Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1874 — Coffee Grounds. [ARTICLE]

Coffee Grounds.

Not long ago, Punc/t figured that social bare, the chronic fault finder, in the guise of a complaining. recruit. “Now then, Pat,” says the Sergeant testily, “what’s the matter now?” “Sure, sor,” the undeveloped hero replies, “ they chate me -out of the thick of me coffee, sor.” At sight, no complaint could seem more destitute of “grounds.” To the average reader none could be more absurdly ludicrous; for every one has learned bybitter experience" what it is in the ordinary way not to be cheated out of the “ thick of the coffee.” Yet, without becoming the champion of cheap restaurants and bbarding-house madams, it is possible to argue seriously that Pat was the victim of a real wrong; that m losing the substance of the coffee berry he lost what would have been of

actual Service to him The chemistry of the question is simple enough. . As bdmmonly made, the infusion of coffee* which we drink contains not more than 20 per cent, of the substances which compose the berry. Of the rei maining eighty parts which we throw away as “ grounds,” about thirty-four aye woody matter without nutritive value. The rest, or forty-six of the hundred, contain in large proportion nitrogenous matters,' fats, and mineral ; salts, demonstrably useful for the nourl ishment of nerves, muscles and hones. In other words, by our mode of making J coffee we lose more than half of its avail--1 able and valuable constituents. Consid--1 ering the tons of coffee imported everv year, this wholesale wastefulness be"comes a matter of considerable magnitude; this of course only on the condition that the rejected matter can be used ; with pleasure and profit. That it can be so used is shown by the practice of the Turks,-who make coffee as we do chocolate The coffee, fiaely powdered, is drank with the infusion. In this way gll the stimulating qualities of the infusion are secured, with the full aroma and all the nutritious elements of the berry. It is perhaps needless to add that, for use in this way, the coffee must be reduced to an impalpable powder. To those unaccustomed to Oriental coffee, the limpid infusion may seeuT much to be preferred. As a stimulating drink it is undoubtedly preferable, but the good qualities of, coffee are not exhausted with the infusion; and as a matter of economy it may he worth while to sacrifice limpidity for nutrition. Beas one becomes accustomed to thick chocolate and learns to like it more than the clear infusion of the cocoa bean, so, it is claimed, the taste for case a I'Orientale may be acquired, with a corresponding improvement in ths beverage.—Scientific American.