Boiling coffee in a coffee-pot is neither economical or judicious, so much of the aroma being wasted by this method. Count Rumford (no mean authority) states that one pound of good Mocha, when roasted and ground, will make fifty-six cups of the very best coffee, but it must be ground finely, or the surfaces of the particles only will be acted upon by the hot water, and much of the essence will be left in the grounds.

In the East, coffee is said to arouse, exhilarate, and keep awake, allaying hunger, and giving to the weary renewed strength and vigor, while it imparts a feeling of comfort and repose. The Arabians, when they take their coffee off the fire, wrap the vessel in a wet cloth, which fines the liquor instantly, and makes it cream at the top. There is one great essential to be observed, namely, that coffee should not be ground before it is required for use, as in a powdered state its finer qualities evaporate.

We pass over the usual modes of making coffee, as being familiar to every lady who presides over every household; and content ourselves with the most modern and approved Parisian methods, though we may add that a common recipe for good coffee is—two ounces of coffee and one quart of water. Filter or boil ten minutes, and leave to clear ten minutes.

The French make an extremely strong coffee. For breakfast, they drink one-third of the infusion, and two-thirds of hot milk. The cafe noir used after dinner, is the very essence of the berry. Only a small cup is taken, sweetened with white sugar or sugar-candy, and sometimes a little eau de vie is poured over the sugar in a spoon held above the surface, and set on fire; or after it, a very small glass of liqueur, called a chasse-cafe, is immediately drunk. But the best method, prevalent in France, for making coffee (and the infusion may be strong or otherwise as taste may direct) is to take a large coffee-pot with an upper receptacle made to fit close into it, the bottom of which is perforated with small holes, containing in its interior two movable metal strainers, over the second of which the powder is to be placed, and immediately under the third. Upon this upper strainer pour boiling water, and continue to do so gently; until it bubbles up through the strainer: then shut the cover of the machine close down, place it near the fire, and so soon as the water has drained through the coffee, repeat the operation until the whole intended quantity be passed. No finings are required. Thus all the fragrance of its perfume will be retained with all the balsamic and stimulating powers of its essence. This is a true Parisian mode, and voila! a cup of excellent coffee.

This article is most interesting in that it shows the revolt against boiling coffee had started in the United States; also that the importance of fine grinding was being recognized and emphasized by the leaders of the best thought of the nation.

Probably the first scientific inquiry into the subject of coffee roasting and brewing in the United States was that detailed by August T. Dawson and Charles M. Wetherill, Ph.D., M.D., in the Journal of the Franklin Institute for July and August, 1855. The following is a digest:

There are two classes of beverages: 1, alcoholic, and 2, nitrogenized. Nitrogenized foods are effective to replace the substance of the different organs of the body wasted away by the process of vitality. Coffee is one of these.

Besides the tannin, the coffee berry contains two substances, one the nitrogenized quality, caffeine, which is about one percent and is not altered in roasting, and the other a volatile oil which is developed in roasting and which gives the coffee its flavor. Dr. Julius Lehmann (Liebig's Annales LXXXVII. 205) says that coffee retards the waste tissues of the body and diminishes the amount of food necessary to preserve life. This effect is due to the oil. Much of the nutritive portion of coffee is lost by European methods of making.

Good coffee is very rare. These experiments were made to ascertain whether a potable coffee could not be offered to the public at as low a price as the raw or roasted now is. In order to be successful we needed to extract a larger portion of the nutritive substance than is extracted in the household. The experiments have proved vain.

As a result of our experiments with different ways of roasting and brewing coffee, we have found the following plan to be the most convenient and the best: the coffee will taste the same every time and it will taste good. If a good berry be properly roasted and the infusion be of the proper strength, good coffee must result. A Mocha berry should be selected and roasted seven or eight pounds at a time in a cylindrical drum. After roasting it should be placed in a stone jar with a mouth three inches in diameter. The jar should be closed air-tight. This will furnish two cups of coffee daily for six months. A quart should be taken from the jar at a time and ground. The ground coffee should be kept in covered glass jars.

The best coffee pot was found to be the common biggin having an upper compartment with a perforated bottom upon which to place the coffee. To make one cup of this infusion, place half an ounce of ground coffee in the upper compartment and six fluid ounces of water into the bottom. Put the biggin over a gas lamp. After three minutes the water will boil. When steam appears, take the biggin from the fire and pour the water into a cup and thence immediately into the top of the biggin where it will extract the berry by replacement. (Here follows an experiment.)

This experiment shows that loss of weight is no criterion that coffee is properly roasted, neither is the color (by itself) nor the temperature, nor the time.

Next we experimented to ascertain whether the aroma developed by roasting coffee and which is lost might not be collected and added to the coffee at pleasure. An attempt was made to drive the volatile oils from roasted coffee by steam and make a dried extract of the residual coffee to which the oils were to be later added. Two attempts were made and both failed. It appears that but a small quantity of the aroma is lost in roasting and that is mixed with bad smelling vapors from which it is impossible to free it.

Then we tried to make a potable coffee by making an aqueous extract of raw coffee, evaporating to dryness and roasting the residue. (Here follows the experiment.)

This also was unsuccessful. The great trouble here is a dark shiny residue, which, while tasteless, is very disagreeable to look at. In the preparation of coffee by boiling, two and a half times as much matter is extracted as by biggin.

The proper method of roasting coffee is as follows: It should be placed in a cylinder and turned constantly over a bright fire. When white smoke begins to appear, the contents should be closely watched. Keep testing the grains. As soon as a grain breaks easily at a slight blow, at which time the color will be a light chestnut brown, the coffee is done. Cool it by lifting some up and dropping it back with a tin cup. If it be left to cool in a heap there is great danger of over-roasting. Keep the coffee only in air-tight vessels. Measure the infusions, a half ounce of coffee to six ounces of water per cup.

All "extracts of coffee" are worthless. Most of them are composed of burned sugar, chicory, carrots, etc.

In 1883, an authority of that day, Francis B. Thurber, in his book, Coffee; from Plantation to Cup, which he dedicated to the railroad restaurant man at Poughkeepsie, because he served an "ideal cup of coffee", came out strongly for the good old boiling method with eggs, shells included. This was the Thurber recipe:

Grind moderately fine a large cup or small bowl of coffee; break into it one egg with shell; mix well, adding enough cold water to thoroughly wet the grounds; upon this pour one pint of boiling water: let it boil slowly for ten to fifteen minutes, according to the variety of coffee used and the fineness to which it is ground. Let it stand three minutes to settle, then pour through a fine wire-sieve into a warm coffee pot; this will make enough for four persons. At table, first put the sugar into the cup, then fill half-full of boiling milk, add your coffee, and you have a delicious beverage that will be a revelation to many poor mortals who have an indistinct remembrance of, and an intense longing for, an ideal cup of coffee. If cream can be procured so much the better, and in that case boiling water can be added either in the pot or cup to make up for the space occupied by the milk as above; or condensed milk will be found a good substitute for cream.

In 1886, however, Jabez Burns, who knew something about the practical making of the beverage as well as the roasting and grinding operations, said:

Have boiling water handy. Take a clean dry pot and put in the ground coffee. Place on fire to warm pot and coffee. Pour on sufficient boiling water, not more than two-thirds full. As soon as the water boils add a little cold water and remove from fire. To extract the greatest virtue of coffee grind it fine and pour scalding water over it.

John Cotton Dana, of the Newark Public Library, says he remembers how in his old home in Woodstock, Vt., they had always, in the attic, a big stone jar of green coffee. This was sacred to the great feast days, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Just before those anniversaries, the jar was brought forward and the proper amount of coffee was taken out and roasted in a flat sheet-iron pan on the top of the stove, being stirred constantly and watched with great care. "As my memory seems to say that this was not constantly done," says Mr. Dana, "it would seem that, even then, my father, who kept the general store in the village, bought roasted coffee in Boston or New York."

At the close of the century, there were still many advocates of boiling coffee; but although the coffee trade was not quite ready to declare its absolute independence in this direction, there were many leaders who boldly proclaimed their freedom from the old prejudice. Arthur Gray, in his Over the Black Coffee, as late as 1902, quoted "the largest coffee importing house in the United States" as advocating the use of eggs and egg-shells and boiling the mixture for ten minutes.

Latest Developments in Better Coffee Making

Better coffee making by co-operative trade effort got its initial stimulus at the 1912 convention of the National Coffee Roasters Association. As a result of discussions at that meeting and thereafter, a Better Coffee Making Committee was created for investigation and research.

The coffee trade's declaration of independence in the matter of boiled coffee was made at the 1913 convention of the National Coffee Roasters Association, when, after hearing the report of the Better Coffee Making Committee, presented by Edward Aborn of New York, it adopted a resolution saying that the recommendations met with its approval and ordering that they be printed and circulated.

The work done by the committee included "the first chemical analysis of brewed coffee on record", a study of grindings, and a comparison of the results of four brewing methods. Its conclusions and recommendations were embodied in a booklet published by the National Coffee Roasters Association, entitled From Tree to Cup with Coffee, and were as follows:

ROASTING

The Roaster or "Coffee Chef" is the only cook necessary to a good cup of coffee. He sends it to the consumer a completely cooked product.

In the roasting process the berries swell up by the liberation of gases within their substance. The aromatic oils contained in the cells are sufficiently developed or "cooked", and made ready for instantaneous solution with boiling water, when the cells are thoroughly opened by grinding.

The roasting principles of different green coffees vary. Trained study and a nice science in timing the roast and manipulating the fire is necessary to a perfect development of aroma and flavor.

The drinking quality is largely dependent upon the experienced knowledge of the coffee roaster and his scientific methods and modern machinery, by which the coffee is not only roasted, but cleaned, milled and completely manufactured to a high point of perfection.

