Bitter and active, [...] it dries without burning—for it is the property of such substances to dissipate superfluous humidity without dangerous heat;there is in coffee, as it were, fire without flame,

a purifying power that does not calcine; coffee reduces impurities:

"those who take it feel by long experience that it restores the stomach, consumes its superfluous humidity, dissipates wind, dissolves the phlegm of the bowels, where it per­forms a mild abstersion, and what is most considerable, prevents the fumes from rising to the head and conse­quently reduces the aches and pains customarily suffered there;

 finally, it affords strength, vigor, and cleanliness to the animal spirits, without leaving any great impression of heat, even upon the most inured persons who are accus­tomed to use it."  

Francois Doublet, 1785