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["Jerry W. Shepperd" <shepperd AT austincc.edu>]

After I read your reference to Thomas Jefferson 
and coffee, I "googled" the topic and found the 
following reference.  There is also a picture of 
his coffee urn "made to his specifications."

His method of making coffee sounds a bit like 
camp coffee, except for straining it through flannel.

http://www.monticello.org/reports/life/coffee.html
In 1824 Thomas Jefferson deemed coffee "the 
favorite drink of the civilised world." Jefferson 
enjoyed the coffee houses of Williamsburg and 
Paris, and served coffee at the President's 
House, Poplar Forest, and Monticello. He 
preferred beans imported from the East and West 
Indies, and abhorred the "green" or unripe beans 
that were popular in America at the time.

Jefferson estimated that a pound of coffee a day 
was consumed at Monticello during his retirement. 
His cellar was stocked with unroasted beans in 
barrels weighing as much as sixty pounds. Small 
quantities of beans were roasted and ground in 
the Monticello kitchen, and then prepared 
according to the recipe of Adrien Petit, 
Jefferson's French maître d'hôtel: "On one 
measure of the coffee ground into meal pour three 
measures of boiling water. Boil it on hot ashes 
mixed with coal till the meal disappears from the 
top, when it will be precipitated. Pour it three 
times through a flannel strainer. It will yield 2 
1/3 measures of clear coffee." Coffee was served 
at breakfast, and likely after dinner, in a 
silver coffee urn made to Jefferson's design.
--Ann M. Lucas, Monticello Research Department, June 1994


At 11:25 AM 3/24/2008, you wrote:
> The campus Roy worked on was a half mile from a TJ's. On the days he
> drove to work I'd give him list to fill my TJ's fix. That coffee was
> the standard go-to.
>
> Maybe someone will take pity on us and send it.  : )
>
> And, I may be wrong but I think Th. Jefferson grew coffee at
> Monticello. I poked around the Monticello web site briefly but I
> didn't see it but now I'm of a mind to look into further so I'll
> report back.
>
> C
>
> >
> > I have an acquaintance with Mr. Coffee and his unfair distribution
> > system. Until I can figure out how to grow coffee trees, or is it
> > bushes, at Heartwood* I have a precarious plan. I will be leaving here
> > in about a week, if the creek drops to passable. I will be taking with
> > me many, many containers of Fair Trade Organic French Roast coffee
> > beans available at Trader Joe's here in Phoenix. The closest TJ's to
> > Heartwood is St. Louis, four hours northeast.