THE USE OF COFFEE. It is a Blessing to Both Rich and Poor.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 413, 23 October 1889, Page 6

THE USE OF COFFEE. It is a Blessing to Both Rich and Poor.

We are persuaded, from our observation of many years in Greece and Turkey, Bays Chas. T. Tuckerman in the * North American Review,' that the mdoerate use/of pure coffee is, one might almost) say, a blessing to rich and poor. Excess in its use ? or the use of it at all, except when the decoc- < tion is made from the genuine coffee berry, and properly made, is beyond any question an evil. One must live in the East for a while— or if not there, confine himself to • partaking of the beverage in other ooun tries where the character of the cafe, or the house, where it is served, is a guaranty of purity — to appreciate what a cup of coffee really means. It is a recognised fact that the mixture drunk by the majority of people in Europe and our own country, under the name of coffee, is a vile or, at the best/, an adulterated compound of inferior berries, beans, or other substitutes, and that when occasionally the genuine coffee berry is the basis of the hot fluid served at hotels, railroad stations, restaurants and in private houses, it is not prepared properly ,", and more frequently than otherwise injures the digestion, and consequently the health of the constant drinker. In Athens, broadly speaking, every third man indulges in cigarette smoking and coffee drinking, and this to an extent that astonishes the stranger. It is an every-day sight, when entering an office or private sitting- room, and not infrequently the family room, £o see the tobacco-box, cigarette paper and ashbox lying on the table, and the visitor is expected, without invitation, to help himself and light his cigarette as a preparation for and a companion to conversation. Little cups of black coffee follow as a matter of course, however early or late the hour may be. But the Greek does not coofine his attentions to the. coffee cup on these occasions. He often takes his first cigarette and his first cup in bed before rising, and continues the practice at intervals through the entire day. It is something akin to the habit ot ice-water drinking in the United States, but without the subtle, injurious results that follow an habitual use of cold liquids, which chill the stomach, impair the general health and produce decayed teeth. So far as our personal observation goes, strengthened by medical testimony, the Gteeks in the condition of their general health do not support the theory thai; the habitual use of coffee injures the system or, affects the eyesight. The same is the case in Turkey. There coffee drinking is universal and continuous. The writer passed the greater part of four years in Constantinople, where he had occasion to call upon the officials of the Sublime < Porte so frequently that it would be difficult to enumerate these officials, visits ; and with few exceptions, when the visit was prolonged fco any length, black coffee, pure in quality and prepared with the grounds, were regularly served in pmall, delicate cups. AH Turks, from the highest to the lowest, indulge in the beverage, a few swallows at the time, throughout the day, and without any evil effects.