The true northerner., 1897-01-13

An air of great disappointment came
over the face of the coffee expert after he
had pushed away the remnants of his dim
ner the other night and taken the first
spoonful of his first cup of coffee. No one
could help noticing 1t. such change it
was from the eager, happy look with which
the coffee had been welcomed. The expert
not only knows coffee as matter of busi-
ness, but he also loves 1t.
"Horriblev' he cried, tasting the coffee
again. Waiter, tell Henry to come here 4"
Henry Is the head waiter. When he ar
rived, the expert looked at him with sor
row, and his tones were those of disap.
pointed man when he spoke.
Henry" said he, they have made the
coffee tonight with water that was not
boiling"
Henry offered at once to get better CUP
of coffee. While the expert was waiting
for 1t one OF his companions asked how
coffee should be made TO have 1t just right.
Tell US how to make good coffee with
out violating your sentiments of respect
for the coffee beam"
~ will, but the story must begin far
ther back than the commencement of the
operation in the kitchen OF course the
first thing is to get good coffee. That, as
] have already told you. must be Java
Pedang Java IL Is known to the importing
trade. You do not have to know that.
Get your Java from a grocer who knows
his business, and 1t will be all right, and
don't have any mixtures. The first i'm
portant thing In the preparation Of coffee
Is the roasting. Once upon time, and
not SO very long ago, particular persons
had to roast the beans themselves, but It
is better done today by the great houses
which do 1t for the trade. Your good gro.
Ger will have his coffee fresh roasted every
day or two, and you should never buy
more than weeks supply at time. If
your grocer has more than one color of
roast, get the bright, or Boston, roast.
Grind the coffee at home and only
enough at "a time to make one drawing.
Here is where your true skill must begin
to show itself. For the French coffeepot
or any other of the filtering pots the coffee
has to be ground very fine, and this is the
first element in their wasteful character.
You know what delicious odor arises
from the coffee mill when the fresh roast
ed beans are crushed in 1t. Every appetiZ-
ing whiff which comes from that mill is
just so much lost to your cup of coffee,
and very material loss too. The essence
of the coffee bean is very volatile. 1t is
held in minute cells, the sides of which in
the raw bean are able to retain il for years.
We roast the bean TO make these cell walls
friable and porous Co water, and at the
same time we make them somewhat por-
Gus to the essence.
"Still, if we do not break the bean into
fine pieces we will not at once take so much
of the essence as we will If we grind 1t
finely. What we want is to break it into
pieces just as large as boiling water can
thoroughly penetrate and no larger or
smaller. The proper size, you will find,
Is pieces about one-twelfth of an inch
square, or about as big as cubes bro
ken from the lead of IN ordinary lead pen
Gil. Your wife will think that very coarse,
and you will get but little flavor from the
coffee mill during the grinding. This you
will readily understand when you compare
the small number of broken cells exposed
on the surfaces of these coarse grains and
the far greater number cut into by fine
grinding
Everything should have been made
ready for the making OF the coffee before
the grinding was done, but this isn't much.
Now will tell you the most important of
trade secrets Most people understand
that, In order to properly draw a cup of tea
or to make coffee, boiling water Is neoes-
sary, but there is something more. The
water must he cooked Water that has
merely been brought to boil for some rea-
son will not absorb the essence freely. For
making both tea and coffee the water must
be boiled for 15 or 20 minutes.
Nov for the pot. Let 1t he just an or
binary plain coffeepot, either of tin or
l.
is clean and that the timing or granite
enamel is perfect, so that no iron is ex-
posed If the iron Is exposed, it will be
certain to make ink with the tannin in the
coffee, and your coffee will be spoiled Put
your ground coffee into the pot and then
pour in the cooked water while it is boiling
hot Put in all the water that will be
needed at once, so as to have the greatest
quantity at hand to absorb the coffee es-
sence. Then let the pot stand on the stove
until the water has again come to good
hard boil. Remove 1t, and the coffee is
ready.
IF you want milk, have the milk boiled
and remember that milk is better than
cream to bring out the coffee flavor.
There is one other good way to make
coffee, but 1t Is not so good. That Is the
old fashioned Yankee method of putting
tho coffee lin tine pot witt, coid water and
leaving the pot on the fire until the water
comes TO brisk boil The Yankee coffee
pot has whistle on 1t, which blows when
the steam comes out and gives notice that
the coffee Is ready
"Now tell us how much coffee to use for
each oup."
THAT no one can tell you truly. Coffee
differs as much In strength as 1t does In
flavor. OF one sample you might have to
use twice as much as of another. But this
l wish to impress upon you: There Is a
positive disadvantage In using too much
coffee. Did you ever try to test the odor
of concentrated perfumes in the form in
which they are sold by the wholesale trade
to perfumersr If you open bottle right
under your nose, you will not get pleas
ing odor. On the other hand, II you hold
the bottle at arms length and wave 1t
gently to and fro the nostrils will be de-
lighted with tho disseminated essence So
with coffee All you need is enough to I'LL
the water with a full bodied flavor, and
more would be not only waste, but worse
When you have once learned to distinguish
the true flavor from the taste of the roasted
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