COFFEE
Coffee is a product of the East, where it has been used since very ancient times. It grows on trees, the fruit in clusters which singly look somewhat like cherries, each containing two beans. Unroasted coffee-beans are tough, and a drink made from them is bitter, acrid, and very unpleasant. Coffee was brought to western Europe in the seventeenth century, where it seems to have immediately become a popular drink. When coffee-houses were first opened in England, they were opposed by the liquor-dealers, who claimed that their trade would be spoiled. Its introduction was also bitterly opposed by others, and even denounced from the pulpit. It was regarded somewhat in the light of a dangerous Eastern drug. From western Europe it was brought to America, and at the present time is the most extensively used food beverage in the world.
The kinds in common use in this country are Java and Mocha from the East, and the South American coffees Rio, Santos, and Maracaibo. The soil and method of cultivation influence the quality of coffee, as does also the age of the beans. The longer the beans are kept (unbrowned) the finer the flavor.
Coffee is adulterated with grains of different kinds, chicory, caramel, carrots and some other roots, and with pastes made to resemble the coffee-bean. The use of chicory is prohibited by law, unless the mixture be labeled "Mixture of coffee and chicory." Nevertheless, its use is common, and in nearly all hotels and restaurants coffee is flavored with it.
"The detection of the presence of chicory, caramel, and some sweet roots, as turnips, carrots, and parsnips, is quite easy. If a few grains of the suspected sample are placed on the surface of water in a glass vessel, beaker, or tumbler, each particle of chicory, etc., will become surrounded by a yellow-brown cloud which rapidly diffuses through the water until the whole becomes colored. Pure coffee under the same conditions gives no sensible color until after the lapse of about fifteen minutes. Caramel (burnt sugar) of course colors the water very deeply. Dandelion root gives a deeper color than coffee, but not as deep as chicory. The same is true of bread raspings. Beans and pease give much less color to the water than pure coffee. They can be readily detected by the microscope, as can roasted figs and dates or date-stones." (Mrs. Richards, in "Food Materials and Their Adulterations.")
Coffee is said to owe its refreshing properties to (a) caffeine, (b) a volatile oil developed by heat, not contained in the unroasted bean, and to (c) astringent acids.
Coffee diminishes the sensation of hunger, exhilarates and refreshes, and decreases the amount of wear and tear of the system.
Its composition, according to Payen, is as follows:
| Cellulose | 34.000 |
| Water | 12.000 |
| Fatty matter | 13.000 |
| Glucose, dextrine, and undetermined vegetable acids | 15.500 |
| Legumin, casein, etc. | 10.000 |
| Chlorogenate of potash and caffeine | 3 to 5.000 |
| Nitrogenized structure | 3.000 |
| Caffeine | .800 |
| Essential oil | .001 |
| Aromatic essence | .002 |
| Mineral substances | 6.970 |