the blend favored for breakfast coffee
is two-thirds of a pound of Mocha TO
one-thiTd of Java. The Waldorf cof-
fee man does not favor coffee that is
finely ground, soaks it in cold water
for a full hour before it is put in the
large sieyes Of the countless huge sill
yer urns CT the establishment. For
breakfast he uses about one pound of
coffee to five quarts of water; this is
poured through the sieve and strainers,
which are arranged in the urns in the
regulation French coffee-pot fashion,
four times. The result is clear, am
ber-colcred liquid of excellent flavor
and strength.
For the after-dinner coffee he pre-
fers a blend that is composed of rather
more Java than Mocha, and but fou.
parts of water are allowed to the
pound. The process of making is the
same.
At the Arena coffee is made on the
tables in Viennese coffee pots, by what
is known as the steaming process
There the mixture consists Of equal
parts OF Mocha and Java. About one
ounce is allowed to each Individual pot.
The pots themselves are quaint-look-
ing affairs of hammered brass, porce-
lain lined, and with glass tops. Un-
derneath is swung small spirit lamp.
In the body of the pot is placed suf-
fcient quantity of cold water, while
the allotted onuce Of Mocha and Java
is put, perfectly dry, and very finely
ground, in the glass top. When the
water boils the steam slowly ascends
through a tube. and as it permeates
the dry coffee, drop by drop the pure
coffee essence falls into receiver, with
the result that a perfectly pure, full
favored coffee of the richest strength
is obtained. This process is also used
by many Of the quaint restaurants af-
fected by the foreign element, but the
coffee used is the strong black blend
popularity known as Turkish.
At both the Imperial and the Fifth
Avenue the Mocha and Java mixture
is favored, but at these hotels both
French and Viennese pots are tabooed.
and the old-fashioned method OF
straining the coffee through flannel
bag prevails.-New York Times.