He showed us a bottle of coffee essence of his manufacture.

It was a heavy, oily, clear liquid which I understood he had distilled from a weaker and darker coffee extract.

It was exceedingly strong, and was supposed to be used for making coffee, a small quantity of the essence being put into a cup with hot water and sugar.

He desired us to test this, but a look at it was quite sufficient.

He was a handy fellow, and did much to hasten the fulfillment of our orders.