mocha

[George Thompson]

I don't mean to move in on Barry's turf, but here is an early citation
for a food word.  I see that the OED has citations for "mocha" from
1773, 1819 and 1871, all from English sources.

        "Saunder's Divan, in Broadway, near Liberty-street, is really a
most comfortable lounge. – Most delicious mocha, distilled on a new
principle – all that the amateur can wish to revel upon in choice old
gems of paintings – the late periodicals – the leading daily journals –
ottomans – sofas – chess and backgammon – dos amigos, &c., together
with a peep through the jalousies at the panorama of beauty and fashion
in Broadway, all for a quarter of a dollar."
        Evening Star, September 27, 1834, p. 2, col. 2

I notice also that the OED has citations from 1766, 1824, 1833 and 1851
for "jalousie", all from English sources, as well as several cites from
Elizabethan Italian-English dictionaries.

I do not know what "dos amigos" means in this context.  A game, like
chess and backgammon, perhaps?  I didn't check it in OED.

The "Divan" was an up-scale barber-shop.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998.