Great attention is paid to the culture of coffee in Arabia. The trees are
raised from seed sown in nurseries, and afterwards planted out, in moist
and shady situations, on sloping grounds, or at the foot of mountains. Care
is taken to conduct little rills of water to the roots of the trees, which
at certain seasons require to be constantly surrounded with moisture. As
soon as the fruit is nearly ripe, the water is turned off, lest the fruit
should be rendered too succulent. In places much exposed to the south, the
trees are planted in rows, and are shaded from the otherwise too intense
heat of the sun, by a branching kind of poplar tree. When the fruit has
attained its maturity, cloths are placed under the trees, and, upon these,
the labourers shake it down. They afterwards spread the berries on mats,
and expose them to the sun to dry. The husk is then broken off by large and
heavy rollers of wood or iron. When the coffee has been thus cleared of its
husk, it is again dried in the sun, and lastly winnowed with a large fan,
for the purpose of clearing it from the pieces of husks with which it is
intermingled. A pound of coffee is generally more than the produce of one
tree; but a tree in great vigour will produce three or four pounds.
The best coffee is imported from Mocha, a town on the eastern bank of the
Red Sea. This, which in Europe is called _Mocha_ and _Turkey coffee_, bears
a higher price than any which our colonists are able to raise; owing, as it
is supposed, to the difference of climate and soil in which it is grown. It
is packed in large bales, each containing a number of smaller bales; and,
when good, it appears fresh, and of a greenish olive colour. The coffee
next in esteem to this is grown in Java and the East Indies, and that of
lowest price in the West Indies. When stowed in ships with rum, pepper, or
other articles, it is said that coffee contracts a rank and unpleasant
flavour, and this has been assigned as a reason of the inferiority of such
as is imported from our own plantations.
The quantity of coffee annually supplied by Arabia is supposed to be
upwards of fourteen millions of pounds. Before the commencement of the
French Revolution the island of St. Domingo alone exported more than
seventy millions of pounds per annum.
Almost all the Mahometans drink coffee at least twice a day, very hot, and
without sugar. The excellence of coffee depends, in a great measure, on the
skill and attention that are exercised in the roasting of it. If it be too
little roasted, it is devoid of flavour; and if too much, it becomes acrid,
and has a disagreeable burnt taste. In England the operation of roasting is
usually performed in a cylindrical tin box, perforated with numerous holes,
and fixed upon a spit which runs lengthwise through the centre, and is
turned by a jack.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account