In their National Association work, the wholesale roasters are giving the public new facts and valuable information, from scientific researches, investigations, etc.

GRINDING. The roasted berry is constructed of fibrous tissues formed into tiny cells visible only under the microscope, which are the "packages" wherein are stored the whole value of coffee, the aromatic oils. Like cutting open an orange, the grinding of coffee is the opening of surrounding tissue and pulp, and the finer it is cut the more easily are the "juices" released.

The fibrous tissue itself is waste material, yielding, by boiling or too long percolations, a coffee colored liquid which is fibrous and twangy in taste, has no aromatic character, and contains undesirable elements.

The true strength and flavor of roasted coffee is ground out, not boiled out. The finer coffee is ground, the more thoroughly are the cells opened, the surfaces multiplied, and the aromatic oils made ready for separation from their husks. Hence it follows that:

Coarse ground coffee is unopened coffee—coffee thrown away.

The finer the grind, the better and greater the yield. With pulverized coffee (fine as corn meal) the fully released aromatic oils are instantaneously soluble with boiling water.

In ground coffee the oils are standing in "open packages," escaping into the air and absorbing moisture, etc., necessitating quick use or confinement in air proof and moisture proof protection.

BREWING. From scientific researches by the National Coffee Roasters' Association, including the first chemical analysis on record of brewed coffee, produced by various brewing methods, the fundamental principles of coffee making have been clearly established. These principles are simple, and when once understood equip any person to intelligently judge the merits and defects of the various coffee making devices on the market. They constitute the law of coffee brewing, and may be stated as follows:

Correct brewing is not "cooking." It is a process of extraction of the already cooked aromatic oils from the surrounding fibrous tissue, which has no drinkable value. Boiling or stewing cooks in the fibre, which should be wholly discarded as dregs, and damages the flavor and purity of the liquid. Boiling coffee and water together is ruin and waste.

The aromatic oils, constituting the whole true flavor, are extracted instantly by boiling water when the cells are thoroughly opened by fine grinding. The undesirable elements, being less quickly soluble, are left in the grounds in a quick contact of water and coffee. The coarser the grind the less accessible are the oils to the water, thus the inability to get out the strength from coffee not finely enough ground.

Too long contact of water and coffee causes twang and bitterness, and the finer the grind the less the contact should be. The infusion, when brewed, is injured by being boiled or overheated. It is also damaged by being chilled, which breaks the fusion of oils and water. It should be served immediately, or kept hot, as in a double boiler.

Tests show that water under the boiling point, 212 deg., is inefficient for coffee brewing, and does not extract the aromatic oils[378]. Used under this temperature, it is a sure cause of weak and insipid flavor. The effort to make up this deficiency by longer contact of coffee and water, or repeated pouring through, results in no extraction of the oils, but draws out undesirable elements, such as coffee-tannin, which is soluble in water at any temperature and is governed by the time of contact.

Coffee-tannin, which is not the commercial tannic acid, is eliminated to practically nothing in the quick brewing methods.

The chemical analysis of brewed coffee shows the following:

Coffee Tannin Comparative per Cup Proportions

Percolator method,[379] fine gran. 2.90 grains ———— 5 minutes' steeping

Boiling Method, medium " 2.35 " ———

Steeping Method, " " 2.31 " ——-

Filtration (or Drip) Method } 0.29 " - Pulverized }

Brewing is the final manufacturing process of coffee. All previous perfection is dependent upon it. Like food products which lose nutritive value by bad cooking, coffee loses its best values by wrong brewing. Brewed by the very simple correct methods, it is an unfailingly clear, fragrant, taste-charming beverage, universally loved and scientifically approved.

The committee made a further report in 1914, and some of the findings were subsequently published in an association booklet called The Coffee Book, used in connection with the second National Coffee Week campaign in 1915. In it were these:

GRINDING DEFINITIONS

Powdered Pulverized Like—flour. Like—not coarser than fine corn meal.

Very Fine and Fine Medium Like—from corn meal to Like—coarse granulated fine granulated sugar. sugar.

Also, the committee emphasized its previous findings, particularly this one: "Filter bags should be kept in cold water when not in use. Drying causes decomposition. Keeps sweet if kept wet. Use muslin for filter bag and pulverized granulation."

The association brought out this same year, on recommendation of the committee, its Home coffee mill, an "ideal and standard coffee mill for home use." It was a wall mill equipped with a glass-front metal hopper and employing a ratchet spring-lock nut and double-action grinders. The mill was later improved with an all-glass hopper and a tumbler bracket. More than 20,000 of these mills have been sold.

At the suggestion of the author, the efficiency of nine different coffee-making devices (including boiling and drip pots, pumping percolators, cloth and paper filters) was investigated in the laboratories of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research of the University of Pittsburgh in 1915; and Dr. Raymond F. Bacon submitted a report that showed that the boiling method produced the highest percentage of caffetannic acid and caffein; the French drip process the lowest. The investigation disclosed also a more palatable brew at 195 deg. to 200 deg. F. than at the boiling point.

Another notable contribution to the science of coffee brewing was made by the Home Economics Laboratories of the University of Kansas in 1916. The experiments extended over one year. They showed that strength and color in coffee brews are independent of blend and price and are most fully obtained by pulverized granulation, which was found to be the most efficient; that the consumer pays for flavor and that filtration yielded the best brew. The French drip, or true percolator, did not figure in these experiments.

At the 1915 convention of the National Coffee Roasters Association, Mr. Aborn reported that 4,000 copies of the committee's findings on grinding and brewing had been given away: and the facts were further circulated in 2,000,000 booklets issued during two years. He told of tests which showed that while there might be reasons of commercial expediency for packing ground coffee, it could not be defended as a quality principle; also that plate-grinders produced a more efficient drawing granulation than roller grinders, and that the idea that the steel-cut process eliminates dirt was an absurdity, as "the finest ground coffee is not dirt but coffee in its most efficient drawing condition." He added, "I have paid no attention to chaff removal in these tests as the uselessness of such removal has been repeatedly shown up." The reference here was to his 1914 and 1913 reports, in which it was stated that "removing the chaff in the steel-cut process does not remove any of the tannin, and for this purpose the steel-cut process is wholely futile, and a wasteful and unnecessary tax upon cost", and that "the removal of the chaff appreciably affects the flavor and depreciates the cup value."

This report repeated previous findings against the pumping percolator as producing an inefficient brew and being a very faulty utensil. Mr. Aborn concluded his report by saying:

The old time boiling method has fewer and fewer defenders and holds its own only as a superstition. I therefore pass it over as a discarded issue.... It is but repetition of former reports for me to say that pulverized granulation is the most efficient granulation; that it assures the highest quality of brew and the lowest proportion of coffee to a given strength; that it is the most saving and most satisfying grinding for all to use; that it (the coffee) must be fresh ground; that the filtration method is the most correct in fundamental principles and that used with a muslin bag it assures the consumer coffee of the purest, finest flavored quality, highest health value and sure economy.

The campaign of education was continued during 1916, producing encouraging results among schools, colleges, the medical fraternity, newspapers, with the trade and the consumer. It marked the first big constructive work combining the practical and scientific phases of grinding and brewing methods. In his report at the 1916 convention of the National Coffee Roasters Association, Mr. Aborn reviewed the four years work, and pointed out what had been accomplished. He told of a new booklet, to be called the True Book on Coffee Grinding and Brewing, and an educational exhibit box for schools about to be issued. Due to opposition which developed from trade interests that were putting out steel-cut and other grinds of coffee not favored by the committee, and also because many members thought the association should not exploit any particular method of grinding or brewing, it was decided to make no further publication of the coffee grinding and brewing conclusions of the committee until they had been confirmed by laboratory research.

Boiling and filtration tests in the mountains of the Yellowstone Park by W.H. Aborn in 1916 showed that the limit of coffee brewing was reached at an altitude of nine thousand feet.

At the 1916 meeting, Dr. Floyd W. Robison of the Detroit Testing Laboratories, read a notable paper entitled "What do we know about coffee?," which hailed coffee as a food product, warned the roasters to beware of half-facts, and urged the importance of a research laboratory. It was published and given distribution by the association.

The educational exhibit box showing samples of coffee from plantation to cup, including five different grinds, was issued in 1917, and sold for one dollar.

The Better Coffee Making Committee also published in this year a booklet entitled Coffee Grinding and Brewing in which it summarized its work to date, and presented its special plea for cotton-cloth filters as the ideal coffee-making device.

This booklet aroused considerable discussion, particularly between those who favored the paper filter and those who, with Mr. Aborn, believed cotton cloth, such as muslin, to be the most efficient strainer. "Cotton", argued Mr. Aborn, "is an ideal sanitary strainer because it contains no chemical or questionable manufacturing element."

It was pointed out by Dr. Floyd W. Robison that while cotton cloth, such as muslin, does give a fairly clear coffee, it is not so clear as by the methods where a filter paper is used. He said:

Both methods have serious objectionable features. The muslin bag, particularly, is decidedly unsanitary, especially when used in restaurants and hotels. It is rarely kept clean, and one who has frequented restaurants and many hotel kitchens knows that it lends itself to very unclean and unsightly methods of handling. The food inspector has to check this up perhaps as often as any one feature about a restaurant.

The objection to the filter paper is not at all on the ground of sanitation. It is ideal in this respect. The claim is made, and at least, in part, substantiated, that it does hold back valuable features of the brew.

There are many points about the filter that have not been considered at all. Mr. Calkin believes that the very best type of filter is a bed of coffee itself, and I must say this has the sanction of good laboratory experience.

I.D. Richheimer[380], attacking the cotton cloth filter, said:

It is a known fact that the fats in coffee are very dense and represent twelve to fifteen percent of the coffee weight. These fats—due to the simplest chemical action of contact with air, moisture and continued heat—begin a fermentation in the completed beverage. In the cloth-filtering process—due to the rapid passage of water through grounds almost as quickly as poured—the largest percentage of fats is carried into the beverage. Fat being lighter than water rises to the top of water if given a certain amount of time during the brewing process. Were there no fats (which ferment) in coffee there would be no need for placing cloth-filtering material under water, as suggested, to keep them from becoming sour.

