It is also excellent as a preventive against infections and epidemic diseases. In districts rife with malaria and fever, the drinking of hot coffee before passing into the open air has enabled persons living in such places to escape contagion. Probably the nervous system is aroused to a positive condition, in which fever germs are rendered innocuous.
That coffee is a medicine in cases of extreme alcoholism is well known, but it is hardly understood to what extent this exhilarating and potent beverage might be used in place of liquor. Coffee-houses, where all the accessories are cheerful and wholesome for mind and body, greatly tend to diminish drunkenness. In the city of Birmingham, England, according to the report of the American Consul a few years since, the seventeen temperance coffee-houses in operation received the patronage of 20,000 men daily, six days in the week. "And," he truly adds, "a large proportion of these visitors would otherwise have spent their evenings and their earnings in liquor saloons."
The methods of making coffee are as various as the nations that partake of it. In Arabia the coffee is freshly roasted and pounded whenever the decoction is prepared, and its flavor is enhanced by the addition of a few aromatic seeds or a little saffron. It is drank in small cups, without sugar or milk, but hot and strong, and Oriental hospitality demands that it be served to every visitor. In country places the people use an infusion of coffee leaves, steeped like tea and tasting like a mixture of coffee and tea.
It is curious to observe that in the extremes of the North and South coffee is alike regarded. In Sweden, near the midnight sun, where the necessaries of life are scant and dear, Du Chaillu found that the rudest cabin cherished a little store of the precious berry to be used on festive occasions, feasts and funerals, or for the infrequent and welcome traveler. Nothing in his narration is more touching than those portions in which he describes the hospitality set forth in the odoriferous cup in those hamlets near the Arctic circle, where salt fish and sour milk form the staple winter food.
From its cordial and gently stimulating effect, Western nations may well join in the panegyric pronounced upon coffee by an Arabian, translated thus: "O Coffee, thou dispellest the cares of the great; thou bringest back those who wander from the paths of knowledge! Coffee is our gold, and in the place of its libations we are in the enjoyment of the best and noblest society. Every care vanishes when the cup-bearer presents the delicious chalice; it will circulate freely through thy veins and will not rankle there. Grief cannot exist where it grows; sorrow humbles itself before its powers."
Lastly, it may be said in the words of Sidney Smith, "If you want to improve your understanding, drink coffee."
No matter where the coffee bean may have grown or how perfect its condition, the decoction may be ruined in its preparation. Among the numerous coffee-steepers in the market, one, lately devised, seems to fill all requirements. It is the Common-sense Coffee-pot, a veritable wonder worker, invented by Mr. Krag, of Indianapolis. A bag or filter at the top, like that used by the French, is nothing new. The improvement—and it is a great improvement—consists in a simple yet ingenious arrangement whereby the steam is condensed and returned to the coffee. By this means the delicate aroma is entirely preserved, and the coffee made delicious and strong.