Sherbet Tea
Place a spoonful of lemon sherbet in a glass with two tablespoonfuls of lemon syrup and a dash of acid phosphate. Nearly fill the glass with cold tea, and add a little cracked ice and soda water. This is a delicious drink for hot days.
A soda-fountain drink built in the glass, in the order given: sweet base first, then tea, then ice and soda. The proportions assume a tall fountain tumbler, not a modern pint glass.
- Acid phosphateA dilute phosphoric acid solution with calcium, magnesium and potassium salts, a common soda-fountain ingredient for its dry, tart bite without the fruitiness of citrus. It fell out of general use by mid-century but is made again for the cocktail trade; a dash means a few drops to a scant quarter-teaspoon. Lemon juice is not a substitute in character, only in sourness.
- Lemon syrupFountain lemon syrup was a heavy sugar syrup flavoured with lemon oil and juice, sweeter and more intensely lemony than modern bottled cordial. Two tablespoonfuls of 2:1 sugar syrup with fresh juice and a little zest will come close; if using a commercial cordial, cut back or the drink turns cloying.
- The sherbetPeriod lemon sherbets ranged from plain water ices to versions enriched with milk, cream or egg white, and the recipe does not say which is meant. Lemon sorbet is the safer choice, since a dairy sherbet may separate against the acid phosphate and tea.
- The teaThe recipe says only "cold tea"; plain black tea, brewed and thoroughly chilled and unsweetened, is the likely intent. Brewing it a little stronger will help, since ice, soda and syrup all dilute it.
- Order of assemblyThe recipe's order is sherbet, syrup and phosphate first, then tea, then ice and soda; no stirring is specified. Putting the soda in last is usual fountain practice, to keep the fizz.
- Glass sizeFountain glasses of the period commonly ran somewhere in the range of 8 to 12 ounces. Scaled to a 16-ounce glass the flavourings would thin out, so either use a small tumbler or increase everything but the tea.
- YieldOne drink.
Non-alcoholic drink books proliferated in the years before national Prohibition, and much of the temperance publishing trade drew its recipes from the soda fountain, which was by then a serious commercial enterprise with its own syrups, its own bar equipment and its own house acid: acid phosphate gave a fountain drink the sharp, mouth-watering finish that wine or bitters gave a cocktail. Iced tea itself was still a comparatively young habit in American homes, generally traced to the spread of cheap ice and commercial refrigeration in the later nineteenth century, and combining it with sherbet and soda was exactly the kind of embellishment a fountain man used to turn a cold drink into something worth paying for.