TO MAKE TEA.

In buying tea, it is best to get it by the box, of an importer, that
you may be sure of having it fresh, and unmixed with any that is old
and of inferior quality. The box should be kept in a very dry place. If
green tea is good, it will look green in the cup when poured out. Black
tea should be dark coloured and have a fragrant flowery smell. The best
pots for making tea are those of china. Metal and Wedgwood tea-pots by
frequent use will often communicate a disagreeable taste to the tea.
This disadvantage may be remedied in Wedgwood ware, by occasionally
boiling the tea-pots in a vessel of hot water.

In preparing to make tea, let the pot be twice scalded from the
tea-kettle, which must be boiling hard at the moment the water is
poured on the tea; otherwise it will be weak and insipid, even when a
large quantity is put in. The best way is to have a chafing dish, with
a kettle always boiling on it, in the room where the tea is made. It is
a good rule to allow two tea-spoonfuls of tea to half a pint or a large
cupful of water, or two tea-spoonfuls for each grown person that is to
drink tea, and one spoonful extra. The pot being twice scalded, put in
the tea, and pour on the water about ten minutes before you want to
fill the cups, that it may have time to draw or infuse. Have hot water
in another pot, to weaken the cups of those that like it so. That the
second course of cups may be as strong as the first, put some tea into
a cup just before you sit down to table, pour on it a very little
boiling water, (just enough to cover it,) set a saucer over it to keep
in the steam, and let it infuse till you have filled all the first
cups; then add it to that already in the tea-pot, and pour in a little
boiling water from the kettle. Except that it is less convenient for a
large family, a kettle on a chafing dish is better than an urn, as the
water may be kept longer boiling.

In making black tea, use a larger quantity than of green, as it is of a
much weaker nature. The best black teas in general use are pekoe and
pouchong; the best green teas are imperial, young hyson, and gunpowder.