Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1871-03-02
A Good Cnp OF Tea.

Coffee needs chapter by itself; but
/ how few women care precisely for the
/ best tea that can he made from the or
/ binary qualities Every thing with
them depends on whether their tea cost
one doller and twenty-five cents or two
dollars pound and they will not try
to make the best of inferior grades
/ Oolong at seventy-five cents pound
may be made more grateful than Flow
cry Pekoe neglected, smoked, or soaked,
/ instead of infused. Use an earthen
teapot rather than tin or silver, if you
want the finest flavor of your te,. II
may be set in metal holder filled with
water, and q lamp beneath 70 keep it
hot, Put the ten, one spoonful for each
/ person, in n saucer, molsteh with eol9 wa
ter, not enough to cover It by ss4y means,
and set it in a hot oven two or three min
utes, till the leaves uncuri and steam
Rinse the teapot with scaldiug water
to heat it through, put in the tea, and
pour on boiling water, just half as much
as you expect to want, and cover
quickly, placing piece at thick flannel
or felt under the lid and over the spout
to retain all the perfume. A delicate
secret which | have to tell is that the
/ charming flavor of fine tea may be Civ
en- to poorer sorts by adding the petals
| of apple, orange, or lemon blossoms to
! the canister, letting them dry among
! the tea, but covering close for week.
The flavor of Flowery Pekoo, thnt
rarest of teas, which can only be bad
/ IN this country 10y favor, is due ia the
blossoms of the tea plant mixed among
: the leaves. You may nave seen
the genuine tea-plult IN hot
/ houses. There is one III the
Experimental Garden at Washing
ton, d most beautiful window-pant-
dwarf, Tiny thing that il is--with glossy
dark leaves, callow At the top of the
three-lnch shrub, where the young
shoots put forth, and Il waXen-white
blossom to which belongs the soul of
odor, rich, vague, aud delicate, like np-
buds, with the faintest suspicion OF
tea, more refined than anything but the
white rose. 70 drink tea with such
fragrance inspires one aud no wonder,
for the rare tea which Russians love,
and buy ut four dollars pound, is
made Of these callow shoots and odor-
GUS flowers. We viii be content To
perfume our canisters with such of the
rosacea az come to our hand, strewing
the tenderest stri ps OF cherry bark in
the bottom, to yield in time their wine
like breath to the contents. This must
be stripped from young twige of the
second year in spring or fall, when the
sap runs freest; but beware how You
put any thing more of them than their
perfume into the teapot
When the water is added, let the pot
stand for five minutes where il will be
hot as can be without boiling, IN ket-
tie OF water kept just at the boiling
point by pouring in cup of cold water
when the ebullition grows fierce Then
fill with boiling water and take tc the
table III porcelain After this keep it
hot, SO that sugar and milk will have
Just time to combine with the beverage
while it cools enough TO drink. The
veriest kitchen-maid will not want to
steep those tea leaves af.erward; the
soul is out of them, and not lost iii
signs, but caught in your egg shell
dragon-cups. Again, | say, keep the
tea hot A cup that comes from the
teapot il fit state to drink at once,
should be rejected.