JOST A MON

The idle ramblings of a Jack of some trades, Master of none

May 29, 2011

Coffee, the Right Way

In 1854, John Henry Wilton published a book titled The First Crime; Or True Friendship, which, he claimed, was upon the importunations of his friends who wished to learn all about his peripatetic life. I haven't read the book, but this passage seems par for its course.
Harry stopped short the tale, and bid Bothwick and his friend partake of some refreshment. " Come," said he, "let us have a cup of mocha, friends. Mr. Wilding," added Harry, "you must be getting peckish; allow me to offer you a cup of coffee and a crust. I'll answer for both being good, for the bread is home-made, and the coffee Richard makes himself in the best style, for he has had much practice ; I taught him myself. The method I learnt in Turkey and France. The Arabs have a mode of making coffee that I don't like. They, like the Egyptians, boil it until it is quite thick, and to me unpleasant. I am very particular as to the way my coffee is made, and have, after much trouble, succeeded in hitting upon an excellent method. I carry with me my own apparatus to make it, which may be called eccentricity. Well, be it so; nevertheless, I do, for I despise nine-tenths of the coffee, or coloured water called coffee, one generally meets with in travelling; for I hold it that a cup of really good coffee is one of the greatest luxuries."
So there you go. Travel might broaden one's mind, but not if one's a Victorian gentleman, full of oneself and the supposed superiority of one's civilisation.

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