and to rise (which it will do, because the coffee floats on its surface,) the vessel is for a moment removed from the flame, and the liquid stirred with a small tea-spoon: when it has subsided, it is again placed over the lamp, and this is three times repeated. The coffee, then, being penetrated by the water, becomes heavier, and sinks to the bottom. The phial is filled up with boiling water, slightly covered with the glass stopper, and removed from the lamp, or placed again over it, but at a greater distance from the flame, so as not to boil, but only to remain hot. The coffee clears in a few minutes, to accelerate which, a little. isinglass may be added, and then the beverage is ready for use. It is not poured out into another vessel, but merely decanted directly into the cups. The advantages of this new appara tus are: 1. Every one may make his own coffee on the table, without being incommoded in any manner. 2. You can see the coffee boiling in the glass vessel, and afterwards observe when it has completely subsided. 3. The apparatus being of glass, can easily be kept clean, and the coffee has a much superior flavor to that prepared in vessels of metal or earth en-ware. Though I myself, always travelling, have not had an opportunity of trying this apparatus, I do not hesitate to recommend it, as the form is precisely such as is requisite for obtaining good coffee, and besides the mode of making it is very pretty and amusing. It might appear strange, however, to many, who have never seen chemical experiments performed, to boil coffee in glass immediately over the flame of a lamp. For the information therefore of such persons it should be mentioned, that in a well-tempered thin glass, which is made every where of equal thickness, and has no vesicles and nodes, one may, without the least danger of breaking the glass, pour in boiling water, and place it over the flame of a lamp, taking only the precaution, of pouring in at first a little of the hot water, and shaking it for a moment, then the rest may be safely added. The apparatus described can easily be made large enough to serve two or three persons, if they confine themselves to one or two cups of good coffee. I wish, on this occasion, to add a few general remarks on the making of this beverage. It must be surprising to every one, coming from the continent, as it is to me, that we very seldom, if ever, get a cup of good coffee, at least, such as we are accustomed to drink abroad, though the mode of making it is as simple as any thing can be. I well know, that a variety of contrivances for preparing it have been proposed in this country, some of which are complicated enough; but I declare, that the coffee from all of them is inferior to that, made in a simple Buntzlau earthenware coffee - pot. As these are very generally used on the continent, I send you also a rough sketch of one of them, by which it will be seen, that they are narrower at the top and wider below. The coffee is made in the simple manner above described; that is, boiling water is poured over the ground coffee first introduced, the pot is placed by the side of a coal fire, and after the fluid has three times risen and subsided by removing it from the fire, and stirring it, the pot is covered, and black as it is on one side, from the soot or smoke of the fire, brought on the table, where it must rest a few minutes, in order that the fluid may clear, and then it may be used. Simple as this utensil and method are, the coffee is far superior to that prepared by the most complicated filtering machines and other contrivances. Having seen in different publications various advices for obtaining good coffee, which deviate from the simple method just de described, and thus mislead the public. I will briefly state here, what, in my opinion, is to be observed, in order to obtain this beverage of a good quality. 1. The coffee berries must not be roasted on an open pan, nor even in a closed flat vessel, as I understand is the usual practice in this country, but in a cylindrical vessel, which revolves round its axis, and thereby continually agitates the berries. On the continent every house has such a roaster: it is made of sheet iron, its axis rests horizontally on two supporters over the fire, and is by a handle constantly made to revolve; it has on one side a sliding valve, which is occasionally opened by the person who turns it, in order to see whether or not the berries are sufficiently roasted, which he distinguishes by the colour they assume; some persons like them more, some less done. I send you a slight sketch of this instrument also, in the situation in which it is used. See fig. 3. The berries should be allowed to cool in this closed vessel, in order that the empyreomatic oil, which otherwise would fly off, may be condensed on their surface, or even imbibed again by the berries during the proCess of cooling. On this oil the flavor of the beverage, subsequently made from it, entirely, or at least chiedy, depends; and one easily may conceive, that in roasting the berries on an open pan, almost the whole of it is driven off. But when the operation is performed in a. closed vessel, the berries are constantly kept in the vapours of this oil, and afterwards, when it is condensed on their surface during the cooling, it is even driven back into their substance by the elasticity of the atmosphere, and occupies the empty spaces produced in the substance of the berries by the application of heat. Besides, in roasting the berries on a flat pan, whether open or covered, it is almost impossible to get them all roasted to an Fb. 1915. equal degree, or on all sides alike; some will be, at least on one side, burnt entirely to charcoal, and the whole oil in them destroyed, while others are scarcely beginning to assume a brownish colour; for it is very difficult, if not impossible, to stir them equally; and consequently those berries, or sides of them, which remain for some time in immediate contact with the pan, will be burnt; whereas, in a cylindrical vessel, which quickly revolves round its axis, they all change their situation every moment, and every berry is equally roasted on all sides, and consequently of a similar colour. 