Chapter CODAVASCAM to COFFEE of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

the Egyptians called Bon or Ban; they take of this fruite one pound and a halfe, and roast them a little in the fire, and then sieth them in twentie poundes of water, till the half be consumed away; this drinke they take everie morning fasting in their chambers, out of an earthen pot, being verie hote, as we doe here drinke aqua composita in the morning; and they say that it strengtheneth them and maketh them warm, breaketh wind, and openeth any stopping.”—In Linschoten, 46; [Hak. Soc. i. 157].

c. 1610.—“La boisson la plus commune c’est de l’eau, ou bien du vin de Cocos tiré le mesme iour. On en fait de deux autres sortes plus delicates; l’vne est chaude, composée de l’eau et de mièl de Cocos, avec quantité de poivre (dont ils vsent beaucoup en toutes leurs viandes, et ils le nomment Pdsme) et d’vne autre graine appellée Cahoa. …”—Pyrard de Laval, i. 128; [Hak. Soc. i. 172].

[1611.—“Buy some coho pots and send me.”—Danvers, Letters, i. 122; “coffao pots.”—Ibid. i. 124.]

1615.—“They have in steed of it (wine) a certaine drinke called Caahiete as black as Inke, which they make with the barke of a tree (!) and drinke as hot as they can endure it.”—Monfart, 28.

„ “… passano tutto il resto deila notte con mille feste e bagordi; e particolarmente in certi luoghi pubblici … bevendo di quando in quando a sorsi (per chè è calda che cuoce) più d’uno scodellino di certa loro acqua nera, che chiamano cahue; la quale, nelle conversazioni serve a loro, appunto come a noi il giuoco dello sbaraglino” (i.e. backgammon).—P. della Valle (from Constant.), i. 51. See also pp. 74–76.

[“Cohu, blake liquor taken as hotte ”

as may be endured.”—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 32.]

1616.—“Many of the people there (in India), who are strict in their Religion, drink no Wine at all; but they use a Liquor more wholesome than pleasant, they call Coffee; made by a black Seed boyld in water, which turnes it almost into the same colour, but doth very little alter the taste of the water (!): notwithstanding it is very good to help Digestion, to quicken the Spirits, and to cleanse the Blood.”—Terry, ed. of 1665, p. 365.

1623.—“Turcae habent etiam in usu herbae genus quam vocant Caphe … quam dicunt haud parvum praestans illis vigorem, et in animas (sic) et in ingenio; quae tamen largius sumpta mentem movet et turbat. …” —F. Bacon, Hist. Vitae et Mortis, 25.

c. 1628.—“They drink (in Persia) … above all the rest, Coho or Copha: by Turk and Arab called Caphe and Cahua: a drink imitating that in the Stigian lake, black, thick, and bitter: destrain’d from Bunchy, Bunnu, or Bay berries; wholsome they say, if hot, for it expels melancholy … but not so much regarded for those good properties, as from a Romance that it was invented and brew’d by Gabriel … to restore the decayed radical Moysture of kind hearted Mahomet. …”—Sir T. Herbert, Travels, ed. 1638, p. 241.

[1631.—“Caveah.” See quotation under TEA.]

c. 1637.—“There came in my time to the Coll: (Balliol) one Nathaniel Conopios out of Greece, from Cyril the Patriarch of Constantinople. … He was the first I ever saw drink coffee, which custom came not into England till 30 years after.”— Evelyn’s Diary, [May 10].

1673.—“Every one pays him their congratulations, and after a dish of Coho or Tea, mounting, accompany him to the Palace.”—Fryer, 225.

“Cependant on l’apporta le cavé, le parfum, et le sorbet.”—Journal d’ Antoine Galland, ii. 124.

[1677.—“Cave.” See quotation under TEA.]

1690.—“For Tea and Coffee which are judg’d the privileg’d Liquors of all the Mahometans, as well Turks, as those of Persia, India, and other parts of Arabia, are condemn’d by them (the Arabs of Muscatt) as unlawful Refreshments, and abominated as Bug-bear Liquors, as well as Wine.”—Ovington, 427.

1726.—“A certain gentleman, M. Paschius, maintains in his Latin work published at Leipzig in 1700, that the parched corn (1 Sam. xxv. 18) which Abigail presented with other things to David, to appease his wrath, was nought else but Coffi-beans.”— Valentijn, v. 192.

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