The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1883-07-12
How to Make Ideal Tea.

naNlnB Decn IOfJunate enough 10 Sc
cure pound or two of pure, fragrant,
unadulterated tea, we must see that il
is kept in an air-tight canister. If it he
not so kept the tea will lose its crsE-
ness and flavor by absorbing moisture
to some extent from the surrounding
atmosphere and by yielding up its vola-
tile oil.
The tea-kettle should be kept scrupu.
lously clean, both inside and out We
can not expect TO make good tea from
water boiled in kettle that is barked
inside with lime or other deposit, and
outside with SCOT. A dirty kettle
proves the servant to be Slut, and
darkly hints at carelessness in the mis-
tress.
The water should be soft. There Is
nothing to beat rain water that has been
kept under ground in large tanks.
The water should be filtered.
The fire over which tea-kettle boils
ought to be as free from smoke as pos
sible, otherwise it is not impossible
that the water may partake of the flavor
of peat or burning Goals and the tea be
spoiled.
Before the water has come to the boil
the teapot should be well-warmed and
she tea put in. 1t may then stand for a
short time on the hob until the water
hoils, when
The tea should at once be made We
heat the teapot in order to conserve all
the calcoric in the boiling water We
make the tea as soon as the water comes
to the boil because good tea can only be
made with freshly-boiling water, not
boiling water that has been boiled be-
fore or has Deen kept boiling too long.
Boiled water is flat because il is non
aerated, that is the .swhv and the
wherefore. y Servants want TO be
drilled 10 this, or their heads drilled and
the truth rammed into them. A worse
fault than even this is making tea with
water that has gone off the boil, which
servants often do.
Carbonate of soda should never be
used to draw the tea.
1t is best, we think (but we sit subject
to contradictory, to pour on all the wa
ter that is wanted, for the first cup at all
events, at once, and not to merely wet
the tea, as it is popularly called.
II is n mistake to add fresh tea to that
which has already been made by way of
getting stronger, and We. et.wetconstantly
hear the remark made, "Put a little
more tea in the pot If more tea or
stronger tea is wanted, it ought to be
made in another teapot, and a sparp
one often comes in handy.
A teapot ought to contain enough tea
TO go all round the company once, at
leasts the habit of half-filline all the
cups, then adding boiling water and
completing the work, is Objectionable,
not to say stingy.
Urns may be used, and some of
them. look very nice on the table: but
water should be boiling and the urn IT,
self must previously have been we'll
busted.
What is the best kind of teapot
There is difference of opinion about
this For our part we like the old-fash-
ioned brown earthenware one, provided
it holds enough. Next comes the silver
teapot, which some prefer
White china teapots are also good.
But in whatever teapot the tea is made,
it ought to be clean and pretty new: an
old teapot gets bad in the enamel. or
lined with deposit. An old CLAY pine.
perhaps, but q new teapot
How long should tea draw? From
three minutes to seven, according to the
kind of tea and the character of the
water
Invalids and people with delicate
stomachs (and everybody else for that
matter) ought to be most careful
to obtain tea Of a superior excellence
and quite free from facing and adul.
teration, and ought to attend rigidIy 10
the plan of making cup of good tea
which we have just been endeayorino
to explain. The invalid should never
on any account drink green or scented
tea. The tea he is to drink, after hay-
ing been infused for the proper time.
say five minutes, should be poured off
the leaves into a well-heated, clean tea
pot, and served in that, covered by the
cozy. if there be one about. DR.
Staples.
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