As substitutes for coffee, some use dry brown bread crusts, and roast
them; others soak rye grain in rum, and roast it; others roast peas in
the same way as coffee. None of these are very good; and peas so used
are considered unhealthy. Where there is a large family of apprentices
and workmen, and coffee is very dear, it may be worth while to use the
substitutes, or to mix them half and half with coffee; but, after all,
the best economy is to go without.
French coffee is so celebrated, that it may be worth while to tell how
it is made; though no prudent housekeeper will make it, unless she has
boarders, who are willing to pay for expensive cooking.
The coffee should be roasted more than is common with us; it should
not hang drying over the fire, but should be roasted quick; it should
be ground soon after roasting, and used as soon as it is ground. Those
who pride themselves on first-rate coffee, burn it and grind it
every morning. The powder should be placed in the coffee-pot in the
proportions of an ounce to less than a pint of water. The water should
be poured upon the coffee boiling hot. The coffee should be kept at
the boiling point; but should not boil.
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