The tree which produces coffee contains ten species, chiefly natives of
the East Indies, South America, and the Polynesian isles. The only
species, however, that we have to notice in the present work is the
coffee Arabica, of which there are two varieties, though both are sold
in our shops as Turkey coffee, and possess similar qualities.
The tree seldom rises more than 16 or 18 feet high, with an erect main
stem, covered with a lightish brown bark: the leaves are oblong-ovate,
and pointed; the flowers are set in clusters; they are of a pure white,
and possess a very pleasant odour, but their duration is very transient.
The fruit resembles a cherry, and grows in clusters, ranged along the
branches under the axillæ of the leaves, which are of a laurel hue, but
rather longer than a laurel leaf. It is an ever-green, and makes a
beautiful appearance at every season in the year, but particularly when
it is in flower.
The coffee tree has of late years been much cultivated in America, but
the coffee which has been thence brought to Europe has been very little
esteemed. This great difference in the goodness many have attributed to
the soil in which it grows, and therefore have supposed it impossible
for the inhabitants of the British islands ever to cultivate this
commodity to any real advantage; but this is certainly a mistake, as is
affirmed by several persons of credit, who have resided abroad, who say,
that the berries which they have gathered from the trees and roasted
themselves, were as well flavoured as any of the coffee brought from
Mocha; so that the fault is in the drying, and bringing over; for if in
the drying of the berries they be laid in rooms near the sugar-works, or
near the house where rum is distilled, the berries soon imbibe the
surrounding effluvia, which will greatly alter their flavour. In like
manner the coffee brought in the same ships with rum and sugar, were the
coffee ever so good, would hereby be entirely altered.
Raw coffee materially becomes ameliorated by age. It should be kept in
bags, or vessels permeable to air, and in a dry, or rather warm place.