In the booklet referred to, Mr. Aborn expressed himself as follows on the filtration method:

The filtration method is not new, but well tried, thoroughly proven and long used, though often incorrectly. It is the method followed, more or less correctly, by all of the first-class hotels in the world. It is controlled by no patent or proprietary device, and requires a most inexpensive equipment. For a perfect result it but demands an accurate adherence to simple but vital principles. Deviations from these fundamentals, though apparently slight, cause failure. When they, and the necessary exact following of them, are clearly understood, any person, even a small child, can brew coffee with unvarying success.

The first point to consider in filtration is the dimensions of the filter bag, or container of the ground coffee, in relation to the quantity of coffee used and the granulation of same. If the filter be a muslin bag, free on all sides, the filtering surface is considerable and permits the necessary quick passage of water through the grounds, provided the bag is of a wide enough diameter as to prevent too great a depth of grounds through which the water cannot quickly penetrate. The error of too narrow a filter is a common one. It causes a delayed filtration, which means undesirably long contact of water and coffee and also the cooling of the liquid which in a correct, undelayed filtration is smoking hot at completion. The bag should also not be too long or be allowed to hang or soak in the liquid. A filter bag set tightly into a pot against its sides, thus surrounded with impenetrable walls, is greatly reduced in filtering surface, and the filtration is thereby slackened.

The filter material should not be too coarse in texture, like cheese cloth, or too heavy and impenetrable, like very heavy muslin. A moderate weight muslin, not too light, is efficient.

The degree of granulation also, of course, affects the rate of flow. The coarser the grind the faster the flow, which permits a larger quantity of coffee to a given diameter of filter bag.

A most frequent fault in the use of the filtration method is the failure to understand the fine degree of grinding necessary to the best results. When the grind is not sufficiently fine the extraction is, of course, weak. A fine grind (like fine cornmeal) is essential. It does not retard the flow if the filter is of right dimensions. A powdered grind (like flour) is so fine that it is apt to "mat" itself into a resisting floor.

Many users of the filtration method pour the liquid through more than once. This gains some added color, but adds undesirable element, depreciates flavor and is especially inadvisable when the grind is sufficiently fine. One pouring only is recommended for the best results.

The chinaware, or glazed earthenware pot, sometimes called the French drip pot, with a chinaware or earthenware sieve container for the grounds at the top through which the water is poured, being free of all metal, is inviting in purity and in hygienic merit. Together with the filter bag, it is subject to the above remarks on dimensions. A chinaware sieve cannot be made as fine as a metal sieve and cannot of course hold very fine granulation as can cotton cloth. More coffee for a given strength is, therefore, required. The upper container should be wide enough, for a given quantity of coffee, as to allow an unretarded flow, and the more openings the strainer contains the better.

In any drip, filtration or percolating method the stirring of the grounds causes an over-contact of water and coffee and results in an overdrawn liquor of injured flavor. If the water does not pass through the grounds readily, the fault is as above indicated and cannot be corrected by stirring or agitation. Many complaints of bitter taste are traced to this error in the use of the filtration method.

It is not necessary to pour on the water in driblets. The water may be poured slowly, but the grounds should be kept well covered. The weight of the water helps the flow downward through the grounds. Care should be taken to keep up the temperature of the water. Set the kettle back on the stove when not pouring. If the water is measured, use a small heated vessel, which fill and empty quickly without allowing the water to cool.

In 1917, The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal made a comparative coffee-brewing test with a regulation coffee pot for boiling, a pumping percolator, a double glass filtration device, a cloth-filter device, and a paper filter device. The cup tests were made by E.M. Frankel, Ph.D.; and William B. Harris, coffee expert, United States Department of Agriculture. The brews were judged for color, flavor (palatability, smoothness), body (richness), and aroma. The test showed that the paper filtration device produced the most superior brew. The cloth-filter, glass-filter, percolator, and boiling pot followed in the order named.

At the 1917 convention of the National Coffee Roasters Association, John E. King, of Detroit, announced that laboratory research which he had had conducted for him showed that the finer the grind, the greater the loss of aroma, and so he had selected a grind containing ninety percent of very fine coffee and ten percent of a coarser nature, which seemed to retain the aroma. He subsequently secured a United States patent for this grind. Mr. King announced also at this meeting that his investigations showed there was more than a strong likelihood that the much-discussed caffetannic acid did not exist in coffee—that it most probably was a mixture of chlorogenic and and coffalic acids.

The World War operated to interfere with the coffee roasters' plans for a research bureau; and in the meantime the Brazil planters, in 1919, started their million-dollar advertising campaign in the United States, co-operating with a joint committee representing the green and roasted coffee interests. In the following year (June, 1920), this committee arranged with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to start scientific research work on coffee, the literature of the roasters' Better Coffee Making Committee being turned over to it; and the Institute began to "test the results of the committee's work by purely analytical methods."

The first report on the research work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was made by Professor S.C. Prescott to the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee in April, 1921. The committee gave out a statement saying that Prof. Prescott's report stated that "caffein, the most characteristic principle of coffee, is, in the moderate quantities consumed by the average coffee drinker, a safe stimulant without harmful after-effects."

There was no publication of experimental results; but the announced findings were, in the main, a confirmation of the results of previous workers, particularly of Hollingworth, with whose statement, that "caffein, when taken with food in moderate amount is not in the least deleterious," the report was quoted as being in entire agreement.

At the annual convention of the National Coffee Roasters Association, November 2, 1921, Professor Prescott made a further report, in which he stated that investigations on coffee brewing had disclosed that coffee made with water between 185 deg. and 200 deg. was to be preferred to coffee made with the water at actual boiling temperature (212 deg.), that the chemical action was far less vigorous, and that the resulting infusion retained all the fine flavors and was freer from certain bitter or astringent flavors than that made at the higher temperature. Professor Prescott announced also that the best materials for coffee-making utensils were glass (including agate-ware, vitrified ware, porcelain, etc.), aluminum, nickel or silver plate, copper, and tin plate, in the order named[381].

The Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee's booklet on Coffee and Coffee Making, issued in 1921, was very guarded in its observations on grinding and brewing. It avoided all controversial points, but it did go so far as to say on the general subject of brewing:

Chemists have analyzed the coffee bean and told us that the only part of it which should go into our coffee cups for drinking is an aromatic oil. This aromatic element is extracted most efficiently only by fresh boiling water. The practice of soaking the grounds in cold water, therefore, is to be condemned. It is a mistake also to let the water and the grounds boil together after the real coffee flavor is once extracted. This extraction takes place very quickly, especially when the coffee is ground fine. The coarser the granulation the longer it is necessary to let the grounds remain in contact with the boiling water. Remember that flavor, the only flavor worth having, is extracted by the short contact of boiling water and coffee grounds and that after this flavor is extracted, the coffee grounds become valueless dregs.

The report contained also the following helpful generalities on coffee service and the various methods of brewing in more or less common use in the United States in 1921:

Although the above rules are absolutely fundamental to good Coffee Making, their importance is so little appreciated that in some households the lifeless grounds from the breakfast Coffee are left in the pot and resteeped for the next meal, with the addition of a small quantity of fresh coffee. Used coffee grounds are of no more value in coffee making than ashes are in kindling a fire.

After the coffee is brewed the true coffee flavor, now extracted from the bean, should be guarded carefully. When the brewed liquid is left on the fire or overheated this flavor is cooked away and the whole character of the beverage is changed. It is just as fatal to let the brew grow cold. If possible, coffee should be served as soon as it is made. If service is delayed, it should be kept hot but not overheated. For this purpose careful cooks prefer a double boiler over a slow flre. The cups should be warmed beforehand, and the same is true of a serving pot, if one is used. Brewed coffee, once injured by cooling, cannot be restored by reheating.

Unsatisfactory results in coffee brewing frequently can be traced to a lack of care in keeping utensils clean. The fact that the coffee pot is used only for coffee making is no excuse for setting it away with a hasty rinse. Coffee making utensils should be cleansed after each using with scrupulous care. If a percolator is used pay special attention to the small tube through which the hot water rises to spray over the grounds. This should be scrubbed with the wire-handled brush that comes for the purpose.

In cleansing drip or filter bags use cool water. Hot water "cooks in" the coffee stains. After the bag is rinsed keep it submerged in cool water until time to use it again. Never let it dry. This treatment protects the cloth from the germs in the air which cause souring. New filter bags should be washed before using to remove the starch or sizing.

DRIP (OR FILTER) COFFEE. The principle behind this method is the quick contact of water at full boiling point with coffee ground as fine as it is practical to use it. The filtering medium may be of cloth or paper, or perforated chinaware or metal. The fineness of the grind should be regulated by the nature of the filtering medium, the grains being large enough not to slip through the perforations.

The amount of ground coffee to use may vary from a heaping teaspoonful to a rounded tablespoonful for each cup of coffee desired, depending upon the granulation, the kind of apparatus used and individual taste. A general rule is the finer the grind the smaller the amount of dry coffee required.

The most satisfactory grind for a cloth drip bag has the consistency of powdered sugar and shows a slight grit when rubbed between thumb and finger. Unbleached muslin makes the best bag for this granulation. For dripping coffee reduced to a powder, as fine as flour or confectioner's sugar, use a bag of canton flannel with the fuzzy side in. Powdered coffee, however, requires careful manipulation and cannot be recommended for everyday household use.

