Strong tea and scandal - bless me, how refreshing!

- Sheridan's School for Scandal.

COFFEE, tea, and cocoa are stimulants affecting the circulation and nerves. Taken in moderation, they cheer and do not harm the healthy person if rightly prepared; but tea and coffee can be so treated as to draw out their caffein, theine, and tannic acid to such a degree as to render them exceedingly harmful. For persons who find their use unfavorable, there are substitutes on the market, made of roasted and toasted cereals.

Coffee

5 tablespoons ground coffee White of 1 egg (or less)

4 cups boiling water 1 cup cold water

Use an aluminum or granite-ware pot and always make the coffee fresh, scalding the pot each time before using.

Wash the egg; break and beat slightly. Add half the cold water; mix some with the coffee; put in the pot and add the boiling water. Bring to the boiling point; add the remainder of the cold water to hasten the grounds in settling. Stand the pot where it will keep hot but not boil for five minutes; then serve at once, as coffee allowed to stand becomes flat and loses its aroma.

The egg is not necessary; but most cooks use a clean shell or a little of the white of an egg. Others beat the whole egg with a little water, but use only a portion of it, keeping the rest for further use in a covered glass in the ice chest.

Instantaneous Coffee

6 tablespoons pulverized coffee

6 cups boiling water

A variety of pots are on the market for making instantaneous coffee, all containing a strainer to hold the coffee, which must be pulverized, not simply ground. Put the coffee in the strainer; scald out the pot; adjust the strainer and set the pot where the coffee will keep hot but not boil. Pour on freshly boiled water slowly, covering between additions. When filtered pour off one cup and let it run again through the strainer. Serve at once.

Serving Coffee

Cream is usually served with coffee, but scalded milk renders the coffee more digestible than does cream. Fill the cup one fourth full of hot scalded milk; pour on the freshly-made coffee, adding sugar if desired.

Whether cream or milk is used, it is better to pour the coffee on the cream or milk.

After-dinner coffee should be made very strong and served black.

Coffee In Bulk

1 pound ground coffee

9 quarts water

1 egg

Mix the coffee with the egg that has been thinned by a little water, and tie it into four muslin bags. Let these soak in the water for three or four hours; bring to a boil and serve.

This amount will serve fifty persons.

Tea

2 teaspoons tea

4 cups boiling water

Use an earthen or china teapot and have water freshly boiled. Scald out the teapot; put in the tea and pour on the boiling water. Let stand in a warm place for five minutes; pour off and serve.

Never let the tea boil; never let it stand a long time on the leaves; and never make more by adding fresh leaves to the old.