Note 154 — Chapter XII

The art of making tea consists in pouring the water on and off immediately, so as to get the flavour. Coffee-making is a more intricate affair, and cannot be conveyed in a recipe. A docile spirit, that will dismiss every received idea, and not reason, may make something out of the hints I now submit. The fire must be very low, half embers (wood), half ashes; the cup of coffee small; and a small pot so as to make it cup by cup. The coffee must be slowly roasted, not burnt, and brought only to an umber brown; it must be roasted day by day. The flavour dissipates in a few hours; it must be reduced by pounding to an impalpable powder. These are the conditions under which coffee can be made. In making it, two opposite and apparently incompatible ends are to be secured,—strength and flavour; to obtain the first it must be boiled,—by boiling, the second is lost. The difficulty is surmounted by a double process; one thorough cooking, one slight one; by the first a strong infusion is obtained, by the second that infusion is flavoured. Thus, a large pot with coffee-lees stands simmering by the fire; this is the sherbet: when a cup is wanted, the pounded coffee is put in the little tin or copper pan and placed on the embers; it fumes for a moment; then the sherbet is poured on; in a few seconds the froth (caïmah) rises; presently an indication that it is about to boil is made manifest, when the coffee is instantly taken from the fire, and carried to the apartment, and turned into the cup and drunk.