Six Cups of Coffee

THAT "the easiest way is the best" is a proverb not always verified in the kitchen; but it certainly applies to the making of good coffee, if the ideal beverage is a clear, wine-brown, fragrant fluid of comforting quality. Testing many ways of preparing this almost indispensable accompaniment to a good breakfast has proven that the Turks and Arabians treat it most fairly; the reservation may be made that Americans generally prefer not to absorb the substance of the berry, even in the form of an almost impalpable powder, as do the followers of Mahomet. These comparatively temperate people attach its true value to coffee as a frequent beverage; its free use is unfavorable to indulgence in intoxicants of any character, and, properly prepared, it does not exercise any deleterious action upon the digestive organs under normal conditions. Some persons are unable to use it freely without more or less intestinal disturbance, just as others cannot digest eggs, fish, or milk; once convinced of its injurious effect, one would be as foolish to drink it as to persist in testing the relative hardness of one's head and a stone wall.

Much of the physical trouble arising from the drinking of coffee is to be attributed to the use of uncooked milk with boiled coffee. The actual boiling of coffee extracts its tannic acid, and this, combining with some of the component parts of milk, forms an indigestible substance that appears on the surface of the beverage in the form of a thin scum. When coffee disagrees with any one who likes it boiled, the trial is suggested of making it with boiled milk, as the French prepare café au lait; if the ill effect is still apparent, dispense with milk, using only sugar; or try condensed milk, in which the elements are somewhat changed chemically; if it still produces disturbance, be sensible; do not use it. Cocoa is a good breakfast drink.

Coffee is preferable to any kind of tea as a breakfast beverage, because, under right conditions, it does not, like tea, retard the digestion and assimilation of food; it is slightly stimulating and conducive to appetite, and is especially valuable when the bulk of the meal is made up of cold food, as it sometimes is in summer, and when it is hurriedly prepared. Several recipes are given for making coffee, with preference for the last, because it develops all the flavor and aroma of the berry, and secures its nutrient properties so far as they can be obtained by infusion.

A French Chef's Method

Of making breakfast coffee was to mix a cupful of the ground berry with one raw egg and its shell, and a quart of cold water; these ingredients were placed in the coffee-pot over the fire, occasionally stirred, and allowed to reach the boiling-point; the coffee-pot was then drawn to the side of the fire, where it could not boil, one-half cupful of cold water was poured into the spout and top of the pot, and the coffee was allowed to stand ten minutes before it was used. Boiled milk is the best for all kinds of coffee except café noir.

A favorite French mixture of coffees is one-third each of Java, Mocha, and Maracaibo, with at least an ounce of pure chicory to each pound of coffee. The addition of chicory to coffee gives it a rich color and pleasant flavor; it is best to make the mixture at home, buying the chicory from some reliable dealer.

Green coffee – that is, unroasted coffee in the bean – may be bought at any time when the market is favorable; it improves by being kept in a cool, dry place. Roast it in small quantities, and grind it just before using it; this is quite feasible, even if home facilities are limited. In some households there are small coffee-furnaces; or the beans can be browned in the oven by exercising due care. Add a very little good butter to the coffee, just enough to make it glossy, but not greasy; after it has been put into an iron pan, place it in the oven, and shake the pan often enough to make the beans brown evenly; do not burn the coffee. The same precautions must be taken in using the furnace or coffee-roaster. If coffee is bought roasted and unground, put into a frying-pan with enough butter to make it glossy, and shake the pan over a hot fire until the aroma of the coffee is perceptible; then grind it, and use it at once. Only enough for one meal should be heated at one time, the quantity depending upon the desired strength of the beverage; from one to two ounces of coffee to a quart of water is the usual allowance in families. When coffee is made in large quantities a pound is allowed for twenty-five persons.

Cafe au Lait

This favorite breakfast beverage of the French is made of café noir and boiling milk in equal quantities, poured together into a cup from two coffee-pots, and sweetened to taste.

Cafe Noir

This beverage, called after-dinner or black coffee, is made clear and strong, being allowed to reach the boiling-point, but not to boil. The usual proportions are one cupful (or four ounces) of coffee to a quart of water. If made in a percolator, a half additional of this quantity of coffee should be allowed; that is, six ounces to a quart.

Filtered Coffee

When coffee is made in a percolator, or a coffee-pot with a strainer at the top, one-third at least should be added to the usual proportion of coffee; three ounces to a quart makes a good coffee by this method. The coffee is placed in the strainer, and actually boiling water is poured through it; the coffee-pot is placed where the coffee will keep hot without boiling for about ten minutes, and then used.

