The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-02-20
TEA COCKTAIL IS THE LATEST
Fashionable Gotham Clubs Take
Up New Orink Fad
SCOTCH WHISkEY BEATS LEMON
ALCOHOLIC INFUSION .RoBs OLD
WoMAN's BEVERAGE OF
HURTFUL EFFECT.

NEW YORK. Feb. 19-Visiting Eng.
lishmen in New York are occasionally
gratified at the spectacle of Afternoon
served with mitigating, circumstance:
and hot buttered toast at the hour tina
used to be sacred to the cocktail wheI
men dined earlier than is now usual
the dinner hour in the clubs has some.
thing to do with the institution of af-
ternOOn tea. When most men dine(
between and 7 o'clock it was not re-
and the digestion to have a few cock
tails soon after 5 o'clock.
Now, when the average dinner hou!
is about 7 o'clock and many men dc
not dine until after half past seven
cocktails at 5 o'clock seem a trifit
early. There is still the cocktail con.
tingent toward 6 o'clock and later bu
the cocktail, except on the dinner ia
BILE. is less popular in New York clubs
than it once was.
In some Boston clubs men drink
three and four cocktails before dinner
but such a sight is rather rare in New
York. Five o'clock tea, then, is 6
natural enough thing for the men wht
get away from their work in time to
sit about the club for a couple of hours
before dinner.
1t is served in the usual way witt
two pots, a sugar bowl, slices of lemon
for those who take no milk and mill
or cream for those who like it. Some
times it is called English breakfast tea
but do not make ethe mistake of offer
ing it by that name to an English
man.
No English Breakfast Tea.
Nothing seems to stir the bile of the
British stranger within our gates more
than the phrase, English breakfast tea
He vows that there is no such thing
and that if there were it could not pos
siblysbe served properly in New York
Afternoon tea as the Englishmar
knows it at home. and as served in ter
York, is merely an infusion of tea
leaves with the addition of milk OF
lemon juice and sugar. In the clubs
it is likely to be something little diff
ferent.
The wise mitigate their tea by the
addition of some sort of spirits. Rum
which is good with almost anything
makes a fine flavoring accompaniment
of the tea. A good tablespoonful OF
rum is a mans dose with an ordinary
cup of tea.
Scotch whisky is anothey excellent
ingredient for the cup that cheers and
that may be made to do more. Plain
American rye or bourbon is also an
agreeable aid to the cup of tea. and It
has been discovered that man can
comfortably dispose of three or four
cups with the aid of these familiar old
friends. There are those who advise
benedictine, or other of the sweet and
heavy liqueurs with tea.
If the tea be properly hot it has a
delightful sublimating effect upon the
added rum. whisky or brandy. Part of
the alcohol in the spirituous drink is
driven off and there remains the flavor
and the aroma of the latter, which in
combination with the tea give most
agreeable result.
A single drink as ordinarily meas
ured in the little individual club decan-
tiers will flavor several cups Of tea,
and while the indulgence costs rather
more than the familiar cocktail at Is
cents each or two for a quarter, the
tea really goes a good deal further. AS
a social rallying point the tea beats the
cocktail all hollow, for the latter is
ordinarily taken at gulp, whereas the
tea is served with circumstance and
drunk with elaboration.
Some connoisseurs insist that the
moderate alcoholic addition neutraliZe
in some degree any i'll effects to be
effected from the peculiar qualities of
the tea.