COFFEE (Ger. Koffe, Koffebohnen; Du. Koffy, Koffiboonen; Da. Kaffe, Kaffebönner; Sw. Koffe; Fr. It. and Port. Caffé; Sp. Café; Rus. Kofé; Pol. Kawa; Lat. Coffea, Caffea; Arab. Bun; Malay, Kawa; Pers. Tochem, Kéwéh; Turk. Chaube), the berries of the coffee plant (Coffea Arabica Lin.). They are generally of an oval form, smaller than a horse-bean, and of a tough, close, and hard texture; they are prominent on the one side and flattened on the other, having a deeply marked furrow running lengthwise along the flattened side; they are moderately heavy, of a greenish colour, and a somewhat bitterish taste. Historical Notice of Coffee. The coffee plant is a native of that part of Arabia called Yemen - terris faba missa Sabais; but it is now very extensively cultivated in the southern extremity of India, in Java, the West Indies, Brazil, &c. We are ignorant of the precise period when it began to be roasted, and the decoction used as a drink, though the discovery is not supposed to date further back than the early part of the fifteenth century. No mention of it is made by any ancient writer; nor by any of the moderns previously to the sixteenth century. Leonhart Rauwolf, a German physician, is believed to be the first European who has taken any notice of coffee. His work was published in 1573, and his account is, in some respects, inaccurate. Coffee was, however, very accurately described by Prosper Albinus, who had been in Egypt as physician to the Venetian consul, in his works de Plantis Egypti, and de Medicina Egyptiorum, published in 1591 and 1592. A public coffee-house was opened for the first time, in London, in 1652. A Turkey merchant, of the name of Edwards, having brought along with him from the Levant some bags of coffee, and a Greek servant accustomed to make it, his house was thronged with visitors to see and taste this new sort of liquor; and, wishing to gratify his friends without putting himself to inconvenience, he allowed his servant to make and sell coffee publicly. In consequence of this permission, the latter opened a coffee-house in Newman's Court, Cornhill, on the spot where the Virginia Coffee-house now stands. Garraway's was the first coffee-house opened after the great fire in 1666. — (See the learned and elaborate treatise of Moseley on coffee, 5th ed. p. 15.)* M. de la Roque mentions that the use of coffee was introduced into France between 1640 and 1660; and he further states, that the first coffee-house for the sale of coffee in France was opened at Marseilles, in 1671.-(Voyage de la Syrie, tom. ii. pp. 310319.) It was hardly, however, known, except to a few travellers who had visited the East, till 1669, when it was introduced to the best society in Paris by Solyman Aga, ambassador from the Grand Seignior to Louis XIV. It immediately became fashionable; and the taste for it having been quickly diffused, a coffee house was opened for its sale in 1672, which, in no long time, had several competitors. (See the excellent work of Le Grand D'Aussy, Vie Privée des François, iii. 127. ed. 1815.) - Some time between 1680 and 1690, the Dutch planted coffee beans they had procured from Mocha, in the vicinity of Batavia. In 1690, they sent a plant to Europe; and it was from berries obtained from this plant that the first coffee plantations in the West Indies and Surinam were derived. In Progressive Consumption of Coffee in Great Britain. Influence of the Duties. — In 1660, a duty of 4d. a gallon was laid on all coffee made and sold. Previously to 1732, the duty on coffee amounted to 2s. a pound; but an act was then passed, in compliance with the solicitations of the West India planters, reducing the duty to 1s. 6d. a pound; at which it stood for many years, producing, at an average, about 10,000l. a year. consequence, however, of the prevalence of smuggling, caused by the too great magnitude of the duty, the revenue declined, in 1783, to 2,8694. 10s. 10d. And it having been found impossible otherwise to check the practice of clandestine importation, the duty was reduced, in 1784, to 6d. The consequences of this wise and salutary measure were most beneficial. Instead of being reduced, the revenue was immediately raised to near three times its previous amount, or to 7,200l. 158. 9d., showing that the consumption of legally imported coffee must have increased in about a ninefold proportion! -a striking and conclusive proof, as Mr. Bryan Edwards has observed, of the effect of heavy taxation in defeating its own object. — (Hist. of the West Indies, vol. ii. p. 340. Svo. ed.) The history of the coffee trade abounds with similar and even more striking examples of the superior productiveness of low duties. In 1807, the duty was 18. 8d. a pound; and the quantity entered for home consumption amounted to 1,170,164 lbs., yielding a revenue of 161,245. 11s. 4d. In 1808, the duty was reduced from 1s. 8d. to 7d.; Charles II. attempted, by a proclamation issued in 1675, to suppress coffee-houses, on the ground of their being resorted to by disaffected persons, who "devised and spread abroad divers false, malicious, and scandalous reports, to the defamation of his Majesty's government, and to the disturbance of the peace and quiet of the nation." The opinion of the Judges having been taken as to the legality of the proceeding, they resolved, "That retailing coffee might be an innocent trade; but as it was used to nourish sedition, spread lies, and scandalise great men, it might also be a common nuisance!" The and in 1809, no fewer than 9,251,847 lbs. were entered for home consumption, yielding, notwithstanding the reduction of duty, a revenue of 245,856l. 88. 4d. duty having been raised, in 1819, from 7d. to 1s. a pound, the quantity entered for home consumption, in 1824, was, 7,993,041 lbs., yielding a revenue of 407,5441. 