Put the ground coffee in the bag or sieve. Bring fresh water to a full boil and pour it through the coffee at a steady, gradual rate of flow. If a cloth drip bag is used, with a very finely ground coffee, one pouring should be enough. No special pot or device is necessary. The liquid coffee may be dripped into any handy vessel or directly into the cups. Dripping into the coffee cups, however, is not to be recommended unless the dripper is moved from cup to cup so that no one cup will get more than its share of the first flow, which is the strongest and best.

The brew is complete when it drips from the grounds, and further cooking or "heating up" injures the quality. Therefore, since it is not necessary to put the brew over the fire, it is possible to make use of the hygienic advantages of a glassware, porcelain or earthenware serving pot.

BOILED (OR STEEPED) COFFEE. For boiling (or steeping) use a medium grind. The recipe is a rounded tablespoonful for each cup of coffee desired or—as some cooks prefer to remember it—a tablespoonful for each cup and "one for the pot." Put the dry coffee in the pot and pour over it fresh water briskly boiling. Steep for five minutes or longer, according to taste, over a low fire. Settle with a dash of cold water or strain through muslin or cheesecloth and serve at once.

PERCOLATED COFFEE. Use a rounded tablespoonful of medium fine ground coffee to each cupful of water. The water may be poured into the percolator cold or at the boiling point. In the latter case, percolation begins at once. Let the water percolate over the grounds for five or ten minutes depending upon the intensity of the heat and the flavor desired.

In response to a request by the author, Charles W. Trigg has contributed the following discussion of coffee making:

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF SCIENTIFIC COFFEE BREWING

Before converting it into the beverage form, coffee must be carefully selected and blended, and skillfully roasted, in order thus far to assure obtaining a maximum efficiency of results. No matter how accurately all this be done, improper brewing of the roasted bean will nullify the previous efforts and spoil the drink; for roasted coffee is a delicate material, very susceptible to deterioration and of doubtful worth as the source of a beverage unless properly handled.

There probably never was produced a drink which so fits into the exacting desires of the human appetite as does coffee. Properly prepared, it is a delightful beverage: but incorrectly made, it becomes an imposition upon the palates of mankind. Sensitive though coffee is to improper manipulation, the best procedure for brewing it is also the easiest. Cheap coffee well made excels good coffee poorly made.

CONSTITUENT CONCEPTS. The roasting of green coffee causes an alteration in the constitution of its constituents, with the result that some of the compounds present therein which were originally water-soluble are rendered insoluble, and some which were insoluble are converted into soluble ones. A portion of the original caffein content is lost by sublimation. The aromatic conglomerate, caffeol, is formed, and a considerable quantity of gas is produced, a portion of which, developing pressure in the cells of the beans, pops, or swells, them so as to increase the size of each individual bean. The constituents which are water-soluble after the torrefaction may be generally classified as heavy extractives and light aromatic materials. The percentages and nature of these materials in the roasted coffee will vary with the type of coffee and with the roast which it is given. In general, and in particular for purposes of comparison of methods of brewing, they may be considered to be the same and to occur in about the same proportions in all coffees.

The heavy extractives are caffein, mineral matter, proteins, caramel and sugars, "caffetannic acid", and various organic materials of uncertain composition. Some fat will also be found in the average coffee brew, being present not by virtue of being water soluble, but because it has been melted from the bean by the hot water and carried along with the solution.

The caffein furnishes the stimulation for which coffee is generally consumed. It has only a slightly bitter taste, and because of the relatively small percentage in which it is present in a cup of coffee, does not contribute to the cup value. The mineral matter, together with certain decomposition and hydrolysis products of crude fiber and chlorogenic acid, contribute toward the astringency or bitterness of the cup. The proteins are present in such small quantity that their only role is to raise somewhat the almost negligible food value of a coffee infusion. The body, or what might be called the licorice-like character of coffee, is due to the presence of bodies of a glucosidic nature and to caramel.

As has been previously pointed out[382], the term "caffetannic acid" is a misnomer; for the substances which are called by this name are in all probability mainly coffalic and chlorogenic acids. Neither is a true tannin, and they evince but few of the characteristic reactions of tannic acid. Some neutral coffees will show as high a "caffetannic acid" content as other acid-charactered ones. Careful work by Warnier[383] showed the actual acidities of some East Indian coffees to vary from 0.013 to 0.033 percent. These figures may be taken as reliable examples of the true acid content of coffee, and though they seem very low, it is not at all incomprehensible that the acids which they indicate produce the acidity in a cup of coffee. They probably are mainly volatile organic acids together with other acidic-natured products of roasting.



We know that very small quantities of acid are readily detected in fruit juices and beer, and that variation in their percentages is quickly noticed, while the neutralization of this small amount of acidity leaves an insipid drink. Hence it seems quite likely that this small acid content gives to the coffee brew its essential acidity. A few minor experiments on neutralization have proven the production of a very insipid beverage by thus treating a coffee infusion. So that the acidity of certain coffees most apparently should be attributed to such compounds, rather than to the misnamed "caffetannic acid."

The light aromatic materials, and the other substances which are steam-distillable, i.e. which are driven off when coffee is concentrated by boiling, are the main determining factors in the individuality of coffees. These compounds, which are collectively called "caffeol", vary greatly in the percentages present in different coffees, and thus are largely responsible for our ability to distinguish coffees in the cup. It is these compounds which supply the pleasingly aromatic and appetizing odor to coffee.

All of these compounds, with the possible exception of the proteins, are easily soluble in both hot and cold water. The fact that a clear coffee extract made with hot water does not show any precipitate immediately upon cooling, proves that cold water will give as complete an extraction as hot water. However, speed of extraction is materially increased with rise in temperature, due to the fact that the rate and degree of solubility of the substances in water, and the diffusion of the water through the cell walls of the coffee, are accelerated. Also, the resistance which the fat content of the bean offers to the wetting of the coffee, and the persistency of the "enfleurage" action of the fat in retaining the caffeol, are less with hot than with cold water. Accordingly, the speed of extraction is increased by using hot water, and the efficiency of extraction procured per unit time of subjection to water is higher.

Prolonged contact of coffee with water results in the hydrolysis of some of the insoluble materials and subsequent extraction of the substances thus formed. The rate of hydrolysis also increases with temperature: and as these compounds are of an astringent or bitter nature, the solution obtained upon boiling coffee is naturally possessed of a flavor unpleasant to the palate of the connoisseur. Boiling of the coffee infusion after it has been removed from the grounds also has a deleterious effect, as the local overheating of the solution at the point of application of the heat results in a decomposition, particularly if the solution be converted into steam at this point, leaving a thin film of solids temporarily exposed to the destructive action of the heat. Some of the more delicate constituents are unfavorably affected by such treatment, and undergo hydrolysis and oxidation. The products thus formed are thrown into relief in the flavor by the loss of the aromatic properties through steam distillation which is incidental to boiling.

It is a well known fact that re-warming a coffee brew has a unfavorable effect upon it. This is probably due in part to a precipitation of some of the water-soluble proteins upon standing, and their subsequent decomposition when heat is applied directly to them in reheating the solution. The absorption of air by the solution upon cooling, with attendant oxidation, which is accentuated by the application of heat in re-warming, must also be considered, as well as the other effects of boiling as set forth, and the action of the materials of which the coffee pot is constructed upon the solution.

PHYSICAL CONCEPTION. The coffee bean is composed of a large number of cells which function as natural containers and retainers of coffee fat and of the aromatic flavoring substances. In order to render the soluble solids fully accessible, the resistance which these cells offer to the extracting water must be overcome by grinding so as to break open all of them. In this manner a grind is obtained which will give a maximum removal of the heavy extractives. But when all of the cells are broken, great opportunity is offered for the escape of the caffeol, which is further enhanced by the slight heating which usually accompanies such fine grinding. So much caffeol escapes that even our most expert cup-testers would experience difficulty in identifying powdered coffees in a blind test. What cup-testers, in fact, use powdered coffees for making their cup selections?

Consider powdered coffee, compared with freshly ground coffee of a coarser grind. Neither the former nor its brew possesses the amount of characteristic flavor or aroma, attributable to caffeol, evidenced by the latter. The explanation of this is that the finer the grind, the more readily accessible are the soluble constituents of the coffee to the extracting water. Caffeol, however, in addition to being water-soluble, is extremely fugacious, so that when the grinding is carried to such a fineness that every cell is broken, the greater part of the caffeol volatilizes before the water comes into contact with it. It is therefore highly desirable that a grind be used wherein all of the cells are not broken, but a grind that is sufficiently fine to permit efficient extraction. In the light of this knowledge, the grind advocated by King[384] seems to be logical, for with it—though neither a maximum of the non-volatile extractives nor a maximum of caffeol is obtained—an all-round maximum of cup quality is procured.

The escape, upon grinding, of these volatile aromatic and flavoring constituents which lend individuality to coffees, makes it essential that the roasted beans be ground immediately prior to extraction.

DIFFERENT METHODS OF EXTRACTION. The methods employed for preparing the coffee drink may be classified under the general headings of boiling, steeping, percolation, and filtration. True percolation is the simple process known by the trade as filtration; but in this classification, the term indicates the style of extraction exemplified by the pumping percolator.

Boiled coffee is usually cloudy, due to the suspension of fine particles resulting from the disintegration of the grounds by the violence of boiling. The usual procedure in clarifying the decoction is to add the white of an egg or some egg-shells, the albumen of which is coagulated upon the fine particles by the heat of the solution, and the particles thus weighted sink to the bottom. Even this procedure, requiring much attention, does not give as clear a solution as some of the other extraction procedures employed. The conditions to which coffee is subjected during boiling are the worst possible, as both grounds and solution undergo hydrolysis, oxidation, and local-overheating, while the caffeol is steam-distilled from the brew. Many persons, who have long been accustomed to drinking the relatively bitter beverage thus produced, are not satisfied by coffee made in any other way; but this is purely a perversion of taste, for none of the properties are present which make coffee so prized by the epicure.





