What to drink

A book of beverage recipes which did not give directions for making coffee, tea and cocoa would surely fail in its mission.

I have given recipes from many countries, and by many men famous for coffee making, feeling sure that each reader will find the exact one to please the fancy of himself or herself and family.

COFFEE

Even though we as Americans are coffee drinkers to almost an alarming degree, it is not often that we find a cook who really makes excellent coffee.

When purchasing coffee one must be influenced by one’s taste; whether all Java, whether equal parts of Mocha and Java, or whether a blend of one’s own or a commercial blend is used.

One thing should be remembered, and that is: good coffee is served as soon as it is made.

The pot should always be hot before the coffee is made.

The late Francis B. Thurber, a coffee importer, who made coffee a study both as it came to this country and as it was grown in its native state, gives the following recipe as his idea of unexcelled coffee:

To one cupful of coffee ground moderately fine add one egg with shell, and enough cold water to wet the grounds. Pour on one pint of boiling water and let it boil for fifteen minutes. Remove the pot from the fire and allow it to stand for three minutes to settle, then strain into a warm coffee pot. Serve in cups half filled with boiling milk, or if cream is used dilute with hot water.

FRENCH DRIP COFFEE

For cafe noir use two tablespoonfuls of finely ground coffee for each cup. Coffee should be packed tightly as possible in the upper part of the French pot, and the boiling water poured through. When this has dripped through, redrip and serve.

Parisian housekeepers, before throwing out the grounds, pour boiling water through the coffee again, reserving this for use the next time coffee is made.

Much of the flavor of French coffee is said to be due to this practice.

VIENNA COFFEE

The pot required to make coffee after this method is the style with a cloth bag in the top.

Use two level tablespoonfuls of coffee to the cup, and place in the bag, pouring the boiling water through.

Serve with hot milk.

ENGLISH COFFEE

After the recipe of M. Soyer, a former chef of the Savoy.

Place two ounces of moderately fine ground coffee in a stew-pan, and without adding water, hold over the fire, stirring with a spoon until the coffee is very hot. Pour over the coffee a pint of boiling water and cover closely; remove at once from fire and let stand for five minutes, then strain through a cloth, heat and serve with or without cream.

COFFEE, BRAZILIAN STYLE

In Brazil, whence practically all of the world’s supply of coffee comes, the popular method is to place the coffee in a woolen bag, which is placed in a pot and boiling water poured over it. The coffee is immediately poured off.

COFFEE, BATAVIA STYLE

(As made by the Dutch coffee planters in Java)

The coffee is ground fine and packed tightly in the top of a French pot. The required amount of cold water is poured over it and allowed to drip through. It requires about five hours for the process if the coffee is packed as tightly as it should be. The coffee is then heated and from three to four times its volume of hot milk added.

TURKISH COFFEE

A heaping dessertspoonful of powdered coffee is added to one small cupful of cold water. This is brought to a boil, and the coffee and grounds are poured into the cup.

Turkish coffee is drunk grounds and all, without cream or sugar.

KAFFEE “KULTUR”

It is the unanimous observation of civilized travelers that good coffee is unobtainable in Germany. The foremost scientist of that race, the famous Baron von Liebig, nearly a hundred years ago wrote an exhaustive treatise on the subject of coffee and coffee making, and devised the concoction which among Germans now passes for coffee. Was it not given them by authority? This is von Liebig’s recipe:

Put three-quarters of the amount of coffee to be used on the fire in boiling water; boil from ten to fifteen minutes. Then put in the remaining one-quarter of the coffee, cover and let it stand for five minutes. Stir, strain and serve with an equal amount of milk.

EXCELLENT COFFEE

Use a drip pot, one having a cloth bag. Wet the bag, place the coffee in this, and pack as tightly as possible around the sides and bottom. Pour in slowly three cupfuls of boiling water to each half cupful of powdered coffee. Place the pot on the back of the range, or on an asbestos mat with only enough flame under to keep it warm, and pour the water slowly.

Serve with cream as soon as dripped.

