Coffee and chicory : $b Their culture, chemical composition, preparation for market, and consumption, with simple tests for detecting adulteration, and practical hints for the producer and consumerSimmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)
Science
Coffee and chicory : $b Their culture, chemical composition, preparation for market, and consumption, with simple tests for detecting adulteration, and practical hints for the producer and consumer
Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)
Chicory; Coffee; Food adulteration and inspection
Attention was some time ago drawn to the subject of coffee-leaf tea,
which is used in Sumatra and other parts of the East, and a good deal of
discussion ensued upon the matter, after the leaves were shown for the
purpose at the International Exhibition of 1851. An infusion of roasted
coffee-leaves is pronounced by those who have had an opportunity of
tasting it, as superior to Bohea, and by some enthusiastic admirers is
said to rival the flavour of the most delicate Pekoe. That an infusion
of roasted coffee-leaves should imitate the flavour of tea is not to be
wondered at, as the leaves of both shrubs contain in the main the same
leading principles, more particularly theine or caffeine. There is no
doubt that coffee-leaf tea would command a sale in England, but the
question is how much could be collected to make it profitable, and it
involves the necessity of apparatus and skilled labour for parching the
leaves.
Coffee-leaves are not quite so thick as those of Vallambrosa, and a
Malabar coolie would not in one day collect enough to pay the expense of
picking, drying, packing, cartage, warehouse rent, freight, and other
charges.
Moreover, no planter of any experience would think of stripping his
trees of their breathing organs, and the quantity that might be
collected from the suckers and prunings, &c., would never give more than
a few bales, even on large plantations. Even were the fallen leaves
supposed to be available, their removal would be as detrimental as the
practice of raking away withered leaves in plantations, or the
application of the sugar-cane trash to the purposes of fuel.
The husks, pulp, and parchment in South America, the West Indies,
Ceylon, and the other Indian islands, are regarded as mere waste, and
thrown away. In Arabia and some parts of the East, however, this refuse
is utilised, as the “miserables,” or husks of the cocoa-seed (_Theobroma
cacao_), are in Ireland and the Continent. With it is prepared the
famous kisher, or “Café à la Sultane,” a light-coloured, bright
infusion, which has all the agreeable flavour of coffee, with little of
its strength and none of its bitterness; this is partaken of by the
humbler classes in incredible quantities.
When quite dry and ripe these husks are bruised, and roasted in an
earthen vessel over a charcoal fire, not as coffee usually is, but only
until it assumes a light-brown colour. While hot it is thrown into a pot
of boiling water, with a small proportion of the pellicle or parchment
skin; all is boiled together for a few minutes, and then served hot and
strong, but without sugar. Sometimes a drop of essence of amber is put
into each cup; or cloves, aniseed, or cardamoms are boiled with it.
In Brazil, from the sweet pulp which envelopes the berry an excellent
spirit has been made.
SECTION VII.
ADULTERANTS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Coffee and chicory : $b Their culture, chemical composition, preparation for market, and consumption, with simple tests for detecting adulteration, and practical hints for the producer and consumer — John Shaqi
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