So far I have had the feeling that I was addressing critical readers who were disposed to challenge the correct- ness of every word, and who thought they knew' quite as much as I about the right way of making tea. Now, however, I assume a different attitude. It my readers (excepting perhaps an occasional one here and there) are not humble minded and abashed they ought to be so, for though English people may make tea properlj', they cannot make coffee, and it is quite a rare thing to find coffee in England that is fit to drink. Nevertheless, if you have good materials and proper utensils, it is exceedingly easy to make good coffee. The materials are freshly-roasted coffee berries, bought whole ; the utensils are a coffee-mill for grinding the berries (just before they are to be used, and not earlier) and a tin cafeti^re✪ How to Make Coffee, such as is to be bought of any size at every ironmongers. With this cafetiere you can, without difficulty, make delicious French coffee ; without the caleiiire, you can make English coffee of varying excellence, and that is all. It is not often that I say that particular utensils are required to produce particular results. I am sure that all who know me well will acknowledge that I am always ready to save expense, and that 1 continually advocate economy. I know quite well that it is “ bad workmen who quarrel with their tools,” and I have a great admira- tion for the historical rook who made a baking sheet out of an old iron tray, and a fish fryer out of a worn out wire sieve ; but 1 maintain that if you want to make real 142 The Girl's Own Cookery Book. French coffee, you must have either an ordinary cafeti^re, or a cafeti^re I’excellente. Of course, good, wholesome, agreeable English coffee can be made with the coffee-pot usually found in English kitchens ; and as thousands possess the one who will never think of purchasing the other, I will first describe how good Enghsh coffee should be made with the coffee pot we all know so well. 1 will then show how the cafe- ti^re should be used, arriving lastly at the superlative degree of excellence in the cafeti^re I’excellente. All coffee should be freshly roasted and freshly ground if it is to yield its full aroma. A machine can be bought for roasting coffee at home; but as few housekeepers would care for the trouble of this, it should be remembered that coffee should be bought in small quantities at a time : that care should be taken to have it freshly roasted ; that it should be kept in a closely-covered tin ; that it should be heated in the oven for a few minutes before being ground, and that no more should be ground at one time than is needed for one supply. Whatever kind of coffee is used, these details should be observed with regard to the coffee. Also 1 may add that Mocha coffee is the best, and that small berries are to be preferred. Many people mix chicory with their coffee. There is at the present time a preparation sold under the name of coffee, which consists of nothing but chicory and burnt sugar. Chicory is harmless, 1 believe ; it gives colour and a certain body to coffee, and thus is an economical addition to the coffee-pot ; but it is not coffee, and people who make a practice of using it have probably no idea of what real coffee is. The proportions of chicory and cof- fee usually taken are a quarter of a pound of chicory to one pound of coffee.

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So far I have had the feeling that I was addressing critical readers who were disposed to challenge the correct- ness of every word, and who thought they knew' quite as much as I about the right way of making tea. Now, however, I assume a different attitude. It my readers (excepting perhaps an occasional one here and there) are not humble minded and abashed they ought to be so, for though English people may make tea properlj', they cannot make coffee, and it is quite a rare thing to find coffee in England that is fit to drink. Nevertheless, if you have good materials and proper utensils, it is exceedingly easy to make good coffee. The materials are freshly-roasted coffee berries, bought whole ; the utensils are a coffee-mill for grinding the berries (just before they are to be used, and not earlier) and a tin cafeti^re, such as is to be bought of any size at every ironmongers. With this cafetiere you can, without difficulty, make delicious French coffee ; without the caleiiire, you can make English coffee of varying excellence, and that is all. It is not often that I say that particular utensils are required to produce particular results. I am sure that all who know me well will acknowledge that I am always ready to save expense, and that 1 continually advocate economy. I know quite well that it is “ bad workmen who quarrel with their tools,” and I have a great admira- tion for the historical rook who made a baking sheet out of an old iron tray, and a fish fryer out of a worn out wire sieve ; but 1 maintain that if you want to make real 142 The Girl's Own Cookery Book. French coffee, you must have either an ordinary cafeti^re, or a cafeti^re I’excellente. Of course, good, wholesome, agreeable English coffee can be made with the coffee-pot usually found in English kitchens ; and as thousands possess the one who will never think of purchasing the other, I will first describe how good Enghsh coffee should be made with the coffee pot we all know so well. 1 will then show how the cafe- ti^re should be used, arriving lastly at the superlative degree of excellence in the cafeti^re I’excellente. All coffee should be freshly roasted and freshly ground if it is to yield its full aroma. A machine can be bought for roasting coffee at home; but as few housekeepers would care for the trouble of this, it should be remembered that coffee should be bought in small quantities at a time : that care should be taken to have it freshly roasted ; that it should be kept in a closely-covered tin ; that it should be heated in the oven for a few minutes before being ground, and that no more should be ground at one time than is needed for one supply. Whatever kind of coffee is used, these details should be observed with regard to the coffee. Also 1 may add that Mocha coffee is the best, and that small berries are to be preferred. Many people mix chicory with their coffee. There is at the present time a preparation sold under the name of coffee, which consists of nothing but chicory and burnt sugar. Chicory is harmless, 1 believe ; it gives colour and a certain body to coffee, and thus is an economical addition to the coffee-pot ; but it is not coffee, and people who make a practice of using it have probably no idea of what real coffee is. The proportions of chicory and cof- fee usually taken are a quarter of a pound of chicory to one pound of coffee.

The girl's own cookery book