COFFEE, TEA, CHOCOLATE.
To roast Coffee—Coffee made in a filter—Coffee Milk—With hot water—Cold water —French Method—Tea —Boiling water—Chocolate—Cocoa.
To roast Coffee.—The best coffee is from Mocha; but this can very rarely be procured. Coffee imported in small parcels is better flavored than that in bulk, from the circumstance that the latter is apt to become heated. To have coffee in the greatest perfection, it should be roasted, ground, and made, in immediate succession. As that will seldom happen, the rule should be observed as nearly as circumstances will allow. Whilst kept, after roasting, the air should be excluded from it, as in a closed bottle or jar. A good mode of roasting is in an earthen basin, placed in an oven with the door open, the coffee to be frequently stirred with a spoon. This mode is said to allow certain coarse particles to fly off, and to render the flavor more delicate than when the coffee is roasted in the usual close cylinder.
Coffee made in a French Filter or Grecque.—In a quart filter put 2 ozs. of coffee, newly ground, upon the filter put on the presser, and then the grating, pour slowly on the latter about three parts of a pint of boiling water, and let it filter through, keeping the nozzle of the coffee-pot covered with the sheath, and the lid on the grating; when it has filtered through, add a like quantity of boiling water; and when this has passed through, add the remaining quantity, press down the coffee grounds, remove the upper portion containing filter and grating, put on the lid and serve.
Coffee Milk.—Boil a dessert-spoonful of coffee in nearly a pint of milk a quarter of an hour, then put in a little isinglass and clear it, and let it boil a few minutes, and set it on the fire to grow fine.
To make Coffee with hot water.—Pour hot water into your coffee-pot, and then stir in your coffee, a spoonful at a time, allowing three to every pint of water; this makes strong coffee. Stir it to prevent the mixture from boiling over, as the coffee swells, and to force it to combine with the water. This will be done after it has boiled gently a few minutes. Then let it stand and boil slowly for half an hour; remove it from the fire, and pour in a tea-cup of cold water, and set it in the corner to settle. As soon as it becomes clear, it is to be poured, gently, into a clean coffee-pot for the table.
Made in this manner, it may be kept two or three days in summer, and a week in winter; you need only heat it over when wanted.
The grounds and sediment may be boiled over and used once for coffee.
To make Coffee with cold water—(Excellent).—Upon 2 ozs. of coffee pour 7 cups of cold water, then boil it until the coffee falls to the bottom; when the froth has disappeared, and it is clear at the top like boiling water, it must be taken off the fire and be allowed to stand; but as it often requires clearing, a little cold water should be poured in it the instant it is taken off the fire from boiling. A quicker way of clearing it is by putting in a small piece of isinglass; when it has stood a sufficient time to settle, pour it off into another coffee-pot, and it is fit for use.
French method of making Coffee.—The principal points are chese;—The coffee, Turkey or Bourbon, should be roasted only till it is of a cinnamon color. The coffee should be coarsely ground soon after it is roasted, but not until quite cool. The proportions for making coffee are usually 1 pint of boiling water to 2½ ozs. of coffee. The coffee being put into the water, the coffee-pot should be covered up, and left for 2 hours surrounded with hot cinders, so as to keep up the temperature, without making the liquor boil. Occasionally stir it, and after two hours infusion, remove it from the fire, allow it a quarter of an hour to settle, and when perfectly clear, decant it. Isinglass is sometimes used to clarify the coffee; but by this addition you lose some portion of its delicious aroma.
This is the café-noir served after dinner in French families, without cream or milk; the sugar is served in lumps.
Tea.—Tastes differ regarding the flavor of various sorts of tea: some preferring all black; others, all green; and many, a mixture of both in different quantities; though most persons—when not fearful of their nerves—agree that fine Hyson is the best. A good mixture, in point of flavor, we know to be two-fifths black—two-fifths green, and one-fifth gunpowder: all being, of course, of superior quality.
Presuming all ladies to be intimately acquainted with the mode of making tea, yet, to some, a few hints on the subject may not perhaps be found objectionable.
First, never make it in any other than a highly-polished teapot, for it is a chemical fact that metal retains the heat longer than earthenware; and the better it is polished, the more completely will the liquid be kept hot, and the essence of the tea be extracted. A silver tea-pot is decidedly the best; for you will be sure that the metal is not mixed up with zinc or other materials of a pernicious nature.
