Persons w’ho drink coffee habitually, and who are very particular
about its flavour and quality, should purchase the best kind in a raw
state, keep it for two or three years if they are not certain that it has
been so long harvested — as when new it is greatly inferior to that
which has been kept — and have it roasted at home.
This can be cheaply done in small quantities by means of the
inexpensive apparatus shown above ; the cost of it not exceeding
seven or eight shillings, and the supply of charcoal needed for it
being very trifling indeed ; or, with that inserted below, which is
larger and about double the price. The cylinder which contains the
coffee should be only half filled, and it should be turned rather
slowly over the fire, which should never be fierce, until a strong
aromatic smell is emitted ; the movement should then be quickened,
as the grain is in that case quite heated, and it will become too
highly coloured before it is roasted through, if slowly finished.
When it is of a fine, light , equal brown, which must be ascertained,
until some little experience has been acquired, by sliding back the
Chap, xxx.]
COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, EtC,
m
door of the cylinder, and looking at it occasionally towards the end
of. the process, spread it quickly upon a large dish✪ To Roast Coffee, and throw a
thickly folded cloth over it. Let it remain thus until it is quite
cold; then put it immediately into canisters or bottles, and exclude
the air carefully from it.
A FEW GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING COFFEE.
When good coffee is desired, let it be procured if possible of a first-
rate London house* which can be depended on; and we would re-
commend that it should be of the finest quality that can be obtained ;
for there is no real economy in using that which is nominally cheaper,
as a larger quantity will be required to give the same amount of
strength, and the flavour will be very inferior. It should always be
freshly roasted ; but when a constant and large demand for it exists,
* We could indicate several houses where unadalterated coffee maybe procured,
but it is not always to be had from them so choice in quality as it might be ; and
it is in general too highly roasted. By far the finest we have ever tasted we had
on two occasions, some years since, from Mr. Cobbett, of Pall Mall. The fra-
grance of it was too remarkable to be easily forgotten, and the flavour was exqui-
site; but it was apparently an accidental sample which he had met with in the
market, for though very good, that with which we were supplied afterwards never
equalled it.
Messrs. Staniforth and Co., 138, Oxford-street, are deservedly noted for the
excellence of their coffee. It is always ground at the instant of serving it to a
customer; and they have the complaisance of roasting even so small a quantity
as two pounds, to suit the taste of the purchaser : it may therefore be procured
of them as pale-dried as it can be wished.
The house of Messrs. Decastro and Peach, next door to Hatchett’s Hotel,
Piccadilly, may likewise, we think, be quite depended on for supplying genuine
coffee to the nublic ; and they have an immense demand for it.
Patent Percolator, with Spirit Lamp.
590
MODERN COOKERY.
[chap. XXX.
Page 508 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Persons w’ho drink coffee habitually, and who are very particular about its flavour and quality, should purchase the best kind in a raw state, keep it for two or three years if they are not certain that it has been so long harvested — as when new it is greatly inferior to that which has been kept — and have it roasted at home.
This can be cheaply done in small quantities by means of the inexpensive apparatus shown above ; the cost of it not exceeding seven or eight shillings, and the supply of charcoal needed for it being very trifling indeed ; or, with that inserted below, which is larger and about double the price. The cylinder which contains the coffee should be only half filled, and it should be turned rather slowly over the fire, which should never be fierce, until a strong aromatic smell is emitted ; the movement should then be quickened, as the grain is in that case quite heated, and it will become too highly coloured before it is roasted through, if slowly finished. When it is of a fine, light , equal brown, which must be ascertained, until some little experience has been acquired, by sliding back the
[chap. xxx.]
m
door of the cylinder, and looking at it occasionally towards the end of. the process, spread it quickly upon a large dish, and throw a thickly folded cloth over it. Let it remain thus until it is quite cold; then put it immediately into canisters or bottles, and exclude the air carefully from it.
A FEW GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING COFFEE.
When good coffee is desired, let it be procured if possible of a firstrate London house* which can be depended on; and we would recommend that it should be of the finest quality that can be obtained ; for there is no real economy in using that which is nominally cheaper, as a larger quantity will be required to give the same amount of strength, and the flavour will be very inferior. It should always be freshly roasted ; but when a constant and large demand for it exists,
* We could indicate several houses where unadalterated coffee maybe procured, but it is not always to be had from them so choice in quality as it might be ; and it is in general too highly roasted. By far the finest we have ever tasted we had on two occasions, some years since, from Mr. Cobbett, of Pall Mall. The fragrance of it was too remarkable to be easily forgotten, and the flavour was exquisite; but it was apparently an accidental sample which he had met with in the market, for though very good, that with which we were supplied afterwards never equalled it.
Messrs. Staniforth and Co., 138, Oxford-street, are deservedly noted for the excellence of their coffee. It is always ground at the instant of serving it to a customer; and they have the complaisance of roasting even so small a quantity as two pounds, to suit the taste of the purchaser : it may therefore be procured of them as pale-dried as it can be wished.
The house of Messrs. Decastro and Peach, next door to Hatchett’s Hotel, Piccadilly, may likewise, we think, be quite depended on for supplying genuine coffee to the nublic ; and they have an immense demand for it.
Patent Percolator, with Spirit Lamp.
[chap. XXX.
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