COFFEE PLANTATION NEAR JOLO,
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
COFFEE DRYING FIELD, BRAZIL
CHAPTER X
PLANT PRODUCTS OF ECONOMIC USE—BEVERAGES AND MEDICINAL SUBSTANCES
It may be assumed that practically all beverages derived from plants owe their popularity to the stimulant effects they produce. In coffee, tea, cocoa, and maté, the stimulant principle is identical with cafein, the active principle of coffee; in liquors it is a powerful narcotic alcohol; non-potable substances, tobacco, opium, etc., owe their popularity also to narcotic poisons.
Coffee.—The coffee "beans" of commerce are the seeds of a tree (Coffea arabica) probably native to Abyssinia, but now cultivated in various parts of the world. It was introduced into Aden from Africa late in the fifteenth century, and from there its use spread to other cities. Rather singularly its popularity resulted from the strong efforts made to forbid its use.
It was regarded as a stimulant and therefore it was forbidden to followers of Islam.[34] But its power to prevent drowsiness and sleep during the intolerably long religious exercises was a winning feature, and so its use became general in spite of the fulminations against it.