Messrs. Staniforth and Co., 138, Oxford-street, are deservedly noted for the excellence of their coffee. It is always ground at the instant of serving it to a customer; and they have the complaisance of roasting even so small a quantity as two pounds, to suit the taste of the purchaser: it may therefore be procured of them as pale-dried as it can be wished.
The house of Messrs. Decastro and Peach, next door to Hatchett’s Hotel, Piccadilly, may likewise, we think, be quite depended on for supplying genuine coffee to the public; and they have an immense demand for it.
We say nothing about mingling chicory with it. Our directions are for making pure coffee; which, when not taken in excess, is, we believe, a wholesome as well as a most agreeable beverage. The effect of chicory is, we believe, to impart a slight bitter flavour to the infusion, and to deepen its colour so much as to make it appear much stronger than it really is. True connoisseurs, however, do not attach any importance to the dark hue of coffee, the very choicest that can be tasted being sometimes of quite a pale tint.
Always serve hot milk or cream, or hot milk and cold cream, if preferred, with breakfast coffee. In the evening, when milk is served at all with it, it should likewise be boiling.
Do not, in any way, make use of the residue of one day’s coffee in preparing that of the next; you would but injure the purity of its flavour by doing so, and effect next to nothing in the matter of economy.[[184]]
[184]. When the coffee has been filtered in a proper manner, water poured afterwards on the “grounds” as they are termed, will have scarcely any taste or colour; this is not the case when it has been boiled.
EXCELLENT BREAKFAST COFFEE.
A simple, well-made English filter, or percolator, as it is called, will answer perfectly for making coffee; but from amongst the many of more recent invention which are on sale, the reader who prefers one of ornamental appearance, and of novel construction, will easily be suited. The size of the filter must be adapted to the number of persons for whom the coffee is to be prepared; for if a large quantity of the powder be heaped into an insufficient space for it, there will not be room for it to swell, and the water will not pass through. Put three ounces of coffee into one which will contain in the lower compartment two pints and a half; shake the powder quite level and press it closely down; remove the presser, put on the top strainer, and pour round and round, so as to wet the coffee equally, about the third part of a measured pint of fast boiling water. Let this drain quite through before more is added; then pour in—still quite boiling—in the same manner as much more water, and when it has passed through, add the remainder; let it drain entirely through, then remove the top of the filter, put the cover on the part which contains the coffee, and serve it immediately. It will be very strong, and perfectly clear. Fill the breakfast cups two parts full of new boiling milk, and add as much of the infusion as will give it the degree of strength which is agreeable to those for whom it is prepared. When it is liked extremely strong, the proportion of milk must be diminished, or less water be poured to the coffee.
If nearly an additional half pint of water be added before the top of the percolator is taken off, it will still be very good, provided that the coffee used be really of first-rate quality.
To make cheaper breakfast coffee to be served in the usual English mode, the same process should be followed, but the proportion of water must be considerably increased: it should always, however, be added by slow degrees.