The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-12-28

L1NAN NAAA- ~
 turaI Department to Make Interesting
 Experiments.
 Realizing that coffee is the beverage of the great majority of people, both rich and poor, and that its quality and it's influence upon the human sys- tenn depend to a great extent upon its mode of preparation, the Agricultural Department has decided to devote much time in the coming winter to as certaining the best method to produce an ideal cup of coffee. A chemical ex- pert who has made the subject of coffee growing and making special study, will be employed for the pur- t pose.
 It is the contention Of the depart ment that the production of cup of good coffee depends more upon the grade Of coffee bean employed. Not only will all the known methods of coffee making be employed in the ex- perlments, but scientific measures will I be used to determine with the utmost exactness the effect produced upon the coffee bean from the time it leaves the plantation, through the process of roasting and grinding. and lastly, in the brewing of the beverage. What promises to be a most interesting fea- ture of the experiments will be the I testing of the method employed in the western part of Sumatra of using the leaves of the coffee plant instead of the berries. The method in vogue in Cuba of making coffee by cold water infusion, though supposed to eliminate the undesirable tannic element, has been found by the department expert to contribute in reality little or nothing to that effect. The process employed by the celebrated coffee makers of Paris, Vienna and Constantinople Will be used. in so far as they are known. ] It is a recognized fact, however, that some of these adopts possess secret
 methods which they will not disclose, as, for instance, the famous Egyptian coffee maker of the King of England.
 Like everything else, coffee has a
 history, and if the accounts concerning < it which originate from the Orient, are z trustworthy, it has an ancient as well as interesting though somewhat check cred career. The legend runs that
 coffee was found growing wild in Ara
 bia by Hadji Omar, a dervish, 617 years ago. He was dying of hunger in the des-
 ert. when, finding some small, round Der. ries. he tried to eat them, but they !. were bitter After roasting them, he finally steeped them in some water
 held in the hollow of his hand, finding the decoction as refreshing as if he had partaken of solid food He hur-
 ried back to Mocha, whence he hat been banished, and, inviting the wise
 men to partake of his discovery the. were so well pleased with it that they
 proclaimed him a saint. In the Biblio theque Rationale, Paris there is
 manuscript (near the end of the six
 teenth century.) written by an Arab
 Abdelcader, who declares that coffee , was drunk for the first time in Arabis
 in the middle of the fifteenth century
 Others think that certain remarks il
 Persian writings imply that coffee wa
 used in Persia as early as the nintl
 century; but most authors disput'
 these texts. It is commonly supposed that the use of coffee in it's earlies ] home Abyssinia, and in it's secon' home, Arabia, is only five to si1
 centuries old, A legend says that tn angel Gabriel once, when Mahomet wa i'll brought him cup of coffee. An other legend says that Mahometai monk discovered that his goats ocean very lively and full of fun after the,
 had eaten the fruit of the coffee tree ' This observation caused him to mak the first cup of coffee. His dervishe
 enjoyed the coffee, and ever afterwart
 drank 1t at night to produce wakeful l, ness whom they kept vigils. Caution historians laugh at these tradition and prefer to stand by Abdelcader'
 manuscript. This writer mentions al } Arab, Gemalledin, a judge in Alden , who, while travelling to Persia, or 3 i. the historians correct the manuscript < to Abyssinia, saw people use coffe as medicine. He used it and was cure
 of a sickness. Later, becoming a mon - the taught his brethen the use of coffee
 It was, in Alden that coffee drinkin originated. The fakirs even mad Icoffee drinking compulsory upon thei { Eneophytes. Public coffee houses orig
 mated in Alden, and early in the histo " of the use of the drink. No opposi 5 ton to the coffee can be found unt a the middle of the sixteenth century : when the Egyptian Sultan sent ne1 [ governor, Chair Bey, to Mecca Thi i governor knew nothing about coffee f and was greatly enraged when he sa1 : the deryishes in the mosque drinkin
 coffee. He believed that which the ! did was contrary to the teaching of th : Koran. and that they became intoxica ted. He consulted two Persian physi d clans who were opposed to coffe, a They declared it was a substitute fo : wine, which is prohibited by the Kc o ran and hence coffee drinking was