Cookery for every household

Tea is so largely used in this country that it may seem almost unnecessary to give directions for making it, and yet it is so often rendered injurious and deprived of its proper flavour through being badly made, that a few hints upon the correct method of preparing it may not come amiss. Tea, boiling water, and a teapot or infuser are the requisites. The first thing is to choose good tea. It is almost impossible for anyone but an expert to tell whether one tea is genuine, or another is not, from the appearance of it ; all that can be done is to buy it from a good dealer, and to be willing to pay a fair price for it. Good tea at a fair price will be found the cheapest in the end. The cheapest teas are sometimes adulterated by having old, damaged, or spent leaves, dried and coloured, and added to them. The different qualities of strength and flavour found in tea are due to the different varieties of the plant, the soil, and climate in which it has been grown, and the manner in which it has been preared. Tea may be bought in large quantities, ut should be kept in a tea chest or tin box with a tight-fitting lid. The water used for making tea must be freshly drawn and freshly boiled. Water that has been standing or slowly simmering in a kettle for several hours has lost its gases, and is unfit for making good tea. The kettle used for boiling it must be kept clean both inside and out, and the water in it must be quite boiling. A silver or metal teapot is better than a china or earthenware one for drawing out the flavour of the tea. Whatever kind is used, the greatest care must be taken to keep it clean. It must on no account be put away with the tea-leaves in it, but be thoroughly washed and well dried after using. When a brown fur has collected on the lining of the teapot, fill the pot with boiling water, add a good piece of soda, put on the lid, and stand until cold. Then rub the inside well with a cloth and rinse thoroughly in clean hot water. To Make the Tea. — Half fill the teapot with boiling water, let it stand a minute or two until thoroughly hot, then empty it. Put in the requisite quantity of tea (the old rule of a level teaspoon for each person and one over is a good one, but for a number, a smaller proportion may be allowed), and pour on gently enough boiling water to half fill the teapot. Take the teapot to the kettle, and never the kettle to the teapot. Cover with a cosy, or let it stand in a warm place to infuse for three minutes, then fill up the teapot and pour out the tea. Tea is never good if allowed to stand too long, and the use of a tea cosy is to be deprecated, if it is employed to keep tea hot for a long time until it becomes black and bitter. If the tea has to be kept hot for any length of time, it should be poured off the leaves into another teapot, or some teapots are fitted with an inner case which contains the leaves, and which can be removed when the tea has infused sufficiently. When only a cup of tea is required, a tea infuser is a useful thing to use. Both cup and infuser should be well heated with bo'ling water before being used. Sugar, milk, or cream, or sliced lemon should be served with the tea. When sugar and milk or cream are used, they should be put into the teacup before the tea. The addition of milk makes the tea more wholesome, that of sugar less so.