Morning journal and courier., 1883-11-26
A D1squfsitfOa 8 on Tea.

If many cups of tea have the reverse of beneficial effect on the system, on account of the reection and sense of exhaustion which they invariably produce, yet the first cup of tea offered is as invigorRting as it is welcome, and tea is as closely associated with English and American women in the minds of French men as is coffee with the French in the minds of Americans. As to the accompaniments of tea-cream and sugar-a recent writer boldly asks, Why don't we foreswear them both ? as at this hour of the day they inter- fere far more with the digestive organs than does the tea itself he considers it would be always as rational to add cream and sugar to wine as to delicately favored tea. This is rather going ahead, writer, and if we are in clined to sacrifice our sugar we have not yet made up our minds to give up our cream indeed, gentlemen who drink tea are very free with the cream, both when helping the ladies and when helping themselves. Sugar is decidedly going out of fashion at after noon tea, and out of ten ladies, perhaps, only three will say yes when it is offered but it may be this is rather the result of fashion than fancy.
 The French, on the contrary, take sugar lavishly; they even dispense with the u4e of sugar tongs, which we Americans consider so indispensable ct the tea-tsble, and help them selves to sugar with their fingers. French gentleman, folio owing his custom, helped him. self to sugar at the house of an American, who, so shocked was he by the proceedings. or by way of joke, threw the contents of the sugar basin and the sugar-basin itself out of the window, to the a5tonishmsnt of all present. If the intention wss to teach man ners to the Frenchman, or the observance of an American custom, it was sad exhibition of the want of them on the part of our oountryman; and VIC have no reason to be proud of this insnlar prejudice in favor of sugar-tongs. which are, perhaps, one of the most awkward instruments for daily use that could well be invented ono helps one's self to bread with the fingers, why not to lump of sugar.
 We draw upon the Russians for many of our customs connected with the dinner table, but have not yet taken kindly to their idea of tea-drinking; that is to say, substituting lemon for sugar and cream-''fragant peel and hint of acid, {" slice of lemon, neither thicker ncr larger than half crown. This, according to authority already quoted, ssneither disguisss, nor hattens the aroma of good tea, as do the conventional additions, sugar and cream, but combines with and heightens it.' The great fault of using lemon consists in adding is in exees whereas 6 very slight shaving containing both peel and pulp is the correct quantity for an ordi- nary cup of tea. But this custom has yet to take root, and with us this process is but slow one; we are not too ready to take up new idea, bat once we have done so, it is remarkaDle Wltn WnRb pSrLlnaclCy we cI1DS to it. When lemon is substituted for cream and sugar, slices of the right size are handed with the tea.
 Hot tea is decidedly preferable to cold tea, and this is perhaps a reason why cream is such an agreeable addition, cooling it to in- diyidual taste. Rare china is again brought into uss by the wealthy and artistic; but, exquisite as the china is, ore would almost prefer to be handed cup of less value. The quality of the tea, however, does not always keep pace with the quality of the china. Any one who has once tasted that known as the Russian Caravan tea will understand the term good tea but this is a luxury which only the wealthy care to invest in, as it costs upwards of ten dollars per pound. There IS, of course, 8 medium in all things, and there is a wide margin from which to choose, and economy in this direction is soon detected. It is the province of the master of the house to buy the wines and of the mis- tress to buy the tea, and the one is far often CT celebrated for the good wine he gives his guests than is the other for the good tea of- fered to hers.