This is quite the prettiest way of making tea, and girls who appreciate the chance for coquetries and tableaux that the rite affords, are enamored with the tea ball, providing always that there is some gallant man about to handle the burning silver when it is necessary to empty and refill the ball. Huge brass somovars for boiling water on the table have been brought over from Russia for several families, but the bother of lighting the charcoal in the central cylinder and getting steam up in time renders them really a nuisance to the owners. The wife of the Russian Minister banishes the somovar from her tea-table and substitutes a pretty silver pot over an alcohol flame. — Washington Letter. 1 68 BEVERAGES. 169 THE STYLE IN TEA. CHEESE STRAWS AND SALTED ALMONDS. There are some conservatives who still take sugar and even cream in their tea, but these heresies are fast giving way to the newer styles. The real connoisseur takes his tea without any modifications, and fashion, although it allows a lump of sugar, rather ordains a slice of lemon or a spoonful of preserves, according to Russian style. About half the people who sip tea these afternoons do it because it is the fashion, and not because they care for the drink itself. Last season the cheese straws were prominent on every tea table, and the indigestible little strips of pie-crust filled with grated cheese and sprinkled with red pepper were supposed to be just the thing to spur up a jaded appetite. This year the salted almond is the favorite dish of the after- noon nibblers, and confectioners are doing a great business in roasting almonds and then turning them over in a pan with a little butter and a great deal of salt. A man who knows tells me that there is nothing like the almond anyhow to clear the brain and steady the tongue when there have been loo many wines at dinner, and the salted almond is even more of a restorative than the fresh nut. The almonds are naturally prominent on every dinner table and now have found their way to the tea tray to clear the Clouded brain of tea drinkers. A CUP OF GOOD COFFEE. " It is one of the simplest things in the world to make a cup of good coffee, and this can easily b« accom- plished by using a little common sense. If you put boiling water on coffee and not let it boil, you will have all the good qualities preserved. One reason why dyspeptics cannot drink coffee is because it is boiled. The style of coffee-pot is just a matter of fancy. I have made as good coffee in an old tomato can as I have ever sipped from a cup filled from the finest French coffee urn. We should take lessons in these matters from the Turks and Arabians, who grind their coffee to a fine powder. When the coffee is ground as fine as possible put it into a little bag of unbleached muslin, which should be tied tightly enough to prevent the escape of the grounds. If you use a cup of unground coffee you can make over a quart of very strong, black coffee. In making coffee many persons sacrifice flavor for strength. Bitterness comes from boiling. When boiling water is placed on the bag of ground coffee it should stand at least three minutes before serving. Remember the longer it stands the stronger it becomes. Be careful not to allow the watered coffee to boil." K. COFFEE AS IN FRANCE.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

This is quite the prettiest way of making tea, and girls who appreciate the chance for coquetries and tableaux that the rite affords, are enamored with the tea ball, providing always that there is some gallant man about to handle the burning silver when it is necessary to empty and refill the ball. Huge brass somovars for boiling water on the table have been brought over from Russia for several families, but the bother of lighting the charcoal in the central cylinder and getting steam up in time renders them really a nuisance to the owners. The wife of the Russian Minister banishes the somovar from her tea-table and substitutes a pretty silver pot over an alcohol flame. — Washington Letter. 1 68 BEVERAGES. 169 THE STYLE IN TEA. CHEESE STRAWS AND SALTED ALMONDS. There are some conservatives who still take sugar and even cream in their tea, but these heresies are fast giving way to the newer styles. The real connoisseur takes his tea without any modifications, and fashion, although it allows a lump of sugar, rather ordains a slice of lemon or a spoonful of preserves, according to Russian style. About half the people who sip tea these afternoons do it because it is the fashion, and not because they care for the drink itself. Last season the cheese straws were prominent on every tea table, and the indigestible little strips of pie-crust filled with grated cheese and sprinkled with red pepper were supposed to be just the thing to spur up a jaded appetite. This year the salted almond is the favorite dish of the afternoon nibblers, and confectioners are doing a great business in roasting almonds and then turning them over in a pan with a little butter and a great deal of salt. A man who knows tells me that there is nothing like the almond anyhow to clear the brain and steady the tongue when there have been too many wines at dinner, and the salted almond is even more of a restorative than the fresh nut. The almonds are naturally prominent on every dinner table and now have found their way to the tea tray to clear the Clouded brain of tea drinkers. A CUP OF GOOD COFFEE. " It is one of the simplest things in the world to make a cup of good coffee, and this can easily be accomplished by using a little common sense. If you put boiling water on coffee and not let it boil, you will have all the good qualities preserved. One reason why dyspeptics cannot drink coffee is because it is boiled. The style of coffee-pot is just a matter of fancy. I have made as good coffee in an old tomato can as I have ever sipped from a cup filled from the finest French coffee urn. We should take lessons in these matters from the Turks and Arabians, who grind their coffee to a fine powder. When the coffee is ground as fine as possible put it into a little bag of unbleached muslin, which should be tied tightly enough to prevent the escape of the grounds. If you use a cup of unground coffee you can make over a quart of very strong, black coffee. In making coffee many persons sacrifice flavor for strength. Bitterness comes from boiling. When boiling water is placed on the bag of ground coffee it should stand at least three minutes before serving. Remember the longer it stands the stronger it becomes. Be careful not to allow the watered coffee to boil." K. COFFEE AS IN FRANCE.

Home dissertations