4s. 3d. In 1824, however, the duty being again reduced from 1s. to 6d., the quantity entered for home consumption, in 1825, was 10,766,112 lbs., and in 1831 it had increased to 22,740,627 lbs., yielding a nett revenue of 583,7517. The rapid increase in the consumption from 1825 to 1832 must not, however, be wholly ascribed to the reduction of the duty. This, no doubt, had the greatest influence; but a good deal is also owing to the low price of coffee from 1824 to 1830; and also to the great reduction during the same period in the price of low brown sugar (fully 1d. per pound), a cheap and abundant supply of which is so indispensable to the extensive use of coffee. These statements, which are principally deduced from the accompanying account, No. I., refer to the consumption of Great Britain only; but the account No. II. includes the United Kingdom, and is brought down to 1850. The most remarkable features in this account are the reduction of the duty on coffee from the East Indies and Ceylon to the same level as that on coffee from the West Indies, and the farther reduction of the duty on coffee from British possessions in 1842 to 4 d. per lb. The equalisation of the duty on East and West India coffee had become indispensable after the rapid decline in the supplies from the West Indics consequent to the emancipation of the slaves; for, as foreign coffee was burdened with a high discriminating duty, the price of British coffee inust otherwise have risen to such a height as materially to interfere with the consumption. The latter, indeed, did not increase after 1837 in the ratio that might have been expected from the increasing population and wealth of the country, and since 1847 it has, in fact, sustained a very considerable diminution. The quantity of coffee retained for home consumption in the last-mentioned year was 37,441,373 lbs., whereas, in 1850, it was only 31,166,358 lbs., the revenue being, of course, diminished in the same proportion. (See annexed tables.) But notwithstanding this serious decline in the consumption of coffee properly so called, there is no reason to think that the consumption of the article sold under its name has in any degree fallen off. On the contrary, the fair presumption is that it has materially increased. We have already seen (art. CHICORY) the rapid increase in the culture of chicory, and the extent to which it is now produced in this country. Very little, however, if any, chicory is sold as such, it being all, or mostly all, used as a substitute for, or rather as a means of adulterating coffee. And, strange to say, this fraudulent practice has been legitimated by a Treasury Minute of the 4th of August, 1840, which has the following words, viz., —— "My Lords do not consider that any measures should be enforced, to prevent the sale of coffee mixed with chicory, and are of opinion that the prosecutions in question should be dropped. "My Lords do not consider such admixture will be a fraud upon the revenue so long as the chicory pays the proper duty; and as between the seller and the consumer, my Lords desire that government should interfere as little as possible." But, in point of fact, chicory pays no "proper duty," or indeed any duty at all. It is a home product free of duty, which is permitted to be substituted for, and sold under the name of a colonial and foreign product now charged with a duty of 3d, per lb., or 28s. per cwt. Here we have protection in its most offensive form, for it is allied with fraud and injustice. It would, we admit, be very difficult, or rather, perhaps, impracticable, to prevent, under any system, the adulteration of coffee with chicory and other matters. But is that any reason why such adulteration should be legalised? The effect of this licence is to tempt many tradesmen to sell coffee as genuine when it is alloyed with chicory, or chicory by itself as coffee, because such proceedings are legal, who would do nothing of the sort were they declared to be illegal. It is, in truth, giving the sanction of government to a fraudulent and dishonest practice; and is, therefore, not only in itself extremely objectionable, but it affords a precedent for, and a sort of justification of other practices of the same kind. We are clear, therefore, that the Minute in question should be cancelled, and that the parties who sell chicory for coffee, or who adulterate the latter with chicory or other materials, should be subjected, on detection, to suitable punishment; or if not, that chicory raised at home should be charged with the same duty that is laid on the coffee for which it is substituted. This, and nothing less than this, will satisfy the justice of the case. It is supposed that at present about 12,500 tons of chicory, exclusive of other matters mixed with it, are annually disposed of under the name of coffee. In the meantime the best that can be done by those who have the opportunity, and who wish to get the thing they order, is to buy coffee before it is ground; and as a mill for grinding may be bought for a small sum, and coffee is sold ready "roasted," there is, in this way, no great difficulty in obviating adulteration. Those who use ground coffee will also be pretty secure against fraud if they resort only to shops of the highest character. It is seen, from the accompanying tables, that the duty on foreign coffee was reduced in 1844 to 6d. per lb. And, following up the example set in the case of the sugar duties, it was farther reduced in the course of the present year (15th April, 1851) to 3d. per lb. that is, to the same rate of duty that was then laid on British colonial coffee. Hence, while we place our coonists on the same footing with the foreigner, we give the chicory growers a protection against them both of 3d. per lb. or 28s. a cwt. 1 I.--An Account of the Quantity of Coffee retained for Home Consumption in Great Britain, the Rates of Duty thereon, and the Produce of the Duties, in each Year from 1789 to 1832, both inclusive. II. An Account of the Quantity, in Pounds Weight, of Coffee imported into the United Kingdom, the Quantity retained for Consumption, the Produce of the Duties, and the Rates of Duty on the same, in each Year from 1820. Years. Quantities imported into the Quantities re United Kingdom. the U. Kingdom. tained for Home Amount of Duty Rates of Duty per Pound. III. An Account exhibiting the different Sources whence the Coffee imported into the United Kingdom in 1848, 1849, and 1850, was derived, with the Quantities imported from each, and the total Quantities retained for Home Consumption. 230 211,755 463.355 33.5 2,065,42 2.5 651,379 4,692,016 | 4, 49.038 102,396 370,405 21,082,943 57,053,450 40,339,245 22,976,542 63,315,787 36,814,036 13,989,116 50,-03, 38 Lbs. Lbs. consumption in the U. K. 30,123,035 Amount of duty received thereon Lhs 2,316,323 31,7 358 €1,217 The introduction of tea and coffee, it has been well remarked, "has led to a wonderful change in the diet of civilised nations, a change highly important both in a moral and physical point of view. These beverages have the admirable advantage of affording stimulus without producing intoxication, or any of its evil consequences. Lovers of tea |