Black Tea For Sixty-Four Cups

One pound of black tea and four gallons of water.

Green Tea For Forty-Eight Cups

One pound of Oolong and green tea for three gallons of water.

Black Tea

Put one ounce of black tea into a teapot; moisten it with two gills of boiling water to infuse and open the leaves and leave it thus for ten minutes, then add eight gills of boiling water. A few moments later stir with a teaspoon and let stand. .Serve at the same time, sugar, cream, toast or cakes. Never allow utensils for tea-making to be used for any other purpose. The teapot should always be plunged in hot water before making the tea.

For Green And Oolong

Use an ounce and a half instead of an ounce and prepare it with the same quantity of water.

Serve the tea on a tray covered with a cloth, accompanied by a sugar bowl, suger tongs, teaspoons, cups and saucers, a pot of cream, boiling water, a teapot with a strainer, toast, fancy rolls, muffins, etc. For a party use the same preparation, only having the tea poured into cups.

Russian Tea For Twelve Cups, Samovar

The samovar is a brass or silver-plated urn having a cylinder in the center, with a grating at the bottom. Lay some paper in the cylinder, over place small splints of wood, and on these some charcoal. Light it from underneath and on the cylinder arrange a pipe that is then connected to the outside or the chimney. Fill the urn with water. between the cylinder and the outside; this part of the samovar is provided with a faucet. As soon as the water boils put the samovar on the table on a silver or brass salver. A crown is fastened to the center cylinder to infuse the tea and keep it hot. Put in twelve teaspoonful of the very best Oolong, Formosa or any other preferred brand of tea. Pour over three teacupfuls of boiling water and allow it to draw for five minutes, keeping it hermetically closed and very hot, then add nine more cupfuls of boiling water, and even more should the tea be too strong. Gentlemen are seldom present at afternoon teas. Serve the tea in cups, but for the evening (eight o'clock), tea is then poured into glasses for the gentlemen guests. These glasses are plain, four inches high, three inches wide on top and two inches at the bottom; they are to be placed in silver or silvered glass holders, having handles; the ladies' tea is served in cups.

Cream must be handed around at the same time, also very thin slices of lemon in crystal dishes, accompanied by small silver forks. Strawberry or raspberry jam, rose or currant jelly flavored with vanilla, according to taste, very thin slices of buttered bread, dry sweet tea cakes and sugar broken into pieces the size of a currant may also be served with the tea.