Steeping, in which cold water is added to the coffee, and the mixture brought up to a boil, does not subject the coffee to so strenuous conditions. Local overheating and hydrolysis occur, but not to so great an extent as in boiling; and most of the effects of oxidation and volatization of caffeol are absent. However, extraction is rather incomplete, due to lack of thorough admixture of the water and coffee.

When coffee is to be made under the best conditions, the temperature of the water used and of the extract after it is made should not fluctuate. In the pumping percolator, as in the steeping method, the temperature varies greatly from the time the extraction is started to the completion of the operation. This is deleterious. Also, local overheating of the infusion occurs at the point of application of the heat; and because of the manner in which the water is brought into contact with the coffee, the degree of extraction shows inefficiency. Spraying of the water over the coffee never permits the grounds to be completely covered with water at any one time, and the opportunity offered for channeling is excessive. The principle of thorough extraction demands that, as the substance being extracted becomes progressively more exhausted, fresh solvent should be brought into contact with it. In the pumping percolator the solution pumped over the grounds becomes more concentrated as the grounds become exhausted; so that the time taken to reach the degree of extraction desired is longer, and an appreciable amount of relatively concentrated liquor is retained by the grounds.



The simplest procedure to follow is that in which boiling water is poured over ground coffee suspended on a filtering medium in such a manner that the extracting water will slowly pass through the coffee and be received in a containing vessel, which obviates further contact of the beverage with the grounds. The water as it comes into contact with the ground coffee extracts the soluble material, and the solution is removed by gravity. Fresh water takes its place; so that, if the filter medium be of the proper fineness, the water flows through at the correct rate of speed, and complete extraction is effected with the production of a clear solution. Thus a maximum extraction of desirable materials is obtained in a short time with a minimum of hydrolysis, oxidation, and loss of caffeol; and if the infusion be consumed at once, or kept warm in a contrivance embodying the double-boiler principle, the effects of local overheating are avoided. Also, with the use of an appropriate filter, a finer grind of coffee can be used than in the other devices, without obtaining a turbid brew. All this works toward the production of a desirable drink.

There are several devices on the market, some using paper, and some cloth, as a filter, which operate on this principle and give very good coffee. The use of paper presents the advantage of using a new and clean filter for each brew, whereas the cloth must be carefully kept immersed in water between brews to prevent its fouling.

Contrivances operating on the filtration principle have been designed for use on a large scale in conjunction with coffee urns, and have proven quite successful in causing all of the water to go slowly through the coffee without channeling, thus accomplishing practically complete extraction. The majority of urns are still operated with bags, of which the ones with sides of heavier material than the bottom obtain the most satisfactory results, as the majority of the water must pass through the coffee instead of out through the sides of the bag. Greatest efficiency, when bags are used, is obtained by repouring until all of the liquid has passed twice through the coffee; further repouring extracts too much of the astringent hydrolysis products. The bags, when not in use, should not be allowed to dry but should be kept in a jar of cold water. The urns provided with water jackets keep the brew at almost a constant temperature and avoid the deterioration incident to temperature fluctuation.

COMPOSITION OF BREWS. The real tests of the comparative values of different methods of brewing are the flavor and palatibility of the drink, in conjunction with the number of cups of a given strength which are produced, or the relative strengths of brews of the same number of cups volume. Chemical analysis has not yet been developed to a stage where the results obtained with it are valuably indicative. Caffeol is present in quantities so small that no comparative results can be obtained. "Caffetannic acid" determinations are practically meaningless. This compound is of so doubtful a composition and physiological action, and the methods employed for its determination are so indefinite as to interpretation, as to render valueless any attempts at comparison of relative percentages. The only accurate analysis which can be made is that for caffein.

Much advertising emphasis has been placed on the small amount of caffein extracted by some devices. What is one of the main reasons for the consumption of coffee? The caffein contained therein, of course. So that if one device extracts less caffein than another, that fact alone is nothing in favor of the former. If the consumer does not want caffein in his drink there are caffein-free coffees on the market.



The coffee liquor acts on metals in such a manner as to lower the quality of the drink, so that metals of any sort, and by all means, irons, should be avoided as far as possible. Instead, earthenware or glass, preferably a good grade of the former, should be employed as far as possible in the construction of coffee-making devices.

Of the various metals, silver, aluminum, monel metal, and tin (in the order named) are least attacked by coffee infusions; and besides these, nickel, copper, and well enameled iron (absolutely free from pin holes) may be used without much danger of contamination. Rings for coffee-urn bags should be made of tinned copper, monel metal, or aluminum. Even if coffee be made in metal contrivances, the receptacles in which it stands should be made of earthenware or of glass.

Painstaking care should be given to the preservation of the coffee-makers in a state of cleanliness, as upon this depends the value of the brew. Dirt, fine grounds, and fat (which will turn rancid quickly) should not be allowed to collect on the sides, bottom, or in angles of the device difficult of access. Nor should any source of metallic or exterior contamination be allowed to go uneliminated.

The Perfect Cup of Coffee

Lovers of coffee in the United States are in a better position to obtain an ideal cup of the beverage than those in any other country. While imports of green coffee are not so carefully guarded as tea imports, there is a large measure of government inspection designed to protect the consumer against impurities, and the Department of Agriculture is zealous in applying the pure food laws to insure against misbranding and substitution. The department has defined coffee as "a beverage resulting from a water infusion of roasted coffee and nothing else."

Today no reputable merchant would think of selling even loose coffee for other than what it is. And the consumer can feel that, in the case of package coffee, the label tells the truth about the contents.

With a hundred different kinds of coffee coming to this market from nineteen countries, so many combinations are possible, that there is sure to be a straight coffee or a blend to suit any taste. And those who may have been frightened into the belief that coffee is not for them should do a little experimenting before exposing themselves to the dangers of the coffee-substitute habit.

Once upon a time it was thought that Java and Mocha were the only worthwhile blend, but now we know that a Bogota coffee from Colombia, and a Bourbon Santos from Brazil, make a most satisfying drink. And if the individual seeker should happen to be a caffein-sensitive, there are coffees so low in caffein content, like some Porto Ricans, as to overcome this objection; while there are other coffees from which the caffein has been removed by a special treatment. There is no reason why any person who is fond of coffee should forego its use. Paraphrasing Makaroff, Be modest, be kind, eat less, and think more, live to serve, work and play and laugh and love—it is enough! Do this and you may drink coffee without danger to your immortal soul.

If you are accustomed to buying loose coffee, have your dealer do a little experimental blending for you until you find a coffee to suit your palate. Some expert blends are to be found among the leading package brands. But you really can not do better than to trust your case to a first-class grocer of known reputation. He will guide you right if he knows his business; and if he doesn't, then he doesn't know his business—try elsewhere. Test him out along this line:

Let us reason together, Mr. Grocer. Let us consider these facts about coffee: green coffee improves with age? Granted. As soon as it is roasted, it begins to lose in flavor and aroma? Certainly. Grinding hastens the deterioration? Of course. Therefore, it is better to buy a small quantity of freshly roasted coffee in the bean and grind it at the time of purchase or at home just before using? Absolutely!

If your grocer reacts in this fashion, he need only supply you with a quality coffee at fair price and you need only to make it properly to obtain the utmost of coffee satisfaction.

Some connoisseurs still cling to the good old two-thirds Java and one-third Mocha blend, but the author has for years found great pleasure in a blend composed of half Medellin Bogota, one-quarter Mandheling "Java", and one-quarter Mocha. However, this blend might not appeal to another's taste, and the component parts are not always easy to get. The retail cost (1922) is about fifty cents.

Another pleasing blend is composed of Bogota, washed Maracaibo, and Santos, equal parts. This should retail from thirty to thirty-five cents. Good drinking coffees are to be had for prices ranging from twenty-five to thirty cents. In the stores of one of the large chain systems an excellent blend composed of sixty percent Bourbon Santos, and forty percent Bogota is to be had (1922) for 29 cents. All these figures apply, of course, to normal times.

If you are epicurean, you will want to read up on, and to try, the fancy Mexicans, Cobans, Sumatra growths, Meridas, and some from the "Kona side" of Hawaii.

In preparing the perfect cup of coffee, then, the coffee must be of good grade, and freshly roasted. It should, if possible, be ground just before using. The author has found a fine grind, about the consistency of fine granulated sugar, the most satisfactory. For general home use, a device that employs filter paper or filter cloth is best; for the epicure an improved porcelain French percolator (drip pot) or an improved cloth filter will yield the utmost of coffee's delights. Drink it black, sweetened or unsweetened, with or without cream or hot milk, as your fancy dictates.

It should be remembered that to make good coffee no special pot or device is necessary. Good coffee can be made with any china vessel and a piece of muslin. But to make it in perfection pains must be taken with every step in the process from roaster to cup.

Hollingworth[385] points out that through taste alone it is impossible to distinguish between quinine and coffee, or between apple and onion. There is something more to coffee than its caffein stimulus, its action on the taste-buds of the tongue and mouth. The sense of smell and the sense of sight play important roles. To get all the joy there is in a cup of coffee, it must look good and smell good, before one can pronounce its taste good. It must woo us through the nostrils with the wonderful aroma that constitutes much of the lure of coffee.

And that is why, in the preparation of the beverage, the greatest possible care should be observed to preserve the aroma until the moment of its psychological release. This can only be done by having it appear at the same instant that the delicate flavor is extracted—roasting and grinding the bean much in advance of the actual making of the beverage will defeat this object. Boiling the extraction will perfume the house; but the lost fragrance will never return to the dead liquid called coffee, when served from the pot whence it was permitted to escape.

