How Coffee Came to be Used.
It is somewhat singular to trace the manner in which arose the use of the common beverage of coffee. At the time Columbus discovered America, it had never been known or used. It grew only in Arabia and Upper Ethiopia. The discovery of its use is ascribed to the superior of a monastery in Arabia, who, desirous of preventing the monks from sleeping at their nocturnal service, made them drink the infusion of coffee upon the reports of shepherds, who observed that their flocks were more lively after browsing on the fruit of the plant. Its reputation spread through the adjacent countries, and in two hundred years it reached Paris. A single plant, brought here in 1714, became the parent stock of all French coffee plantations in the West Indies. The Dutch introduced it into Java and the East Indies. The extent of the consumption can scarcely be realized. The United States alone annually consume it at the cost, at its landing, of from $15,000,000 to $16,000,000.