The food value of coffee and of tea may be regarded as of no importance. The only food of any consequence in coffee is sugar, and that is largely caramelized in roasting. The effects of coffee are due solely to its stimulating powers. Apparently coffee and tea diminish, or ( perhaps a better expression) relieve fatigue. They do not seem to do this in any material way, but by so influencing the nerve centers as to counteract or destroy the sense of fatigue.

Inasmuch as coffee has no tissue-building power at all, and no food value except that which is given to it by added milk, cream or sugar, it cannot be regarded as a food in the true sense, though legally, as a beverage, it is classified in the Food and Drugs Act as a food. Coffee contains a considerable quantity of oils, but as these are insoluble in water they do not appear in the infusion. A little bit of protein substance is extracted from the coffee by hot water, but so small in quantity as to have no significance from a dietetic point of view.