To recapitulate, with an added word on service, the correct way to make coffee is as follows:

1. Buy a good grade of freshly roasted coffee from a responsible dealer.

2. Grind it very fine, and at home, just before using.

3. Allow a rounded tablespoonful for each beverage cup.

4. Make it in a French drip pot or in some filtration device where freshly boiling water is poured through the grind but once. A piece of muslin and any china receptacle make an economical filter.

5. Avoid pumping percolators, or any device for heating water and forcing it repeatedly through the grounds. Never boil coffee.

6. Keep the beverage hot and serve it "black" with sugar and hot milk, or cream, or both.

Some Coffee Recipes

When Mrs. Ida C. Bailey Allen prepared a booklet of recipes for the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee, she introduced them with the following remarks on the use of coffee as a flavoring agent:

Although coffee is our national beverage, comparatively few cooks realize its possibilities as a flavoring agent. Coffee combines deliciously with a great variety of food dishes and is especially adapted to desserts, sauces and sweets. Thus used it appeals particularly to men and to all who like a full-bodied pronounced flavor.

For flavoring purposes coffee should be prepared just as carefully as when it is intended for a beverage. The best results are obtained by using freshly made coffee, but when, for reasons of economy, it is desirable to utilize a surplus remaining from the meal-time brew, care should be taken not to let it stand on the grounds and become bitter.

When introducing made coffee into a recipe calling for other liquid, decrease this liquid in proportion to the amount of coffee that has been added. When using it in a cake or in cookies, instead of milk, a tablespoonful less to the cup should be allowed, as coffee does not have the same thickening properties.

In some cases, better results are gained if the coffee is introduced into the dish by scalding or cooking the right proportion of ground coffee with the liquid which is to form the base. By this means the full coffee flavor is obtained, yet the richness of the finished product is not impaired by the introduction of water, as would be the case were the infused coffee used. This method is advisable especially for various desserts which have milk as a foundation, as those of the custard variety and certain types of Bavarian Creams, Ice Cream, and the like. The right proportion of ground coffee, which is generally a tablespoonful to the cup, should be combined with the cold milk or cream in the double-boiler top and should then be scalded over hot water, when the mixture should be put through a very fine strainer or cheese cloth, to remove all grounds.

Coffee can be used as a flavoring in almost any dessert or confection where a flavoring agent is employed.

On iced coffee and the use of coffee in summer beverages in general, Mrs. Allen writes as follows:

ICED COFFEE. This is not only a delicious summer drink, but it also furnishes a mild stimulation that is particularly grateful on a wilting hot day. It may be combined with fruit juices and other ingredients in a variety of cooling beverages which are less sugary and cloying than the average warm weather drink and for that reason it is generally popular with men.

Coffee that is to be served cold should be made somewhat stronger than usual. Brew it according to your favorite method and chill before adding sugar and cream. If cracked ice is added make sure the coffee is strong enough to compensate for the resulting dilution. Mixing the ingredients in a shaker produces a smoother beverage topped with an appetizing foam.

It is a convenience, however, to have on hand a concentrated syrup from which any kind of coffee-flavored drink may be concocted on short notice and without the necessity of lighting the stove. Coffee left over from meals may be used for the same purpose, but it should be kept in a covered glass or china dish and not allowed to stand too long. A coffee syrup made after the following recipe will keep indefinitely and may be used as a basis for many delicious iced drinks:

COFFEE SYRUP. Two quarts of very strong coffee; 3-1/2 pounds sugar. The coffee should be very strong, as the syrup will be largely diluted. The proportion of a pound of coffee to one and three-fourths quarts of water will be found satisfactory. This may be made by any favorite method, cleared and strained, then combined with the sugar, brought to boiling point, and boiled for two or three minutes. It should be canned while boiling, in sterilized bottles. Fill them to overflowing and seal as for grape juice or for any other canned beverage.



A COFFEE CHRONOLOGY

Giving dates and events of historical interest in legend, travel, literature, cultivation, plantation treatment, trading, and in the preparation and use of coffee from the earliest time to the present

900[L]—Rhazes, famous Arabian physician, is first writer to mention coffee under the name bunca or bunchum.[M]

1000[L]—Avicenna, Mahommedan physician and philosopher, is the first writer to explain the medicinal properties of the coffee bean, which he also calls bunchum.[M]

1258[L]—Sheik Omar, disciple of Sheik Schadheli, patron saint and legendary founder of Mocha, by chance discovers coffee as a beverage at Ousab in Arabia.[M]

1300[L]—The coffee drink is a decoction made from roasted berries, crushed in a mortar and pestle, the powder being placed in boiling water, and the drink taken down, grounds and all.

1350[L]—Persian, Egyptian, and Turkish ewers made of pottery are first used for serving coffee.

1400-1500—Earthenware or metal coffee-roasting plates with small holes, rounded and shaped like a skimmer, come into use in Turkey and Persia over braziers. Also about this time appears the familiar Turkish cylinder coffee mill, and the original Turkish coffee boiler of metal.

1428-48—Spice grinder to stand on four legs first invented; subsequently used to grind coffee.

1454[L]—Sheik Gemaleddin, mufti of Aden, having discovered the virtues of the berry on a journey to Abyssinia, sanctions the use of coffee in Arabia Felix.

1470-1500—The use of coffee spreads to Mecca and Medina.

1500-1600—Shallow iron dippers with long handles and small foot-rests come into use in Bagdad and in Mesopotamia for roasting coffee.

1505[L]—The Arabs introduce the coffee plant into Ceylon.

1510—The coffee drink is introduced into Cairo.

1511—Kair Bey, governor of Mecca, after consultation with a council of lawyers, physicians, and leading citizens, issues a condemnation of coffee, and prohibits the use of the drink. Prohibition subsequently ordered revoked by the sultan of Cairo.

1517—Sultan Selim I, after conquering Egypt, brings coffee to Constantinople.

1524—The kadi of Mecca closes the public coffee houses because of disorders, but permits coffee drinking at home and in private. His successor allows them to re-open under license.

1530[L]—Coffee drinking introduced into Damascus.

1532[L]—Coffee drinking introduced into Aleppo.

1534—A religious fanatic denounces coffee in Cairo and leads a mob against the coffee houses, many of which are wrecked. The city is divided into two parties, for and against coffee; but the chief judge, after consultation with the doctors, causes coffee to be served to the meeting, drinks some himself, and thus settles the controversy.

1542—Soliman II, at the solicitation of a favorite court lady, forbids the use of coffee, but to no purpose.

1554—The first coffee houses are opened in Constantinople by Shemsi of Damascus and Hekem of Aleppo.

1570[L]-80[L]—Religious zealots in Constantinople, jealous of the increasing popularity of the coffee houses, claim roasted coffee to be a kind of charcoal, and the mufti decides that it is forbidden by the law. Amurath III subsequently orders the closing of all coffee houses, on religious grounds, classing coffee with wine, forbidden by the Koran. The order is not strictly observed, and coffee drinking continues behind closed shop-doors and in private houses.

1573—Rauwolf, German physician and botanist, first European to mention coffee, makes a journey to the Levant.

1580—Prospero Alpini (Alpinus), Italian physician and botanist, journeys to Egypt and brings back news of coffee.

1582-83—The first printed reference to coffee appears as chaube in Rauwolf's Travels, published in German at Frankfort and Lauingen.

1585—Gianfraneesco Morosini, city magistrate in Constantinople, reports to the Venetian senate the use by the Turks "of a black water, being the infusion of a bean called cavee."

1587—The first authentic account of the origin of coffee is written by the Sheik Abd-al-Kadir, in an Arabian manuscript preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

1592—The first printed description of the coffee plant (called bon) and drink (called caova) appears in Prospero Alpini's work The Plants of Egypt, written in Latin, and published in Venice.

1596[L]—Belli sends to the botanist de l'Ecluse "seeds used by the Egyptians to make a liquid they call cave."

1598—The first printed reference to coffee in English appears as chaoua in a note of Paludanus in Linschoten's Travels, translated from the Dutch, and published in London.

1599—Sir Antony Sherley, first Englishman to refer to coffee drinking in the Orient, sails from Venice for Aleppo.

1600[L]—Pewter serving-pots appear.

1600—Iron spiders on legs, designed to sit in open fires, are used for roasting coffee.

1600[L]—Coffee cultivation introduced into southern India at Chickmaglur, Mysore, by a Moslem pilgrim, Baba Budan.[M]

1600-32—Mortars and pestles of wood, and of metal (iron, bronze, and brass) come into common use in Europe for making coffee powder.

1601—The first printed reference to coffee in English, employing the more modern form of the word, appears in W. Parry's book, Sherley's Travels, as "a certain liquor which they call coffe."

1603—Captain John Smith, English adventurer, and founder of the colony of Virginia, in his book of travels published this year, refers to the Turks' drink, "coffa."

1610—Sir George Sandys, the poet, visits Turkey, Egypt, and Palestine, and records that the Turks "sip a drink called coffa (of the berry that it is made of) in little china dishes, as hot as they can suffer it."

1614—Dutch traders visit Aden to examine into the possibilities of coffee cultivation and coffee trading.

1615—Pietro Della Valle writes a letter from Constantinople to his friend Mario Schipano at Venice that when he returns he will bring with him some coffee, which he believes "is a thing unknown in his native country."

1615—Coffee is introduced into Venice.

1616—The first coffee is brought from Mocha to Holland by Pieter Van dan Broecke.

1620—Peregrine White's wooden mortar and pestle (used for "braying" coffee) is brought to America on the Mayflower by White's parents.

1623-27—Francis Bacon, in his Historia Vitae et Mortis (1623), speaks of the Turks' "caphe"; and in his Sylva Sylvarum (1627) writes: "They have in Turkey a drink called coffa made of a berry of the same name, as black as soot, and of a strong scent ... this drink comforteth the brain and heart, and helpeth digestion."

1625—Sugar is first used to sweeten coffee in Cairo.

1632—Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy says: "The Turks have a drink called coffa, so named from a berry black as soot and as bitter."

