The employment of C. as a beverage was introduced from Arabia, in the 16th c., into Egypt and Constantinople. Leonhard Ranwolf, a German physician, was probably the first to make C. known in by the account of his travels printed in 1573. Soon after tire first introduction of C., arose almost everywhere. The first in Europe was established in Constantinople in 1551. In London, the first coffee house was opened in Newman's court, Cornhill, in 1652, by a Greek named Pasquet. This Greek was the servant of an English merchant named Edwards, who brought some C. with him from Smyrna, and whose house, when the fact became known, was so thronged with friends and visitors to taste the new beverage, that to relieve himself from annoyance, Edwards established his servant in a coffee-house. The first coffee-house in France was opened at Marseilles in 1671, and in 1672 there was one opened in Paris, which soon had several competitors.
In Arabia and the east, C. is not usually prepared as a beverage in the same way as in Europe, except by Europeans. A decoction of the unroasted seeds is there generally drunk; and for the "sultan's coffee," the pericarp with the dried pulp roasted, is employed.
The great demand for C. has led to the employment of a number of cheaper substi tutes, of which chicory (q.v.) root is the best known in this country. Of others, dande lion root, carrot, and the seeds of the common yellow iris may be mentioned. They are prepared by roasting like coffee. The seed of astragalus bceticus, already mentioned in the article ASTRAGALUS, are known on the continent of Europe as Swedish C., and are said to be the best substitute for C. yet discovered. But all these substitutes want the most important constituent of true C., caffeine, and are therefore very different from it in their qualities. C. is subject to great adulteration, most of the articles specified as substitutes being employed for this purpose. The chief substance of mixture, however, is chicory, the use of which for this purpose was legalized by a treasury minute in 1840. This adulteration was prohibited by a treasury minute of 1852; but it being found impossible to make the prohibition effectual, a minute was passed in the succeeding year, permitting the mixture and sale of C. and chicory, on condition that the parcels containing it were labeled in conspicuous letters, mixture of cope and chicory.
The leaves of the C. tree are used in the western part of Sumatra instead of the seeds. They are prepared by quick drying in a manner similar to that in which tea-leaves are prepared; and in this state contain even a larger proportion of caffeine than the C. beans of our shops. It seems not improbable that the use of the C. leaf may yet extend very much.
C. owes its exhilarating and refreshing properties to the presence of three substances: 1. Caff6ine (q.v.), which occurs in the roasted bean to the extent of* to 1 per cent; 2. A
volatile oil, which is not present in the raw bean, but is di,veloped during the process of roasting to the extent of only one part in about 50,000 of the roasted C.; and 3. Astrin gent acids, resembling tannic acid, but called caffeo-tannic and caffeic acids. The aver age composition of unroasted C. is as follows: When the beans are roasted till they assume a reddish-brown color, they lose 15 per cent by weight, and gain 30 per cent in bulk; when further roasted till they become chestnut-brown, they have lost 20 per cent by weight, and increased 50 per cent in bulk; whilst if the roasting is continued till the beaus become dark-brown, they lose 25 per cent in weight, and acquire 50 per cent in bulk. The beans should never be darker than a light-brown color, which is quite sufficient to bring out the excellent aroma and other qualities of the C.; and when the roasting is carried further, more or less charring is the result, and a disagreeable burned smell is produced, which tends to overcome the natural pleasant aroma.
C. does not retard the action of the bowels, as strong infusions of tea tend to do, partly because there is less of the astringent principle, and also owing to the presence of the aromatic oil which tends to ,dove the bowels. The important offices which C. fulfills are, to allay the sensation of hunger; to produce an exhilarating and refreshing effect; and, most important of all, to diminish the amount of wear and tear, or waste of the animal frame, which proceeds more or less at every moment. See NUTRITION. The grounds of C. are very nutritious, from containing so much legumin; and some of the eastern nations take advantage of this, and use the grounds as well as the infusion. In other respects, C. possesses similar properties to tea (q.v.).
An endless variety of apparatus have been contrived—some of them of great com plexity—for preparing C. for the table. The chief object aimed at is, to obtain the liquor free from all sediment. One of the simplest and cheapest of these contrivances is the percolating coffee-pot. The easiest way of making C.—requiring no special apparatus, and as satisfactory in the result perhaps as any—is to put two ounces of (fresh-roasted and fresh-ground) C. into a small saucepan or common coffee-pot; pour over it a pint of boiling water, and allow it to stand, closely covered up, by the side of the fire (but not to boil) for five minutes. The liquor may then be simply poured off the grounds, or it may be strained through a cloth, and then returned to the saucepan or coffee-pot (previously rinsed out), and warmed again. Suer recom mends, that before the boiling water is poured in, the saucepan should be set dry on the fire, and the powder stirred till it is quite hot, but not in the least burned. In Prance, a pint of boiling milk is added to a pint of coffee. The chief effect of adding chicory to C. is to deepen the color.