freshly brewed coffee. The improvement shown
since they first appeared augurs well for the eventual attainment of
their ultimate goal.

_Adulterants and Substitutes_

There would appear to be three reasons why substitutes for coffee are
sought--the high cost, or absence, of the real product; the acquiring of
a preferential taste, by the consumer, for the substitute; and the
injurious effects of coffee when used to excess. Makers of coffee
substitutes usually emphasize the latter reason; but many substitutes,
which are, or have been, on the market, seem to depend for their
existence on the other two. Properly speaking, there are scarcely any
real substitutes for coffee. The substances used to replace it are
mostly like it only in appearance, and barely simulate it in taste.
Besides, many of them are not used alone, but are mixed with real coffee
as adulterants.

The two main coffee substitutes are chicory and cereals. Chicory,
succory, _Cichorium Intybus_, is a perennial plant, growing to a height
of about three feet, bearing blue flowers, having a long tap root, and
possessing a foliage which is sometimes used as cattle food. The plant
is cultivated generally for the sake of its root, which is cut into
slices, kiln-dried, and then roasted in the same manner as coffee,
usually with the addition of a small proportion of some kind of fat. The
preparation and use of roasted chicory originated in Holland, about
1750. Fresh chicory[183] contains about 77 percent water, 7.5 gummy
matter, 1.1 of glucose, 4.0 of bitter extractive, 0.6 fat, 9.0
cellulose, inulin and fiber, and 0.8 ash. Pure roasted chicory[184]
contains 74.2 percent water-soluble material, comprised of 16.3 percent
water, 26.1 glucose, 9.6 dextrin and inulin, 3.2 protein, 16.4 coloring
matter, and 2.6 ash; and 25.8 percent insoluble substances, namely, 3.2
percent protein, 5.7 fat, 12.3 cellulose, and 4.6 ash. The effect of
roasting upon chicory is to drive off a large percentage of water,
increasing the reducing sugars, changing a large proportion of the
bitter extractives and inulin, and forming dextrin and caramel as well
as the characteristic chicory flavor.

The cereal substitutes contain almost every type of grain, mainly wheat,
rye, oats, buckwheat, and bran. They are prepared in two general ways,
by roasting the grains, or the mixtures of grains, with or without the
addition of such substances as sugar, molasses, tannin, citric acid,
etc., or by fi