Inasmuch as coffee usually appears both at breakfast and dinner, it is well to bar it out absolutely from the luncheon table. Too much coffee drinking is injurious, as the makers of imitation coffees assure us daily through the medium of expensive advertisements. Though nothing else is quite as good as coffee, yet there are many other beverages which will prove acceptable at luncheon.
MILK
Serve from an earthen pitcher, either hot or cold as preferred.
BUTTERMILK
Buttermilk is always served ice cold. On a hot day a glass of buttermilk, and a cracker or a bit of salted toast will often prove a sufficient luncheon.
TEA
Use the best tea. The cheap tea is dear at any price. Scald out the tea-pot, which should never be of metal, and put into it a teaspoonful of tea for each person and one for the pot. Add as many cupfuls of hot water as there are teaspoonfuls of tea. Cover and let steep for a moment, but never allow it to boil. The water for tea must be freshly boiled and taken at the first vigorous boil. When tea is boiled, tannin is extracted from the grounds, and tannin, even in the most minute quantities, has a very injurious effect upon the lining of the stomach.
VIENNA CHOCOLATE
Three heaping tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate mixed to a paste with cold water. Pour it into a double boiler with four cupfuls of milk boiling hot. Add sugar to taste, and let cook five minutes. Beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth and put into the chocolate pot. Put a teaspoonful of vanilla into the chocolate after taking from the fire, and pour the hot chocolate very slowly upon the eggs, stirring constantly with a silver spoon or the wooden stick which comes for the purpose. It makes a delicious, frothy chocolate. The cocoa which comes in packages may be used instead of grated chocolate.