2. The roasted berries must be kept in bottles well corked, or what is still better, and very generally used on the continent, in a cylindrical box of white tin with a tight cover; and having, besides, another inner cover consisting merely of a circular dish likewise of tin, which always rests immediately on the berries, even when they diminish in quantity, and leaves very little atmospheric air in contact with them. 3. All the roasted coffee must not be ground at once, but only so much of it as is necessary at one time for making the beverage. It should be ground in a coffee-mill, (not pounded in a mortar,) and must be used directly. The rest is to be kept entire, as stated in 2; because coffee being preserved in a pulverized state, becomes heated, and acquires a very unpleasant flavor, which is more observable in the beverage afterwards obtained from it. 4. As to the point, whether the beverage of coffee is to be made by decoction, or merely by an infusion in hot water, I am of decided opinion, that no good coffee can be obtained by mere infusion, at least not such coffee as we have on the continent. There may certainly be persons who prefer an infusion; but I, for my part, should not like it, and de gatibus vil dis al disputandum. Iobject to all the contrivances, by which a mere infusion is obtained. There is one, where the coffee is put into a linen or muslin bag, included in a metal pot, and boiling water poured upon it. This gives not only a very weak infusion of coffee, but one likewise of the linen or cotton; at least a fine palate may ways discover the taste of the bag, which it is scarcely possible to keep clean, so as to give no particular flavor to the coffee; and, after all, the reason for using this disagreeable machine, is merely to have the fluid free from the powder of the berry, which by resting for a few minutes, or still sooner, by adding a little isinglass, may be separated in a more agrecable manner. 5. Whoever wishes to indulge his palate with a cup of good coffee, must give up pleasing his eyes with a splendid siiver pot, or nicely-shaped urn of black Wedgwood ware; because the form of the vessel, in which the coffee is to be prepared, is of consequence, and the liquid should never be poured out into another vessel for the sake of show, but brought to the table in the very pot in which it had been boiled. Now the shape which a coffee pot should have, and on the continent actually has, is narrow at the top and wider below; in order that as small a surface as possible may be presented to the air, and consequently as few as possible of the volatile parts (on which the flavor of the beverage chiefly depends) escape. In some parts, coffee pots are made of white tin, in the shape of a truncated cone. They are good, as long as they are new; but when, after using them for some time, the tin comes off on the inside, the iron communicates to the coffee, a very unpleasant, styptic taste; and therefore well-glazed earthenware pots are generally preferred.The best are inade at Buntzlau, in Germany, and are well known every where. Their substance is very hard, and covered with a brown glazing; their shape will be seen in figure 2. It would be desirable, that the Staffordshire potters, might introduce, in this country, coffee-pots of a similar shape, but I doubt whether it will be done, as the form is so simple, and not shewy enough. Many object to the Buntzlau coffee pots, that they are so frequently broken; but this arises, I think, chiefly from the circumstance, that they are generally put with one side only to the fire, and by that means a very unequal expansion is caused in their substance, in consequence of which, little cracks are produced; these become more and more visible, and then separate, when the pot is broken. If the fire was applied to the bottom, they would perhaps break less frequently. There are persons in Germany, who mend such broken coffee pots very skilfully, by knitting a net of brass wire round them, when they will again serve for a long time. It is easy to conceive, that the black soot from the fire must adhere to this uneven surface, much more than to a smooth one; but notwithstanding this, you will see such a coffee pot brought before a company, and that not only in the lowest classes of society. This certainly would not do in Britain, and therefore I recommend the above new-in vented glass apparatus, as the making of coffee in it, is a pretty, clean, and very scientific-looking operation, and moreover, all the rules mentioned are observed in it. I should remark here, that, as the pot in making coffee must always be full, they have on the continent, generally in every family, a number of such pots differing in size, and use that which contains the number of cups wanted. 