1634—Sir Henry Blount makes a voyage to the Levant, and is invited to drink "cauphe" in Turkey.

1637—Adam Olearius, German traveler and Persian scholar, visits Persia (1633-39); and on his return tells how in this year he observed that the Persians drink chawa in their coffee houses.

1637—Coffee drinking is introduced into England by Nathaniel Conopios, a Cretan student at Balliol College, Oxford.

1640—Parkinson, in his Theatrum Botanicum, publishes the first botanical description of the coffee plant in English—referred to as "Arbor Bon cum sua Buna. The Turkes Berry Drinke."

1640—The Dutch merchant, Wurffbain, offers for sale in Amsterdam the first commercial shipment of coffee from Mocha.

1644—Coffee is introduced into France at Marseilles by P. de la Roque, who brought back also from Constantinople the instruments and vessels for making it.

1645—Coffee comes into general use in Italy.

1645—The first coffee house is opened in Venice.

1647—Adam Olearius publishes in German his Persian Voyage Description, containing an account of coffee manners and customs in Persia in 1633-39.

1650[L]—Varnar, Dutch minister resident at the Ottoman Porte, publishes a treatise on coffee.

1650[L]—The individual hand-turned metal (tin-plate or tinned copper) roaster appears; shaped like the Turkish coffee grinder, for use over open fires.

1650—The first coffee house in England is opened at Oxford by Jacobs, a Jew.

1650—Coffee is introduced into Vienna.

1652—The first London coffee house is opened by Pasqua Rosee in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill.

1652—The first printed advertisement for coffee in English appears in the form of a handbill issued by Pasqua Rosee, acclaiming "The Vertue of the Coffee Drink."

1656—Grand Vizier Kuprili, during the war with Candia, and for political reasons, suppresses the coffee houses and prohibits coffee. For the first violation the punishment is cudgeling; for a second, the offender is sewn up in a leather bag and thrown into the Bosporus.

1657—The first newspaper advertisement for coffee appears in The Publick Adviser of London.

1657—Coffee is introduced privately into Paris by Jean de Thevenot.

1658—The Dutch begin the cultivation of coffee in Ceylon.

1660[L]—The first French commercial importation of coffee arrives in bales at Marseilles from Egypt.

1660—Coffee is first mentioned in the English statute books when a duty of four pence is laid upon every gallon made and sold "to be paid by the maker."

1660[L]—Nieuhoff, Dutch ambassador to China, is the first to make a trial of coffee with milk, in imitation of tea with milk.

1660—Elford's "white iron" machine for roasting coffee is much used in England, being "turned on a spit by a jack."

1662—Coffee is roasted in Europe over charcoal fires without flame, in ovens, and on stoves; being "browned in uncovered earthenware tart dishes, old pudding pans, fry pans."

1663—All English coffee houses are required to be licensed.

1663—Regular imports of Mocha coffee begin at Amsterdam.

1665—The improved Turkish long brass combination coffee grinder with folding handle and cup receptacle for green beans, for boiling and serving, is first made in Damascus. About this period the Turkish coffee set, including long-handled boiler and porcelain cups in brass holders, comes into vogue.

1668—Coffee is introduced into North America.

1669—Coffee is introduced publicly into Paris by Soliman Aga, the Turkish ambassador.

1670—Coffee is roasted in larger quantities in small closed sheet-iron cylinders having long iron handles designed to turn them in open fireplaces. First used in Holland. Later, in France, England, and the United States.

1670—The first attempt to grow coffee in Europe at Dijon, France, results in failure.

1670—Coffee is introduced into Germany.

1670—Coffee is first sold in Boston.

1671—The first coffee house in France is opened in Marseilles in the neighborhood of the Exchange.

1671—The first authoritative printed treatise devoted solely to coffee, written in Latin by Faustus Nairon, professor of Oriental languages, Rome, is published in that city.

1671—The first printed treatise in French, largely devoted to coffee, Concerning the Use of Coffee, Tea and Chocolate, by Philippe Sylvestre Dufour, purporting to be a translation from the Latin, is published at Lyons.

1672—Pascal, an Armenian, first sells coffee publicly at St. Germain's fair, Paris, and opens the first Parisian coffee house.

1672—Great silver coffee pots (with all the utensils belonging to them of the same metal) are used at St.-Germain's fair, Paris.

1674—The Women's Petition Against Coffee is published in London.

1674—Coffee is introduced into Sweden.

1675—Charles II issues a proclamation to close all London coffee houses as places of sedition. Order revoked on petition of the traders in 1676.

1679—An attempt by the physicians of Marseilles to discredit coffee on purely dietetic grounds fails of effect; and consumption increases at such a rate that traders in Lyons and Marseilles begin to import the green bean by the ship-load from the Levant.

1679[L]—The first coffee house in Germany is opened by an English merchant at Hamburg.

1683—Coffee is sold publicly in New York.

1683—Kolschitzky opens the first coffee house in Vienna.

1684—Dufour publishes at Lyons, France, the first work on The Manner of Making Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate.

1685—Cafe au lait is first recommended for use as a medicine by Sieur Monin, a celebrated physician of Grenoble, France.

1686—John Ray, one of the first English botanists to extol the virtues of coffee in a scientific treatise, publishes his Universal Botany of Plants in London.

1686—The first coffee house is opened in Regensburg, Germany.

1689—Cafe de Procope, the first real French cafe, is opened in Paris by Francois Procope, a Sicilian, coming from Florence.

1689—The first coffee house is opened in Boston.

1691—Portable coffee-making outfits to fit the pocket find favor in France.

1692—The "lantern" straight-line coffee pot with true cone lid, thumb-piece, and handle fixed at right angle to the spout, is introduced into England, succeeding the curved Oriental serving pot.

1694—The first coffee house is opened in Leipzig, Germany.

1696—The first coffee house (The King's Arms) is opened in New York.

1696—The first coffee seedlings are brought from Kananur, on the Malabar coast, and introduced into Java at Kedawoeng, near Batavia, but not long afterward are destroyed by flood.

1699—The second shipment of coffee plants from Malabar to Java by Henricus Zwaardecroon becomes the progenitors of all the arabica coffee trees in the Dutch East Indies.

1699—Galland's translation of the earliest Arabian manuscript on coffee appears in Paris under the title, Concerning the First Use of Coffee and the Progress It Afterward Made.

1700—Ye coffee house, the first in Philadelphia, is built by Samuel Carpenter.

1700-1800—Small portable coke or charcoal stoves made of sheet-iron, and fitted with horizontal revolving cylinders turned by hand, come into use for family roasting.

1701—Coffee pots appear in England with perfect domes and bodies less tapering.

1702—The first "London" coffee house is established in Philadelphia.

1704—Bull's machine for roasting coffee, probably the first to use coal for commercial roasting, is patented in England.

1706—The first samples of Java coffee, and a coffee plant grown in Java, are received at the Amsterdam botanical gardens.

1707—The first coffee periodical, The New and Curious Coffee House, is issued at Leipzig by Theophilo Georgi, as a kind of organ of the first kaffee-klatsch.

1711—Java coffee is first sold at public auction in Amsterdam.

1711—A novelty in coffee-making is introduced into France by infusing the ground beans in a fustian (linen) bag.

1712—The first coffee house is opened in Stuttgart, Germany.

1713—The first coffee house is opened in Augsburg, Germany.

1714—The thumb-piece on English coffee pots disappears, and the handle is no longer set at a right angle to the spout.

1714—A coffee plant, raised from seed of the plant received at the Amsterdam botanical gardens in 1706, is presented to Louis XIV of France, and is nurtured in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.

1715—Jean La Roque publishes in Paris his Voyage de l'Arabie Heureuse (voyage to Arabia the Happy) containing much valuable information on coffee in Arabia and its introduction into France.

1715—Coffee cultivation is introduced into Haiti and Santo Domingo.

1715-17—Coffee cultivation is introduced into the Isle of Bourbon (now Reunion) by a sea captain of St. Malo, who brings the plants from Mocha by direction of the French Company of the Indies.

1718—Coffee cultivation is introduced into Surinam by the Dutch.

1718—Abbe Massieu's Carmen Caffaeum, the first and most notable poem on coffee written in Latin, is composed, and is read before the Academy of Inscriptions.

1720—Caffe Florian is opened in Venice by Floriono Francesconi.

1721—The first coffee house is opened in Berlin, Germany.

1721—Meisner publishes a treatise on coffee, tea, and chocolate.

1722—Coffee cultivation is introduced into Cayenne, from Surinam.

1723—The first coffee plantation started in the Portuguese colony of Para, Brazil, with plants brought from Cayenne (French Guiana) results in failure.

1723—Gabriel de Clieu, Norman captain of infantry, sails from France, accompanied by one of the seedlings of the Java tree presented to Louis XIV, and with it shares his drinking water on a protracted voyage to Martinique.

1730—The English bring the cultivation of coffee to Jamaica.

1732—The British Parliament seeks to encourage the cultivation of coffee in British possessions in America by reducing the inland duty.

1732—Bach's celebrated Coffee Cantata is published in Leipzig.

1737—The Merchants' coffee house is established in New York; by some called the true cradle of American liberty and the birthplace of the Union.

1740—Coffee culture is introduced into the Philippines from Java by Spanish missionaries.

1748—Coffee cultivation is introduced into Cuba by Don Jose Antonio Gelabert.

1750—Coffee cultivation is introduced into Celebes from Java.

1750—The straight-line coffee pot in England begins to give way to the reactionary movement in art favoring bulbous bodies and serpentine spouts; the sides are nearly parallel, while the dome of the lid is flattened to a slight elevation above the rim.

1752—Intensive coffee cultivation is resumed in the Portuguese colonies in Para and Amazonas, Brazil.