Breakfast Coffee

The best and most economical coffee is made as follows: A small bag of unbleached cloth is so arranged as to remain suspended about midway of the coffee-pot. The coffee, freshly roasted, or heated in a frying-pan, as described above, and then ground to a fine powder, is put into the bag, an ounce being allowed for each quart of coffee; actually boiling water is then poured upon the coffee, and it is allowed to stand for ten minutes where it will keep hot without boiling, and then used with boiling-hot milk and sugar. Of course the coffee-pot must be of such a size that the bag of coffee will be entirely covered with the boiling water.

Coffee made in this way is clear and fragrant, absolutely harmless to the digestive organs, and as delicious as coffee should be. The boiling-hot milk is a necessity for those who like coffee hot. The coffee-pot should be rinsed with clean boiling water after the coffee is used, and then thoroughly dried; the bag should be rinsed in boiling water to free it from grounds, and then dried before it is again put into the coffee-pot. No soap should be used upon it, nor any soapy water; simply water that has been boiled before it is used. If this method is followed, clear coffee will always be the order of the day.

The Wrong Way

BUY the cheapest coffee – that is, the kind which costs the least money – without regard to its purity or quality. Use more or less coffee, just as it happens; accurate measurement is not essential. Put it in an old tin coffee-pot; pour on water from the tea-kettle – never mind about the quantity or its temperature, or the time it has been in the kettle, since, as it comes from the tea-kettle, it must be all right. Let it boil indefinitely, and if, when breakfast is ready, the water has boiled away, just pour in more. If you can afford it, add one or two eggs at any time during the process, when you happen to think of it. If it be roily, strain it, if you can find a strainer, and serve it with – yes, common brown sugar and skim milk will do, if you choose to think so. The compound is – what?

If there be any left, keep it warm on the back of the stove until the next meal. As this long steeping makes it dark, it must be strong, so, add more water. After dinner set the pot away, and the next morning pour out the old grounds; rinse it or not – just as your time will allow – and repeat the process of making. Wash the coffee-pot occasionally if the outside need it, but rinsing is sufficient for the inside.

The Right Way

Buy pure coffee – not necessarily that which costs most – but buy it from some reliable dealer. Mixtures of one-third Mocha and two-thirds Java, or half Mocha and half male berry Java, have given general satisfaction. There are some varieties of South American coffee which are very good. Occasionally one finds a brand, through some friend who is in the business, or who has had opportunity of procuring it directly from coffee-growing countries, which is of such remarkable excellence that it leads one to suspect that much of the best coffee grown is not in the market.

The raw berries are tough, difficult to grind, and have but little flavor. Roasting makes the berries brittle and crisp, and when properly done develops a fine flavor; but when half done or done to excess, the result is a raw or bitter flavor. Many prefer to roast and grind the coffee for themselves; but in coffee houses the arrangements for roasting are so complete, that it is better for small families to buy roasted coffee and to grind it as needed, or to buy it ground in a small quantity. It should be kept in air-tight tin cans or glass jars, that the fine flavor may be preserved.

Opinions vary as to the best kind of coffee-pot. Some prefer porcelain or granite ware, others prefer tin, but all good housekeepers agree that absolute cleanliness is of the utmost importance. The pot should be cleansed every time it is used – all parts of it, the spout not excepted. A brown deposit is soon formed on the inside of the pot if the coffee be allowed to stand in it long, or if it be not often and thoroughly cleansed.

An important point, and one often overlooked even by intelligent housekeepers, is that the water should be freshly boiled in a clean kettle. Water, in boiling, loses the air or gases which give it a fresh taste and sparkling appearance. It should be used as soon as boiled, or it becomes flat and tasteless. A brown substance is deposited on the inside of the kettle, and this, if allowed to accumulate, imparts an unpleasant taste to the water; yet there are many housekeepers, exquisitely neat in many ways, who seldom wash the inside of a tea-kettle. It is an excellent plan to keep a small kettle to be used only in boiling water for tea or coffee. Wash and wipe it carefully every time it is used.

The proportions of water and coffee are one heaping tablespoonful of ground coffee to one half-pint cupful of boiling water. Reduce the amount of coffee slightly when several cupfuls are required. It takes a larger proportionate amount of both coffee and water to make just enough for one cupful than for more, as the grounds absorb a certain portion of the water, and the last coffee poured out is not as clear as the first. Coffee should be made in such a way that the full strength and aroma may be obtained without developing the tannic acid.

Whether coffee shall be boiled or not will probably be always a question. Many think it has a raw taste if not boiled; others contend that, in boiling, much of the aroma is lost. Boiling makes the mixture roily, and it must stand long enough to let the grounds settle and the liquid become clear. Some albuminous material will help to clear it. Fish skin, isinglass, cold water, and eggs are used for this purpose. Eggs give it a flavor and body, and, no doubt, improve an inferior quality of coffee; but they increase the cost of the beverage, as, aside from their own cost, they clog the grounds, thus making a larger amount of coffee necessary to obtain the desired strength. But if coffee must be boiled, let it be boiled in a closely covered vessel, with a thimble or cork in the spout, as, if left uncovered, the volatile oil which forms the fragrant aroma is dissipated; and it should never boil more than five minutes, as longer boiling extracts the tannic acid. There is a widely prevalent but erroneous notion that long boiling extracts more of the strength and color, and is, therefore, more economical; but strength and color thus gained are obtained at the expense of flavor and wholesomeness.

