ve cream
either whipped or plain, with rock candy crystals instead of sugar.

Coffee to be absolutely perfect should never get cold betwixt the
beginning of roasting and the end of drinking. Since that is out of the
question save to Grand Turks and faddists, mere mortals must make shift
with coffee freshly ground, put in a very clean pot, with the least
suspicion of salt--about six fine grains to the cupful, fresh cold
water, in the proportion of three cupfuls to two heaping spoonfuls of
ground coffee, then the pot set where it will take twenty minutes to
boil, and so carefully watched it can not possibly boil over. Boiling
over ruins it--makes it flat, bitter, aroma-less. So does long
boiling--one minute, no more, is the longest boiling time. Quick boiling
is as bad--the water has not time to extract the real goodness of the
coffee. Let stand five minutes to clear, keeping hot. Those who drink
coffee half milk may like it stronger--a cupful of water to the heaping
spoonful of coffee. I do not thus abuse one of the crowning mercies, so
make my coffee the strength I like to drink it. Reducing with boiling
water spoils the taste for me. So does pouring into another pot--my
silver pot is used only upon occasions when ceremony must outweigh
hospitality. In very cold weather hot water may well warm cups both for
tea and coffee. Standing on the grounds does not spoil the flavor of
coffee as it does tea.

Coffee from the original pot is quite another affair from the same thing
shifted. I am firmly of opinion that many a patent coffee-maker has gone
on to success through the fact that cups were filled directly from the
urn. I always feel that I taste my coffee mostly with my nose--nothing
refreshes me like the clean, keen fragrance of it--especially after
broken rest. It is idle to talk as so many authorities do, of using
"Java and Mocha blended." All the real Java and Mocha in the world is
snapped up, long before it filters down to the average level. Back in
the Dark Ages of my childhood, I knew experimentally real Java--we got
it by the sack-full straight from New Orleans--and called the Rio coffee
used by many of our neighbors "Seed tick coffee," imagining its flavor
was like the smell of those pests. Nowadays, Rio coffee has pretty well
the whole world for its parish. Wherefore the best one can do, is to get
it sound, well roasted, and as fresh as may be. Much as I love and
practice home preparation, I am willing to let th