Class Day Cup

A soda-fountain drink built in the glass rather than shaken. The whole thing depends on the flavoring syrups, which the original assumes you have on the back bar.

• The syrupsFountain syrups of this era were generally heavy sugar syrups, often something like two parts sugar to one of water, flavored with extract or fruit. Modern bottled coffee-shop syrups are usually thinner, so taste as you go; ice cream topping is too thick to disperse in cold milk.
• Sweet cream"Sweet" here only means not soured, i.e. plain unfermented cream. Use light cream or half-and-half; heavy whipping cream will make three tablespoons feel like a dessert rather than a drink.
• Glass sizeFountain glasses of the period commonly ran about 8 to 10 ounces. The syrups and cream come to roughly three fluid ounces, so with the glass a quarter full of ice there is room for something like 4 to 5 ounces of milk before the soda water goes in.
• Cracked iceCracked, not cubed, and not crushed. Cracked ice chills fast without watering the milk down the way crushed ice does; a cube wrapped in a towel and struck with a rolling pin gives the right size.
• The soda water at the endAdd it last, in a small splash, and stir once at most. Poured hard into milk it will foam up and can go over the rim.
• Order of assemblyThe original mixes the two syrups and the cream together first, then pours that into a glass already a quarter full of cracked ice, and only then adds the milk and soda. Combining the syrups and cream before they meet the ice keeps the syrup from sitting in a slug at the bottom.
• YieldOne drink. Multiply by mixing the syrup-and-cream base in a pitcher and portioning it, but build each glass separately so the soda stays lively.