After thorough trial of several methods of making coffee, I have found filtering (or percolation) the simplest, most economical, and most satisfactory. Various modifications of the biggin, or French filter coffee-pot, are in use. This is a double coffee-pot, with one or more strainers in the upper pot. Some of these biggins are expensive, and soon get out of order; but others are very simple, and, with care, will last a long time. The coffee should be ground very fine, and be placed in the upper pot. Some varieties have a convex, coarse strainer in the bottom, to keep the grounds from clogging the fine strainer. Then a coarse strainer is placed over the grounds, the boiling water is poured in, and allowed to drip slowly through the coffee into the lower receptacle. Many of the coffee-pots made on this principle are placed in another vessel containing boiling water; but, if there be only two parts to it, the coffee-pot should stand where the coffee, as it drips through, will keep hot, but will not boil. If the upper part be not large enough to contain all the water desired, it must be poured on in small portions. The full strength and aroma are thus obtained; no clearing is necessary, and, if care be taken to observe all the minor points in the directions, the beverage will invariably be good.

For good breakfast coffee, cream, scalded milk, and block sugar are necessary. The milk should be scalding hot, but never boiled, as boiled milk gives an unpleasant flavor. Ascertain the tastes of those at the table, as most coffee drinkers prefer to have the coffee poured on the cream and sugar. One tablespoonful of cream, two of hot milk, and two blocks of sugar, with an extra block in the saucer, is a fair proportion for a breakfast cup. Pour in the coffee until the cup is three-fourths full. Never fill it to overflowing.

After-dinner coffee, or black coffee, is made in the same way, a double proportion of coffee being used. It should be very strong, and perfectly clear. Serve it in small cups, with block sugar if desired, but not with cream or milk, as the milk counteracts the purpose for which the coffee is taken.

Coffee is stimulating, and, when taken clear and very strong after a hearty meal, aids digestion; but, when combined with cream or milk, a leathery compound is formed, which is indigestible and irritates the internal membranes.

PEOPLE often speak of the delicious coffee they drank at this place or that, as something quite unattainable in their own homes; yet, as rich, fragrant, clear coffee is no more expensive than strong coffee – thick and muddy, bitter, but not fragrant – there is no reason why every one should not revel in the simple luxury. First of all, as to the pot: Some people seem to have quite a superstition about a coffee-pot. The fact is that any absolutely clean pot will make good coffee, and I have made as good coffee in a warmed pitcher as ever was made in the most perfect of filtering pots.

Strong French or filtered coffee is not used in many families, because it is believed to be more expensive; but this mistake comes from the fact that the experiment is often made with coffee too coarsely ground. Grocers usually grind coffee like coarse oatmeal; but coffee so used is very extravagant, for you require double the quantity necessary. Coffee should be ground as fine as coarse corn meal – not so fine as flour, or it will clog the strainer – and it should be freshly ground each time coffee is made. These rules apply both to boiled and filtered coffee.

To Make French Coffee

Allow for strong breakfast coffee, one tablespoonful of finely-ground coffee for each person, and half a pint of boiling water to each spoonful. Put the coffee into the strainer, and set it where it will get heated, but not burn (the flavor of both coffee and tea are improved by being warmed before the water is added). Pour the freshly-boiled water on the coffee ten minutes before breakfast. Coffee is spoiled if made too long.

If you use the usual French coffee-pot with two strainers, you will save time by pouring the water on a little at a time. There is, however, a coffee-pot that is easier for general use, as the water can all be poured on at once; the process is then exactly the same as making tea, except that part of the water must be poured out and returned.

For black, after-dinner coffee, you require four tablespoonfuls of coffee to a pint of water.

You must remember that, in using little water, you make very strong coffee, and you need only each cup one-third or half full; then fill it up with foaming, hot milk. If you live in a city, this is the real expense; but a cup of such coffee is far more nourishing than the usual weak coffee just clouded with milk. For instance: If you put a pint of water on a tablespoonful of coffee, you get two cups of coffee too weak to allow much milk. If you put one-half pint of water to a tablespoonful of coffee, you get two half cups, rich and strong, each of which will allow being filled up with boiling milk. Therefore, you get the same quantity of the beverage in one way as the other; but one will be fragrant and nourishing, the other will be neither.