1754—A white-silver coffee roaster, eight inches high by four inches in diameter, is mentioned as being among the deliveries made to the army of Louis XV at Versailles.

1755—Coffee cultivation is introduced into Porto Rico from Martinique.

1760—Decoction, or boiling, of coffee in France is generally replaced by the infusion method.

1760—Joao Alberto Castello Branco plants in Rio de Janeiro the first coffee tree brought to Brazil from Goa, Portuguese India.

1761—Brazil exempts coffee from export duty.

1763—Donmartin, a tinsmith of St. Benoit, France, invents a novel coffee pot, the inside of which is "filled by a fine flannel sack put in its entirety." It has a tap to draw the coffee.

1764—Count Pietro Verri publishes in Milan, Italy, a philosophic and literary periodical, entitled Il Caffe (the coffee house).

1765—Mme. de Pompadour's golden coffee mill is mentioned in her inventory.

1770—Complete revolution in style of English serving pots; return to the flowing lines of the Turkish ewer.

1770—Chicory is first used with coffee in Holland.

1770-73—Coffee cultivation begins in Rio, Minas, and Sao Paulo.

1771—John Dring is granted a patent in England for a compound coffee.

1774—Molke, a Belgian monk, introduces the coffee plant from Surinam into the garden of the Capuchin monastery at Rio de Janeiro.

1774—A letter is sent by the Committee of Correspondence from the Merchants' coffee house, New York, to Boston, proposing the American Union.

1777—King Frederick the Great of Prussia issues his celebrated coffee and beer manifesto, recommending the use of the latter in place of the former among the lower classes.

1779—Richard Dearman is granted an English patent for a new method of making mills for grinding coffee.

1779—Coffee cultivation is introduced into Costa Rica from Cuba by the Spanish voyager, Navarro.

1781—King Frederick the Great of Prussia establishes state coffee-roasting plants in Germany, declares the coffee business a government monopoly, and forbids the common people to roast their own coffee. "Coffee-smellers" make life miserable for violators of the law.

1784—Coffee cultivation is introduced into Venezuela by seed from Martinique.

1784—A prohibition against the use of coffee, except by the rich, is issued by Maximilian Frederick, elector of Cologne.

1785—Governor Bowdoin of Massachusetts introduces chicory to the United States.

1789—The first import duty on coffee, two and a half cents a pound, is levied by the United States.

1789—George Washington is officially greeted, April 23, as president-elect of the U.S. at the Merchants coffee house in New York.

1790—Coffee cultivation is introduced into Mexico from the West Indies.

1790—The first wholesale coffee-roasting plant in the United States begins operation at 4 Great Dock Street, New York.

1790—The first United States advertisement for coffee appears in the New York Daily Advertiser.

1790—The import duty on coffee in the United States is increased to four cents a pound.

1790—The first crude package coffee is sold in "narrow mouthed stoneware pots and jars," by a New York merchant.

1792—The Tontine coffee house is established in New York.

1794—The import duty on coffee in the United States is increased to five cents a pound.

1798—The first United States patent for an improved coffee-grinding mill is granted to Thomas Bruff, Sr.

1800[L]—Chicory comes into use in Holland as a substitute for coffee.

1800[L]—De Belloy's coffee pot, made of tin, later of porcelain, appears—the original French drip coffee pot.

1800[L]-1900[L]—There is a return in England to the style of coffee-serving pot having the handle at right angle to the spout.

1802—The first French patent on a coffee maker is granted to Denobe, Henrion, and Rouch for "a pharmacological-chemical coffee making device by infusion."

1802—Charles Wyatt is granted a patent in London on an apparatus for distilling coffee.

1804[L]—The first cargo of coffee—and other East Indian produce—from Mocha, to be shipped in an American bottom, reaches Salem, Mass.

1806—James Henckel is granted a patent in England on a coffee dryer, "an invention communicated to him by a certain foreigner."

1806—The first French patent on an improved French drip coffee pot for making coffee by filtration, without boiling, is granted to Hadrot.

1806—The coffee percolator (really an improved French drip coffee pot) is invented by Count Rumford (Benjamin Thompson), an expatriated American scientist, in Paris.

1809—The first importation of Brazil coffee by the United States arrives at Salem, Mass.

1809—Coffee becomes an article of commerce in Brazil.

1811—Walter Rochfort, a London grocer and tea dealer, obtains a patent in London on a compressed coffee tablet.

1812—Coffee in England is roasted in an iron pan or hollow cylinder made of sheet iron; and then is pounded in a mortar, or ground in a hand-mill.

1812—Anthony Schick is granted an English patent on a method, or process, for roasting coffee, for which specifications were never enrolled.

1812—Coffee is roasted in Italy in a glass flask with a loose cork, held over a clear fire of burning coals and continually agitated.

1812—The import duty, on coffee in the United States is increased to ten cents a pound as a war-revenue measure.

1813—A United States patent is granted Alexander Duncan Moore, New Haven, Conn., on a mill for grinding and pounding coffee.

1814—A war-time fever of speculation in tea and coffee causes the citizens of Philadelphia to form a non-consumption association, each member pledging himself not to pay more than twenty-five cents a pound for coffee, and not to use tea unless it is already in the country.

1816—The import duty on coffee in the United States is reduced to five cents a pound.

1817[L]—The coffee biggin (said to have been invented by a man named Biggin) comes into common use in England.

1818—The Havre coffee market for spot coffee and to arrive is established.

1819—Morize, a Paris tinsmith, invents a double drip reversible coffee pot.

1819—Laurens is granted a French patent on the original pumping-percolator device in which the boiling water was raised by steam pressure and sprayed over the ground coffee.

1820—Peregrine Williamson, Baltimore, is granted the first United States patent for an improvement on a coffee roaster.

1820—Another early form of the French percolator is patented by Gaudet, a Paris tinsmith.

1822—Nathan Reed, Belfast, Me., is granted a United States patent on a coffee huller.

1824—Richard Evans is granted a patent in England for a commercial method of roasting coffee, comprising a cylinder sheet-iron roaster fitted with improved flanges for mixing, a hollow tube and trier for sampling the coffee while roasting, and a means for turning the roaster completely over to empty it.

1825—The pumping percolator, working by steam pressure and by partial vacuum, comes into vogue in France, Germany, Austria, and elsewhere.

1825—The first coffee-pot patent in the United States is issued to Lewis Martelley, New York.

1825—Coffee cultivation is introduced into Hawaii from Rio de Janeiro.

1827—The first patent for a really practicable French coffee percolator is granted to Jacques Augustin Gandais, a manufacturer of plated jewelry in Paris.

1828—Charles Parker, Meriden, Conn., begins work on the original Charles Parker coffee mill.

1829—The first French patent on a coffee mill is granted Colaux et Cie, Molsheim, France.

1829—Etablissements Lauzaune begin the manufacture of hand-turned cylinder coffee roasting machines in Paris.

1830—The import duty on coffee in the United States is reduced to two cents a pound.

1831—David Selden is granted a patent in England for a coffee-grinding mill having cones of cast-iron.

1831—John Whitmee & Co., England, begin the manufacture of coffee-plantation machinery.

1831—The import duty on coffee in the United States is reduced to one cent a pound.

1832—A United States patent is granted to Edmund Parker and Herman M. White, Meriden, Conn., on a new household coffee and spice mill. (Chas. Parker Co. business founded same year.)

1832—Government coffee cultivation by forced labor is introduced into Java.

1832—Coffee is placed on the free list in the United States.

1832-33—United States patents are granted to Ammi Clark, Berlin, Conn., on improved coffee and spice mills for household use.

1833—Amos Ransom, Hartford, Conn., is granted a United States patent on a coffee roaster.

1833-34—A complete English coffee-roasting-and-grinding plant is installed in New York by James Wild.

1834—John Chester Lyman is granted a patent in England on a coffee huller employing circular wooden disks with wire teeth.

1835—Thomas Ditson, Boston, is granted a United States patent on a coffee huller. Ten others follow.

1835—The first private coffee estates are started in Java and Sumatra.

1836—The first French coffee-roaster patent is issued to Francois Rene Lacoux, Paris, on a combination coffee roaster and grinder made of porcelain.

1837—The first French coffee substitute is patented by Francois Burlet, Lyons.

1839—James Vardy and Moritz Platow are granted an English patent on a form of urn percolator employing the vacuum process of coffee making, the upper vessel being made of glass.

1840—Central America begins shipping coffee to the United States.

1840[L]—Robert Napier, of the Clyde engineering firm of Robert Napier & Sons, invents the Napierian vacuum coffee machine to make coffee by distillation and filtration, but the idea is never patented. (See 1870.)

1840—Abel Stillman, Poland, N.Y., is granted a United States patent on a family coffee roaster having a mica window to enable the operator to observe the coffee while roasting.

1840—The English begin to cultivate coffee in India.

1840—Wm. McKinnon & Co.. Aberdeen, Scotland, begin the manufacture of plantation machinery. (Established 1798.)

1842—The first French patent on a glass coffee-making device is granted to Mme. Vassieux of Lyons.

1843—Ed. Loysel de Santais, Paris, is granted a patent on an improved coffee-making device, the principle of which is later incorporated in a hydrostatic percolator making 2,000 cups an hour.

1846—James W. Carter, Boston, is granted a United States patent on the Carter "pull-out" coffee roaster.

1847—J.R. Remington, Baltimore, is granted a United States patent on a coffee roaster employing a wheel of buckets to move the green coffee beans singly through a charcoal-heated trough in which they are roasted while passing over the rotating wheel.

1847-48—William Dakin and Elizabeth Dakin are granted patents in England for a roasting cylinder lined with gold, silver, platinum, or alloy, and traversing carriage on a railway to move the roaster in and out of the heating chamber.

1848—Thomas John Knowlys is granted a patent in England on a perforated roasting cylinder coated with enamel.