y since so much
attention has been given to mechanical contrivances for roasting and
grinding the berry and preparing the beverage.

1802. Of the various kinds of coffee the Arabian is considered the best.
It is grown chiefly in the districts of Aden and Mocha; whence the name
of our Mocha coffee. Mocha coffee has a smaller and rounder bean than
any other, and likewise a more agreeable smell and taste. The next in
reputation and quality is the Java and Ceylon coffee, and then the
coffees of Bourbon and Martinique, and that of Berbice, a district of
the colony of British Guiana. The Jamaica and St. Domingo coffees are
less esteemed.

1803. A considerable change takes place in the arrangement of the
constituents of coffee by the application of heat in roasting it.
Independently of one of the objects of roasting, namely, that of
destroying its toughness and rendering it easily ground, its tannin and
other principles are rendered partly soluble in water; and it is to the
tannin that the brown colour of the decoction of coffee is owing. An
aromatic flavour is likewise developed during torrefaction, which is not
perceived in the raw berry, and which is not produced in the greatest
perfection until the heat has arrived at a certain degree of
temperature; but, if the heat be increased beyond this, the flavour is
again dissipated, and little remains but a bitter and astringent matter
with carbon.

1804. The roasting of coffee in the best manner requires great nicety,
and much of the qualities of the beverage depends upon the operation.
The roasting of coffee for the dealers in London and Paris has now
become a separate branch of business, and some of the roasters perform
the operation on a great scale, with considerable skill. Roasted coffee
loses from 20 to 30 per cent, by sufficient roasting, and the powder
suffers much by exposure to the air; but, while raw, it not only does
not lose its flavour for a year or two, but improves by keeping. If a
cup of the best coffee be placed upon a table boiling hot, it will fill
the room with its fragrance; but the coffee, when warmed again after
being cold, will be found to have lost most of its flavour.

1805. To have coffee in perfection, it should be roasted and ground just
before it is used, and more should not be ground at a time than is
wanted for immediate use, or, if it be necessary to grind more, it
should be kept closed from the air. Coffee readily imbibes exhalations
from o