Coffee is not only universal, but controversial.

It is a strange fact that other people's coffee often seems mysteriously to be more delicious than your own. This is possibly an extension of the basic premise that any meal you did not cook will seem excellent. . . .

There are approximately a hundred ways to make coffee —(yes, there are!)—but there is probably only one way that suits you. Our personal preference is a Chemex—but in the past we have loved percolators . . . and in our extreme youth, we knew how to make delicious boiled coffee with an egg shell!

So the method of making coffee—and the particular blend that suits you—are a very personal matter with which you must cope experimentally. But since a good cup of coffee is distinctively American, this is worthy of your determined experimentation. . . .

Coffee-makers are not exorbitant in price; you can afford to buy several different kinds for personal testing. (The ones you don't like will be enormously helpful when you give a big party!)

Nearly all packaged coffees are similar in price; try one after another, until you find the blend you prefer.

Special coffees are a different matter. Generally available is an Italian Espresso coffee. French coffee usually contains a great deal of roasted chicory (in order to stretch the coffee which France does not produce in sufficient quantity), and is therefore slightly bitter.

Turkish coffee is a powder, brewed strong and served very sweet in small cups. It can be bought (by mail, if necessary) from Charles & Co., New York City.

CAFE AU LAIT

The true French cafe au lait is a balance of hot milk and strong coffee.

Heat equal parts of milk and heavy cream very gently in a double boiler—1 cup each. Pour the hot cream-milk into one pitcher—and fill a second with fresh strong hot coffee.

Serve by pouring simultaneously from both pitchers into a coffee cup.

MOCHA COFFEE

4 squares bitter cooking chocolate

1 tsp ground cinnamon

4 cups strong hot coffee

Melt the chocolate and cinnamon in the top of a double boiler; gradually stir in the hot coffee, and distribute among 4 double-sized coffee cups. Serve with sugar and cream.

CAFE ROYALE

This is a do-it-yourself for guests: provide each with a large cup of strong hot black coffee—plus a bouillon spoon containing a lump of sugar, floated in brandy (as much as you can get in the spoon).

Light each spoonful of brandy; hold until the flames die, plunge into cup, then stir until the sugar dissolves.

CAFE DIABLE

An extension of Cafe Royale. This requires a chafing dish. In a heated chafing dish, mix.

5 whole cloves

2 thin slices of lemon peel and orange peel

1 stick of cinnamon

6 lumps of sugar

1½ cup of brandy

Set this afire, and add 4 cups of strong hot coffee. Stir, and serve (with a ladle) in demi-tasse cups. As with eggs, every country in the world has its own method of serving coffee.

AUSTRIAN COFFEE

Top each serving of coffee—either iced or hot—with plenty of sweetened whipped cream.

FRENCH COFFEE

The slightly bitter, chicory-impregnated coffee used for a demi-tasse—brew it double strength . . . serve in the tiny demi-tasse cups, and provide a stick of cinnamon instead of a spoon. Sissies are allowed a lump of sugar—but cream does not go with this coffee.

ITALIAN COFFEE

This, too, is full of chicory. Real Espresso is, literally, dis­tilled via steaming hot water . . . and the machine for mak­ing it is truly a wondrous sight, reminiscent of Rube Gold­berg.

But the coffee is good, though bitter. Roman style, it is served in tiny cups, without sugar or cream, but garnished with a generous curl of lemon peel—and if you never com­bined lemon with coffee before, try it!

SCANDINAVIAN COFFEE

This is just good strong coffee served with lashings of warmed milk or cream and plenty of sugar—but TURKISH and ARABIAN coffee is entirely different. It should be very hot, frothy and disastrously sweet (unless you are used to it). It is always served in small demi-tasse cups, without sugar or cream.

8 tsp Turkish coffee 4 serving cups of water

8 tsp sugar(demi-tasse size)

Combine cold water, coffee and sugar in a saucepan and bring it slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved. It's important to start with cold water and very low heat. . . . When the coffee comes to a boil and begins to froth—remove from the heat and allow the froth to sub­side. Repeat this operation three times: bringing the coffee to a boil and froth, over low heat, then removing, until the froth subsides. Finally serve quickly, with a little of the froth in each cup.

Yes, it does take time—but they seem to have little else in the Middle East. . . .

COFFEE BLUE DEVIL

Very strong, hot, black coffee, 2 cups

Claret, 1 cup  

Sugar, 3 tsp

Use ⅓ wine to ⅔ coffee, and 3 tsps of sugar to every cup of wine.

Combine claret and sugar, bring gently to a boil, add the hot coffee, mix and serve at once in demitasse cups.

This coffee was named for the French Alpine soldiers in the First World War.

IRISH COFFEE

Coffee plus whiskey, for a cold winter night. For each serving:

1 jigger Irish whiskey 

Cold whipped or plain heavy cream Strong hot black coffee

1 tsp sugar 

Place whiskey and sugar in each cup and stir; fill % full with the hot coffee, stirring until sugar dissolves. Fill to the top with plain or whipped heavy cream.

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