6. One of the chief secrets to make a good beverage from coffee is, to put in more of the ground berries than is usually done in this country. I should be much better satisfied with half a cup of strong coffee, as it is made on the the continent, than with 4 or 5 cups of the sickly infusion, usually made in this country. The custom of drinking many cups of tea may have occasioned the same to be done with coffee, and that may have caused its being made generally so weak. I have been sometimes not a little surprised, to hear the lady of the house at breakfast, after every one had had perhaps three cups of coffee, calling to the servants to bring in more (as if there was in the kitchen a bucket 'standing full of this fluid, from which it was to be poured into the shewy vessel on the table.) On the continent, if, for any reason, more of this beverage should be wanted than was originally made, you may hear the mistress say, 66 Go and make more coffee;" because it must be used immediately, and out of the very pot in which it was made; for this reason they have them, as I have observed, of all sizes. It cannot well be determined, in general, how much of the ground berry should be used; as one likes his coffee very strong, the other less so; but every one will easily find out, by way of experiment, the proper proportion himself. It should be mentioned here, that it is a very common practice on the continent, to add to the coffee a small quantity of the root of Succory (Cichorium intybus,) which is cut into small pieces, dried, and afterwards roasted, and ground along with the berries of coffee. Of all the substitutes, which on the continent have been proposed to be introduced instead of coffee, during the war with this country, none comes so near to it in taste and flavor as this root, and, by way of economy, it has been used entire by many of the poorer people. But one sixth, or even one fourth part of Succory, mixed with the coffee, gives a very pleasant beverage for any one. The Succory adds a peculiar aroma to it, and gives it a more saturated colour. It is the esual practice with us, to drink but one large, or perhaps two small cups of coffee; indeed it is quite impossible to drink much more of strong continental coffee, as palpitation of the heart, anxiety, and an involuntary trembling of the limbs, would be the immediate consequences. 7. Another essential thing for a cup of good coffee is thick cream. If you can have cream so thick, that a tea-spoon will stand in it upright, then your coffee will be excellent; at least, the better your cream, the better will be the coffee: but where there is no good cream (or even no cream at all, but milk) to be had, better make no coffee, but satisfy yourself with tea. The cream must be heated to the point of boiling, and used hot. Cream, besides giving a pleasant relish to the beverage, is even necessary, as it in a great degree counteracts the above-mentioned injurious effec:s of strong coffee. It should be mentioned here, that immediately after dinner, a cup of coffee, without any cream, produces a very different effect from what it would do in the morning for breakfast. 1 I have been more diffuse in these observations than I originally intended, but I think the subject merits it. A native of this country, who has never been on the continent, can hardly judge what a difference in comfort we foreigners experience when here, from not being able to indulge in the luxurious beverage, (as the above-quoted inquirer very justly calls it) to which we are so much accustomed and which is so beneficial in its effects. Having had a cup of good coffee for breakfast, one goes about business with hilarity and delight. If you want to write a letter well, or become a poet pro tempore, take a cup of such coffee, and your ideas will flow so as to surprise yourself. If you want to sit up a whole night for study, or other business, take, at the time when you generally retire, a cup of such coffee, and your mind will be full of energy Report respecting the Lunatic Asylum of EDINBURGH, for 1814: till late in the morning. I am, SIR, Your most obedient Servant, Presented by the Managers to the General Meeting of Contributors, held on the last Monday of January, in terms of the Royal Charter. Monday, 30th January 1815. Sir WILLIAM FETTES, Bart. in the Chair. THE managers of the Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum feel much satisfaction in being able to state to the contributors, that the experience of another year has afforded the strongest evidence of the great advantage which the public is likely to derive from this institution. Although during the last year no additional accommodation for patients has been procured, yet the managers have been enabled to receive into the Asylum, since the last annual report, fourteen patients, five of whom have left the asylum recovered, and three greatly relieved. Six of these still remain in the asylum, with four others who were admitted in the course of the year 1813. The demand for admission last year having much exceeded the accommodation, the managers were induced to proceed with fitting up ten additional apartments, in parts of the building adjoining to the two wings. Although these parts of the building were not originally intended for the reception of patients, yet it was found more economical to fit up apartments there, than to proceed with any part of the central building. Accordingly, these additional apartments have been completed, and are now nearly ready for the reception of patients. The managers, considering that one of the most important points to be attended to at the asylum, was the proper inclosing of the airing grounds, and the prevention of all chance of the patients escaping the vigilance of the keepers, have raised very considerably the height of the former walls, |
