Tea

Water

Tea making is an art, but one which may be easily acquired by observing the following rules :

Do not use water which has boiled a long time in brewing tea.

Do not use water which has not reached the boiling point.

Do not allow the tea to brew for more than five minutes.

Do not make tea in a cold teapot; rinse with hot water before placing leaves in pot.

Do not pour a second water over leaves when first brew is exhausted.

Do not buy too cheap a quality of tea and expect perfect results.

Always use a porcelain or earthenware teapot; tea experts tell us that the fragrant leaf should never touch metal. Put in the tea in the proportion of one ounce to six or seven persons, or a teaspoonful for each person and a teaspoonful for the teapot. Pour on freshly boiling water and allow to stand for a few moments to draw. As to the kind of tea to be used, that must be left to one's personal preference.

For Iced Tea. Make tea of rather stronger quality than usual; pour from leaves, after standing five minutes, directly upon the cracked ice in glasses. Or serve in glasses with crushed ice and one slice lemon in each glass, or add a few whole cloves to hot tea, let stand two minutes, strain, allow to become cold, and serve in glasses with sugar to taste and cracked ice.

Hardly any well-regulated household is without its afternoon tea apparatus. All sorts of novelties are on the market now for those who have taken up this pretty fad. The old-fashioned tea ball has been superseded by a new percolator in the form of a basket hung on a silver chain. The tea urn is being ousted by the Russian samovar, which is a metal utensil standing about two feet high. The urn is filled with water, which is heated by charcoal placed in a pipe, which passes through the urn, and which has a chimney attached.

To Make Russian Tea. Pour just enough boiling water over three generous tablespoonfuls of English breakfast tea to cover it. Let it stand a minute, then draw the water off. Now pour in two pints boiling water from the samovar. Let it steep four minutes. Serve in cups with thin slices of lemon and powdered sugar.