Both tea and coffee are more and more used in proportion to the intellectual development of modern times. But coffee does not excite the nervous system as greatly as tea and there is less reaction after it. Coffee Better than Alcohol. Coffee tends to lessen the desire for alcoholic drinks, and possesses some of their properties without their bad effects. Alcohol is a false and dangerous friend. Its free use enfeebles the vital organs, reduces the power of resistance, degrades the mind and body and leads on to poverty, disease, and death. Coffee produces the beneficial effects of moderate doses of alcohol, without its injurious effects. It does not, like alcohol, destroy the nerves, or invite immoderation, and even when used to excess is incapable of doing serious injury. The most temperate countries are those which consume most coffee, and in the light of all these facts it would appear that efforts to extend and increase the use of coffee tend to check or diminish alcoholism. Coffee Growth and Production. Coffee plants are raised from the seed, are set out in 12 months, 450 plants to the acre, begin to bear in 4 years, mature in 7 years, and continue for 40 years. The flowers are white and fragrant; the fruit, which grows in clusters, resembles a red cherry and contains two seeds, which are the coffee of commerce. The world’s total annual production of coffee is about 666,000 tons, of which Brazil furnishes 360,000 tons. The entire population of the United States averages to consume, per capita 7-42/100 lbs. of coffee yearly, more than three-quarters of which comes from Brazil. RAW COFFEE, unlike tea, improves in quality with age, while it shrinks in weight, and inferior coffees may in time equal the choicest varieties. The aroma is in the direct ratio of its drying by keeping. Inferior coffees are uneven, often unclean. The large, uniform, dense, heavy grains are preferred, as showing complete maturity and careful selection. The color varies from all shades of yellow to tints of brown, green, and bluish green. There are large establishments in one or more eastern cities, which assort, color, and polish raw coffees. Much Brazilian coffee is assorted and sold for Mocha, Java, etc. Real Mocha is small, round, and dark yellow; Java and East Indian is larger and of a paler yellow. Ceylon, Brazilian and West Indian have naturally a bluish green or greenish grey tint.