Just here let me digress from the actual making of coffee to another matter that concerns coffee drinkers. It is often said by those who drink weak coffee for breakfast, such as would be made by using a pint of water to a tablespoonful of coffee, that they would be afraid to drink strong coffee. They will perhaps see from the above that they consume just as much coffee – and whatever unwholesome ingredient it may contain – in the one case as the other, but that, in one case, it is diluted with water, and in the other with milk. The moral they can draw for themselves.

Any reader who has not tried making French coffee, and has no proper pot, can experiment in the following way:

French Coffee in a Pitcher

Put two full tablespoonfuls of finely-ground coffee in a well warmed pitcher; pour on it a pint of freshly-boiled water, and stir it to saturate the coffee: cover close with a cloth pressed into the top, and let it stand on the range five minutes. Have another heated vessel (a pitcher, if you choose); lay a piece of muslin (scalded) over it, and pour the coffee carefully through it. This will be clear, fragrant coffee.

Boiled Coffee

This is preferred by many, although it lacks the aroma of filtered coffee, which some consider a raw flavor. Put two tablespoonfuls of coffee into an ordinary coffee-pot, with a pint of boiling water. Stir it well; then let it just boil up, and set it where it will keep hot, but not boil. Throw into it a tablespoonful of cold water, and in five minutes pour out a cupful of the coffee, return it to the pot, repeat this, leave it five minutes to settle, and the coffee will be perfectly clear, without any egg to clear it.

Of course I am assuming, when I promise good coffee from either of these methods, that you use the best quality of coffee. Out of poor coffee you may make a clear liquid, but you can never make fine coffee. By fresh-boiled water, I mean water which has not been kept boiling, but is used as soon as it boils.

But it is not enough to know how to make good coffee. There are mysteries about it which beset even those who understand how to make it – periods when the coffee will be poor in spite of the quantity or quality of coffee used, or it will be bitter, black, and flavorless, even though we know we have the finest Java, the very same that has yielded golden fragrance to us heretofore. So it seems to me not enough to tell how to perform the simple feat of making coffee, but how to explain the periodical deterioration to which it is subject. The first difficulty is that of a weak product, in spite of the fact that you know the right quantity of coffee, and not too much water, is used. You may be almost sure, in this instance, that the coffee is not ground fine enough, half of it, probably, being as large as rice. Alter the screw of your mill. It is harder work to grind coffee when the mill is screwed tight, and you may not find it easy to keep it screwed just right, for it will develop a perverse tendency to loosen under Delia's care, which you will know by your coffee being weak and your grocer's bill long.

Another trouble that seems sometimes unaccountable: The coffee will be cloudy in spite of strainers. There is only one honest reason for this – the coffee may be ground too fine. But this is unlikely; it is more probable that the water has been poured all at once into the strainer, instead of gradually. This would have taken a long time to drip through, and a spoon has been used to facilitate the process, and muddy coffee is the result.

Sometimes families will have trouble of another sort. The coffee will be strong and bitter, without aroma, and when milk is added, instead of the beautiful, clear brown it should be, it will be of a blackish hue. This kind of poor coffee will come to the table week after week, and the quality of the coffee itself be blamed. It comes from one of two causes: It has been made too long and kept hot in the pot, or the pot itself is not well kept.

Not even milk-pans require more scrupulous care than the coffee-pot. It may be rinsed after each time of using, and yet be far from clean. There is an oily property about coffee which adheres in spite of rinsing out. You can see this for yourself by taking almost any coffee-pot that has been some time in use (unless it has been very carefully kept), and you will find clinging to it a sort of black grease (not brown); this will come off if you rub a cloth round the inside. Now, this deposit, for some reason which I should like to have explained, destroys the fragrance, color, and flavor of coffee. If you see your coffee looks black-brown instead of ruddy brown, you will know it will be flavorless, however strong.

To keep this black oil from the pot it must be daily washed (not rinsed), scalded, and dried. Each piece of a French coffee-pot should be separately dried before it is put away. If packed together wet, the strainers will in time give a metallic taste. Another reason for great care is that, without it, the strainers get clogged and the coffee will not go through.

If you find your coffee-pot has been neglected, put a piece of washing soda as large as a hickory-nut into hot water; set the strainers in it; let them stand on the stove for hours; put the same in the coffee-pot; then rub and brush both till the wire gauze is clear and all the black removed; then run boiling water slowly through, and dry it. Let the care be daily afterwards. The grease will not form, nor will the gauze fill up, if a pint or so of boiling water is poured through every morning and it is dried before being put away. Cold water is worse than useless, as it sets the oil. Sometimes the coffee-pot is put away exactly as it leaves the table, with left-over coffee in it. This should never be.

In drying the coffee-pot, or warming it, be careful not to let it get too hot, or there will be the flavor of burnt coffee to spoil the beverage for that occasion.