Secondly, see that the water be really boiling, not simmering, as is too commonly the case when taken from an urn, but kept either on the fire until boiled, or in one of those metal tea-kettles warmed by a spirit-lamp, as formerly used by our grandmothers, and now—thanks to good taste in tea-drinking—again coming into fashion.
A good way of making Tea.—A tea-spoonful of tea for each person. Heat the tea-pot first with some boiling water, then pour that into the tea-cups to warm them; put in the tea, and pour water enough on the tea to cover it; let it stand 3 or 4 minutes, then nearly fill the tea-pot with water, let it stand a few minutes, and pour out, leaving some portion of tea in the pot when you replenish, that all the strength may not be poured away in the first cup.
Obs.—Never add fresh tea to that which has already been made, by way of strengthening it; for it will not have that effect; but in case of its being too weak, then put the tea into a large tea-cup, fill it up with boiling water, and leave it there, closely covered, for a few minutes, after which throw the contents into the tea-pot.
Tea another way.—Scald the tea-pot with boiling water; then put in the tea, allowing 3 tea-spoonsful to a pint of water—or for every 2 persons. Pour on the water. It must be boiling hot, and let the tea steep about 10 minutes.
Black tea is considered healthier than green. Hyson and Souchong mixed together, half and half, is a pleasanter beverage than either alone, and safer for those who drink strong tea, than to trust themselves wholly with green.
Boiling water.—Too little attention is paid to the water we use, which may accidentally contain much poisonous matter from the substances it passes over, so that, if it is not filtered, it ought to be strained through a thick linen bag, with a sponge in it
In boiling water, no attention is paid to the long ebullition which forces out the fixed air, and renders it very unhealthy, and that which is generally used for tea is boiled half away Therefore, be ready to make tea when the water boils.
Chocolate.—This forms the common breakfast throughout Spain; and, is there made by chipping a portion of the cake, and leaving the chips in water for a whole night to soften. It may then be slowly warmed, along with either water or milk, working it all the time with the mill, which is a small moveable pole passed through the lid of a chocolate-pot, and furnished with a headpiece in order to mix the chocolate equally by turning the mill rapidly between the hands and without intermission, thus to prevent it from becoming clotty; care, however, should be taken not to let it boil; for, in that case, the vegetable oil which is contained in the nut will be extracted from it and appear on the surface. The flavor is better retained by making it in water than milk.
To make Chocolate; (French receipt.)—An ounce of chocolate, if good, will be sufficient for one person. Rasp, and then boil it from 5 to 10 minutes with about 4 table-spoonsful of water; when it is extremely smooth add nearly a pint of new milk, give it another boil, stir it well, or mill it, and serve it directly. For water-chocolate use three-quarters of a pint of water instead of the milk, and send rich hot cream to table with it. The taste must decide whether it shall be made thicker or thinner.
Chocolate, 2 ozs.; water, quarter pint, or rather more; milk, 1¾ pint: half minute.
Obs.—See page 207—that plate is a chocolate-mill, or similar. Work the stick quickly around between both hands to froth the chocolate, or stir it with a silver fork.
To make Chocolate another way.—To each square of chocolate, scraped off fine, and put in the pot, allow a pint (less if you like it strong) of water. Stir it while boiling, and let it be uncovered. Let it boil about 15 minutes, or half an hour, then pour in your cream or rich milk, and let it boil up. Nutmeg grated over a cup of chocolate improves the flavor.
Cocoa.—An excellent breakfast beverage may be made by simply pounding the nut—which is the substance of chocolate —and boiling it in the same manner in either water or milk. The best quality is that of Caraccas, which is small, very dark-colored, and appears as if partly mouldy or broken; while that usually to be found in the shops is plump and glossy, and the patent sort, or paste, still more inferior; it being always made from the cheapest kind, and not unfrequently from that which has been damaged.
Cocoa Shells or Nibs, or, as they are more appropriately called in Ireland, “Miserable,” are the thin coverings of the cocoa kernel, and can only be had at some chocolate manufactory, where they can be bought at a very low price, and form a light food for an invalid, when taken warm.
Soak them in water during the whole night, and then boil them in the same water until reduced to half the quantity: they should boil 2 hours, and should then be mixed up with milk.
Fine Broma.—Powder half a pound of pure chocolate, and mix it with 12 ounces of loaf sugar and 2 ounces of arrow-root, and pass the whole through a fine sieve.
Obs.—Cocoa is very digestible, and of a fattening nature. In cold weather it is a healthy as well as nutritious beverage.