Page 63 - @ccess 2 Reader´s Book
P. 63
Some people would answer that they don't like tea
in and of itself, that they only drink it in order to be
warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to
take the taste away. To those misguided people fortnight
quincena
I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, (n.):
say, a fortnight, and it is very unlikely that you will
ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.
These are not the only controversial points to
arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they
are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole
business has become. There is also the mysterious
social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is
it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer,
for instance?) and much might be written about
the subsidiary uses of tea leaves, such as telling
fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding
rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet.
It is worth paying attention to such details as
warming the pot and using water that is really
boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out
of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups that
two ounces, properly handled, ought
to represent.
62 Reader's Book