1. The coffee tree is a native of eastern Africa, but it was in Arabia
that it first became known to the people of Europe, and until about the
year 1700 A. D. that country afforded the entire supply.
2. Then the coffee seeds found their way to Java, by means of some
traders, and one of the first plants grown on that island was sent as a
present to the governor of the Dutch East India Company, who lived in
Holland.
3. It was planted in the Botanical Gardens at Amsterdam, and in a few
years seeds taken from it were sent to South America, where the
cultivation of coffee has steadily increased, extending to the West
Indies, until now the offspring of this one plant produce more coffee than
is obtained from all the other plants in the world.
4. The plant is an evergreen, and is from six to twelve feet high, the
stem being from ten to fifteen inches in diameter. The lower branches bend
down when the tree begins to grow old, and extend themselves into a round
form somewhat like an umbrella; and the wood is so pliable that the ends
of the largest branches may be bent down to within two or three feet of
the earth.
5. The bark is whitish and somewhat rough. A tree is never without leaves,
which are at small distances from one another, and on almost opposite
sides of a bough. Blossoms and green and ripe fruit may be seen on the
same tree at the same time. When the blossom falls off, there grows in its
place a small green fruit, which becomes dark red as it ripens.
6. This fruit is not unlike a cherry, and is very good to eat. Under the
pulp of this cherry is found the bean or berry we call coffee, wrapped in
a fine, thin skin. The berry is at first very soft, and has a bad taste;
but as the cherry ripens the berry grows harder, and the dried-up fruit
becomes a shell or pod of a deep brown color.
7. The berry is now solid, and its color is a translucent green. Each
shell contains two seeds, rounded on one side and flat on the other. The
seeds lie with the flat sides together, and, in one highly prized variety,
the two seeds grow together, forming one: this is known as the pea berry.
When the fruit is so ripe that it can be shaken from the tree, the husks
are separated from the berries, and are used, in Arabia, by the natives,
while the berries are sold.
8. The young plants are inserted in holes from twelve to eighteen inches
deep, and six or eight feet apart. If left to themselves, they would grow
to the height of eighteen or twenty feet; but they are usually dwarfed by
pruning, so that the fruit may be easily got at by the gatherer.
9. Thus dwarfed, they extend their branches until they cover the whole
space about them. They begin to yield fruit the third year. By the sixth
or seventh year they are at full bearing, and continue to bear for twenty
years or more.
l0. Before the berry can be used, it undergoes a process of roasting. The
amount of aromatic oil brought out in roasting has much to do with the
market value of coffee, and it has been found that the longer the raw
coffee is kept, the richer it becomes in this peculiar oil, and so the
more valuable. But after the coffee is roasted, and especially after it is
ground, it loses its aroma rapidly.
11. Arabia produces the celebrated Mocha, or "Mokha," coffee, which is the
finest in the world; but little or none of the best product is ever taken
out of that country. The Java coffee from the East Indies is next prized,
but the best quality of this kind is also quite difficult to obtain, and
many, therefore, prefer the finest grades of Rio coffee from South America
to such Mocha and Java as can be had in our country.
DEFINITIONS.--l. Af-ford'ed, yielded, produced. 3. Off'spring,
descendants, however remote, from, the stock. 4. Pli'a-ble, easily bent.
7. Trans-lu'cent, permitting the passage of light. 8. Prun'-ing, trimming.
10. Ar-o-mat'ic, containing aroma, fragrant.
EXERCISES.--What country first supplied coffee? How did the plant come to
be grown in other countries? Describe the plant. What is said of the
fruit? How are the plants cultivated? What is said about the roasting of
coffee? What are the three principal kinds of coffee used, and how are
they valued?