Coffee is much better roasted in a coffee roaster, than a kettle, as the fine aromatic flavor of the coffee is preserved, which escapes in a great measure, when roasted in an open kettle.
[258.] To make Tea.
Scald your tea pot, and put in a tea spoonful of tea, for each person that is to drink it, if it is a weak kind of tea, more will be required, pour on just boiling water enough to cover it, let it stand six or eight minutes, not longer if you wish to have it in perfection, pour on the rest of the water boiling hot.
[259.] Chocolate.
Scrape the chocolate off fine, and mix it smoothly with a little cold milk, or water. If liked very rich, make it entirely of milk, if not, use equal quantities of milk and water, boil it, then stir in the chocolate while boiling, sweeten it to your taste, let it boil five or six minutes; if liked rich, grate in a little nutmeg. A heaping table spoonful of grated chocolate to a pint of milk, or water, is the right proportion.
[260.] Hop Beer.
For three gallons of beer, take nine quarts of water, six ounces of hops. Boil the hops in half the water three hours, strain it, then boil the hops again in the remainder of the water, three hours longer, with a tea cup of ginger. Strain and put it with the rest of the liquor, and two quarts of molasses, and when lukewarm, put in a pint of new yeast, without any salt in it. Keep it in a temperate place, till it has ceased fermenting, which is ascertained by the froth subsiding. Turn it off carefully into a cask, or bottle it; it should not be corked very tight, or it will burst the bottles. Keep the bottles in a cool place.
[261.] Spruce Beer.
Take five gallons of water, and boil with a couple of ounces of hops, when it has boiled four or five hours, strain it, put to it two quarts of molasses, when lukewarm, put in a pint of fresh yeast, without any salt in it, (brewer's is the best,) put in three table spoonsful of the essence of spruce. A decoction made of the leaves of white or black spruce, is equally as good as the essence; boil the hops with the leaves. Let the beer stand in a temperate situation, several days exposed to the air, then put it in a cask, or bottle it, it will be fit to drink in the course of a few days. This is a nice summer drink, and a powerful antiscorbutic.