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Quaker Drink
3 sprigs of mint 3 cups tea infusion Juice of 3 lemons Juice of 3 oranges 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger 2 cups cold water Bruise mint in a pitcher and pour the tea over the fruit-juice, ginger mixed with two tablespoons hot water and the cold water. Chill and serve.
A tart, unsweetened iced tea punch from the era when fruit-juice coolers stood in for cocktails. It comes together in five minutes, but the proportions need a little judgement.
- Tea infusionThree cups of brewed tea; the recipe does not say which kind or how strong, so ordinary drinking strength is a reasonable reading. Brew it fresh and strain it. The recipe simply says to pour the tea over the juice, though some cooks prefer to let it cool a little first.
- No sugar is listedWith the juice of three lemons and three oranges and no sweetening at all, the result is sharply sour. If you want it sweetened, sugar or simple syrup can be stirred into the warm tea to taste; nothing of the kind appears in the original.
- Bruising the mintPress the sprigs against the side of the pitcher with a spoon until they smell strongly of mint rather than shredding them; bruising rather than tearing is the usual advice for keeping the drink clear.
- The gingerPowdered ginger disperses poorly in cold liquid, which is presumably why the recipe slakes it in two tablespoons of hot water first. It never fully dissolves; stir it to a smooth slurry before it goes into the pitcher or it will settle out as grit.
- Strain the juiceNothing here catches pulp or pips. Strain the lemon and orange juice as it goes in, and strain the mint out before serving if the drink is to stand more than an hour.
- ChillingThe recipe says to chill rather than to pour over ice; roughly seven cups of liquid diluted by melting ice loses what little body it has. A couple of hours in the refrigerator will do.
- YieldAbout 1 3/4 quarts, or six to eight cups. Doubles cleanly for a punch bowl.
Beverages named for the Quakers often signalled temperance: a drink you could serve at a party without alcohol, its plainness advertised in the name. This one belongs to the American tradition of the tea punch, in which cold tea, citrus and mint stand in for a spirit base. The formula is essentially a lemonade stretched with tea and lifted with dried ginger, a keeping spice that was easier to come by than fresh root ginger. Drinks of this kind -- sweetened, spiced fruit-and-tea cups -- were served at church socials and women's club meetings from the late nineteenth century onward.