A Very Simple Method of Making Coffee

A historical recipe from The Book of Household Management, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) (1861).

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A historical recipe

The Book of Household Management, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) (1861). Project Gutenberg eBook #10136.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.

Ingredients 1 ingredient

1 pint of water

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.

Method

1811.
INGREDIENTS.--Allow 1/2 oz., or 1 tablespoonful, of coffee to each person;
to every oz.
allow 1 pint of water.
Mode.--Have a small iron ring made to fit the top of the coffee-pot inside, and to this ring sew a small muslin bag (the muslin for the purpose must not be too thin).
Fit the bag into the pot, pour some boiling water in it, and, when the pot is well warmed, put the ground coffee into the bag;
pour over as much boiling water as is required, close the lid, and, when all the water has filtered through, remove the bag, and send the coffee to table.
Making it in this manner prevents the necessity of pouring the coffee from one vessel to another, which cools and spoils it.
The water should be poured on the coffee gradually, so that the infusion may be stronger;
and the bag must be well made, that none of the grounds may escape through the seams, and so make the coffee thick and muddy.
Sufficient.--Allow 1 tablespoonful, or 1/2 oz., to each person.
THE COFFEE PLANT grows to the height of about twelve or fifteen feet, with leaves not unlike those of the common laurel, although more pointed, and not so dry and thick.
The blossoms are white, much like those of jasmine, and issue from the angles of the leaf-stalks.
When the flowers fade, they are succeeded by the coffee-bean, or seed, which is inclosed in a berry of a red colour, when ripe resembling a cherry.
The coffee-beans are prepared by exposing them to the sun for a few days, that the pulp may ferment and throw off a strong acidulous moisture.
They are then gradually dried for about three weeks, and put into a mill to separate the husk from the seed.

Plating

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Cookware for this recipe

Saucepan