wipin' of his eyes, says he, "yer coffee's mighty hot!"

One of the most delightful coffee poems in English is Francis Saltus'
(d. 1889) sonnet on "the voluptuous berry", as found in _Flasks and
Flagons_:

COFFEE

Voluptuous berry! Where may mortals find
Nectars divine that can with thee compare,
When, having dined, we sip thy essence rare,
And feel towards wit and repartee inclined?

Thou wert of sneering, cynical Voltaire,
The only friend; thy power urged Balzac's mind
To glorious effort; surely Heaven designed
Thy devotees superior joys to share.

Whene'er I breathe thy fumes, 'mid Summer stars,
The Orient's splendent pomps my vision greet.
Damascus, with its myriad minarets, gleams!
I see thee, smoking, in immense bazaars,
Or yet, in dim seraglios, at the feet
Of blond Sultanas, pale with amorous dreams!

Arthur Gray, in _Over the Black Coffee_ (1902) has made the following
contribution to the poetry of coffee, with an unfortunate reflection on
tea, which might well have been omitted:

COFFEE

O, boiling, bubbling, berry, bean!
Thou consort of the kitchen queen--
Browned and ground of every feature,
The only aromatic creature,
For which we long, for which we feel,
The breath of morn, the perfumed meal.

For what is tea? It can but mean,
Merely the mildest go-between.
Insipid sobriety of thought and mind
It "cuts no figure"--we can find--
Save peaceful essays, gentle walks,
Purring cats, old ladies' talks--

* * * * *

But coffee! can other tales unfold.
Its history's written round and bold--
Brave buccaneers upon the "Spanish Main",
The army's march across the lenght'ning plain,
The lone prospector wandering o'er the hill,
The hunter's camp, thy fragrance all distill.

So here's a health to coffee! Coffee hot!
A morning toast! Bring on another pot.

_The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal_ published in 1909 the following
excellent stanzas by William A. Price:

AN ODE TO COFFEE

Oh, thou most fragrant, aromatic joy, impugned, abused, and often stormed
against,
And yet containing all the blissfulness that in a tiny cup could be
condensed!
Give thy contemners calm, imperial scorn--
For thou wilt reign through ages yet unborn!

Some ancient Arab, so the legend tells, first found thee--may his memory be
blest!
The world-wide sign of brotherhood today, the binding tie between the East
and West!
Good coffee pleases in a Persian dell,
And Blackfeet Indians