TEA

Chin Hung, Chinese scholar and philosopher, to whom all the agricultural and medical knowledge of China is traced, once said, so I am told: “Tea is better than wine, for it leadeth not to intoxication, neither does it cause a man to say foolish things. It is better than water, for it doth not carry disease, neither doth it act as poison.”

There are really but two kinds of teas on the market: green and black. The color of the tea depends on the oxidation; black tea being exposed to the air, or oxidized before final drying, while green tea is dried immediately after rolling.

There are a number of different brands with which we are all familiar, such as Formosa, Oolong, Ceylon, English Breakfast, Orange Pekoe, and Flowery Pekoe.

Right here I will say that if a spray of orange blossom is kept in the tea caddy one need not pay the price for Orange Pekoe.

TEA MAKING

Be sure that the water is boiling, and use it at once. Rinse the pot with hot water. Place the tea in the pot in a “ball,” and pour over the freshly boiled water, allowing it to stand for five minutes, then the tea-ball and the tea should be removed.

Use a level teaspoonful of tea to one and a half cupfuls of water. I think most people will want to dilute this, even.

RUSSIAN TEA

“Russian tea” has a rather inflated reputation, and is not really known in this country as it is used there.

A great amount of tea infusion is used, as the samovar is always in evidence, but the water is poured on the tea again and again, making a great amount of liquid without much strength. Sugar and lemon juice is added and it is drunk from a glass.

ICED TEA

One may make fresh tea and pour it over cracked ice in individual glasses, or one may make a rather strong solution of tea, and add cracked ice to it in a large pitcher, or make a weaker solution, and pour over cracked ice in glasses. The method must depend upon the fancy of one’s family, or the hostess.

ICED TEA WITH MINT

While iced tea is usually served with sugar and lemon, I am quite sure that in addition a spray of mint will be found most acceptable. Place the mint in the glass and pour the tea over.

HOT TEA WITH MINT

I find that a cupful of hot tea into which a few leaves of mint have been placed is most refreshing. This may be served either with or without sugar.

COCOA AND CHOCOLATE

It is very rare for one to serve chocolate these days, as cocoa in a perfected form is put up by reliable firms in this country, and most hostesses prefer it to chocolate, which is more difficult to prepare and rather richer than wise to serve to the family generally.

COCOA

Bring the milk to the boiling point and pour in the cocoa moistened with a little warm water. Stir and allow to boil, beating with a cream whip for a minute or two. Pour through a strainer into a cup or individual pot. Multiply this amount by the number of cups to be served.

COCOA No. 2

Use a porcelain kettle; mix the cocoa with enough hot water to make a smooth paste, pour the milk over it slowly, mixing constantly, so that there will be no lumps left undissolved. Bring to the boiling point, and boil for ten minutes. Strain, and serve at once. A teaspoonful of sweetened whipped cream added to each cup adds perceptibly to the acceptability. Sweeten to taste.

CHOCOLATE

Grate enough unsweetened chocolate to make two tablespoonfuls, mix with a little boiling water, and melt slowly over a low fire, then add the milk, pouring carefully, stirring while pouring. Allow this to boil for ten minutes and strain. Whipped cream added to each serving is delightful, although it makes the drink a bit too rich for most people. It would be unadvisable for persons given to stoutness to drink chocolate.

CHOCOLATE
(Recipe of 1845)

Shave the chocolate fine, pour on the boiling water; boil for twenty minutes, add milk to please and boil up again. Serve.

CHOCOLATE (CRÉOLE RECIPE)

Grate the chocolate; mix with a little hot water, and stir into the milk which should have reached the simmering stage. Stir until the mixture boils; allow it to boil up once, and serve immediately. This may be sweetened after serving or allow two tablespoonfuls of sugar to the full amount. Add whipped cream if desired.

COCOA (CRÉOLE RECIPE)

Put the milk in a double boiler; moisten the cocoa with a little milk, and pour into the milk as it begins to boil, stirring constantly. Let it boil up once, only, and serve. Whipped cream may be used with it if desired.

COCOA (OLD NEW ENGLAND RECIPE)

Mix the cocoa with a little water and pour into the full amount of water and allow to boil for a half hour, skim, add the milk and allow it to boil up again. Serve.