To make Boston Cooler.—Place in a tumbler a bottle of sarsaparilla, a bottle of ginger ale, the rind of a lemon thinly sliced, and a few bits of ice.
The best way to break a piece of ice into smaller pieces is to use a large needle and strike it with a hammer; or it may be crushed by wrapping it in a napkin or other cloth and hitting it with a mallet.
To make a Brandy Cocktail.—Fill a tumbler with chipped ice, and pour thereon three drops of Boker’s or angostura bitters, six drops of syrup, and half a wine-glassful of brandy. Stir for a minute, and then strain into a wine-glass containing either a small piece of lemon-peel or a few drops of curaçoa.
To make Champagne Cobbler.—Half fill a large tumbler with shaved ice, add the juice of half a lemon and a tea-spoonful of soda, and fill up with champagne. Dash a little claret over the top. This should be served with straws.
To make Champagne Cup.—Mix in a jug, placed on ice, a bottle of champagne, two bottles of soda-water, a liqueur-glassful of brandy, a liqueur-glassful of curaçoa or maraschino, two table-spoonfuls of sugar, a thin slice of cucumber (which remove before serving), a pound of ice, and a sprig of verbena.
To make Cider Cup.—Proceed as with champagne cup, replacing the champagne by cider, and using only one bottle of soda-water.
Simple Claret Cup.—Extract the “zest” or essential oil from the peel of a lemon by rubbing four lumps of sugar upon it. Pare another lemon as thinly as you can. Put the paring and the sugar into a large jug, and pour in a quart of claret. Mix all well together, and set the jug on ice for one hour. Just before serving add a pint of sparkling moselle and two bottles of soda-water. Put a few sprigs of borage or of balm into the jug.—J. R.
To make Coffee.—Purchase whole, and preferably unroasted, berries of good quality from a reliable source. Roast freshly as required, grind as soon as roasted, and make as soon as ground. Some admirably simple coffee-roasters are now obtainable. In the absence of a proper roaster, a frying-pan may be used, a few berries being roasted at a time. A very little butter should be placed in the pan, a low fire should be employed, and the berries should be kept on the move till they are of a light brown colour. It should be remembered that a single burnt berry will spoil the coffee. Coffee should be most carefully strained, and therefore some form of coffee-pot with percolator is desirable. Pack the freshly ground coffee tightly in the strainer, and slowly pour boiling water on it. As soon as the coffee has percolated through, it should be served. Boiling it drives off the aroma. A table-spoonful of ground coffee should be allowed to each café noir cup, or each large cup of café au lait. Café au lait consists of an equal mixture of coffee and boiled milk.
A SIMPLE COFFEE ROASTER