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Beverages
BEVERAGE is any drink. Water is the beverage A provided for man by Nature. Water is an essentiaì to life. All beverages contain a large percentage of water. therefore their uses should be considered :
I. To quench thirst.
II. To introduce water into the circulatory system.
III. To regulate body temperature.
IV. To assist in carrying off waste.
V. To nourish.
VI. To stimulate the nervous system and various organs. VII. For medicinal purposes Freshly boiled water should be used for making hot bev erages; freshly drawn water for making cold beverages. TEA Tea is used by more than one-half the human race; and, although the United States is not a tea-drinking country, one and one-half pounds are consumed per capita per annum.
All tea is grown from one species of shrub, Thea, the leaves of which constitute the tea of commerce. Climate, elevation, soil, cultivation, and care in picking and curing all go to make up the differences. First-quality tea is made from young, whole leaves. Two kinds of tea are considered: - Black tea, made from leaves which have been allowed to ferment before curing.
Green tea, made from unfermented leaves artificially colored.
TEA The best black tea comes from India and Ceylon. Some familiar brands are Oolong, Formosa, English Breakfast, Orange Pekoe, and Flowery Pekoe. The last two named, often employed at the "five o'clock tea," command high prices; they are made from the youngest leaves. Orange Pekoe is scented with orange leaves. The best green tea comes from Japan. Some familiar brands are Hyson, Japan, and Gunpowder.
From analysis, it has been found that tea is rich in proteid, but taken as an infusion acts as a stimulant rather than as a nutrient. The nutriment is gained from sugar and milk served with it. The stimulating property of tea is due to the alkaloid, theine, together with an essential oil; it contains an astringent, tannin. Black tea contains less theine, essential oil, and tannin than green tea. The tannic acid, developed from the tannin by infusion, injures the coating of the stomach.
Although tea is not a substitute for food, it appears so for a considerable period of time, as its stimulating effect is immediate. It is certain that less food is required where much tea is taken, for by its use there is less wear of the tissues, consequently need of repair. When taken to excess, it so acts on the nervous system as to produce sleeplessness or insomnia, and finally makes a complete wreck of its victim. Taken in moderation, it acts as a mild stimulant, and ingests a considerable amount of water into the system; it heats the body in winter, and cools the body in summer. Children should never be allowed to drink tea, and it had better be avoided by the young, while it may be indulged in by the aged, as it proves a valuable stimulant as the functional activities of the stomach become weakened. Freshly boiled water should be used for making tea.
Boiled, because below the boiling-point the stimulating property, theine, would not be extracted. Freshly boiled, because long cooking renders it flat and insipid to taste on account of escape of its atmospheric gases. Tea should always be infused, never boiled. Long steeping destroys the delicate flavor by developing a larger amount of tannic acid. How to Make Tea 3 teaspoons tea 2 cups boiling water Scald an earthern or china teapot.
Put in tea, and pour on boiling water. Let stand on back of range or in a warm place five minutes. Strain and serve immediately, with or without sugar and milk. Avoid second steeping of leaves with addition of a few fresh ones. If this is done, so large an amount of tannin is extracted that various ills are apt to follow.
Five o'Clock Tea When tea is made in dining or drawing room, a "Five o'Clock Tea-kettle" (Samovar), and tea-ball or teapot are used.
Beneath the physiology lecture there is a working method: three teaspoons of leaf, two cups of water off the boil, five minutes, strained and served at once. A few of Farmer's assumptions need adjusting.
- The hinge: strain itThe single instruction that separates this from a bitter cup is straining the leaf out at five minutes rather than leaving the pot to sit. Tea left on the leaves keeps extracting tannins and turns harsh within a few more minutes.
- ProportionsThree teaspoons to two cups is strong by modern habit, roughly a heaped teaspoon per cup plus one for the pot. For most black teas a level teaspoon per 6-8 oz cup is closer to current practice; adjust down before you adjust the steeping time.
- "Back of the range"On a coal or wood range the back was the cooler zone, warm enough to hold the pot near temperature without further cooking. A modern equivalent is a warmed pot with a cosy or towel over it, off the heat.
- Water temperatureFull boiling water suits black tea. Japanese green teas of the sort listed here are better at about 175F; boiling water on green leaf produces exactly the bitterness the text blames on long steeping.
- Scalding the potNot fussiness. A cold china pot pulls the water well below boiling on contact, and the infusion is weak and flat as a result. Swirl boiling water in the pot, tip it out, then add the leaf.
- Freshly drawn waterThe reasoning given is that long boiling drives off dissolved gases and leaves the water flat. Prolonged boiling does reduce dissolved gas, though how much difference this makes to taste is debatable. Draw cold water and bring it to the boil once.
- Green tea, then and now"Green tea, made from unfermented leaves artificially colored" reflects a real nineteenth-century adulteration practice with Prussian blue and gypsum, now long gone. Green tea sold today is simply unoxidised leaf.
- The health claimsTheine is caffeine under an older name. The assertions that tea injures the stomach lining, reduces the body's need for food, or wrecks its victim are period medical opinion rather than fact, and can be read as history rather than instruction.
- YieldTwo cups, in the standardised half-pint measuring cup the book uses. Scale the leaf with the water rather than the number of drinkers.
Fannie Farmer's beverage chapter opens with a paragraph of physiology because the Boston Cooking School was as much a teaching institution in domestic science as a cookery school, and its students were expected to justify a cup of tea in terms of circulation, temperature regulation and waste. The five o'clock tea she mentions was a well-established English social ritual by the 1890s, and her note that Orange Pekoe and Flowery Pekoe commanded high prices at such occasions reflects the arrival of Indian and Ceylon teas, which the book names as the source of the best black tea. Her figure of a pound and a half per capita per year is a fair reminder that the United States was a coffee country, as it remains. The samovar she names as a "Five o'Clock Tea-kettle" is the Russian urn.