Cof"fee (?; 115), n. [Turk.
qahveh, Ar. qahuah wine, coffee, a decoction of
berries. Cf. Café.] 1. The
"beans" or "berries" (pyrenes) obtained from the drupes of a
small evergreen tree of the genus Coffea, growing in
Abyssinia, Arabia, Persia, and other warm regions of Asia and
Africa, and also in tropical America.
2. The coffee tree.
&fist; There are several species of the coffee tree, as,
Coffea Arabica, C. occidentalis, and C.
Liberica. The white, fragrant flowers grow in clusters at the
root of the leaves, and the fruit is a red or purple cherrylike
drupe, with sweet pulp, usually containing two pyrenes,
commercially called "beans" or "berries".
3. The beverage made from the roasted and
ground berry.
They have in Turkey a drink called coffee.
. . . This drink comforteth the brain and heart, and helpeth
digestion.
Bacon.
&fist; The use of coffee is said to have been
introduced into England about 1650, when coffeehouses were opened
in Oxford and London.
Coffee bug (Zoöl.), a
species of scale insect (Lecanium coffæa), often
very injurious to the coffee tree. -- Coffee
rat (Zoöl.) See Musang.
