Cup (drinkware)

“ At all times cups are alluring decoctions, don’t you think? And there are many varieties of them. But they all begin in the same way. A cordial glass each of maraschino, benedictine and brandy put into a quart jug, and then if you fill the jug with champagne you have champagne cup, with Rhine wine you have Rhine wine cup, and with cider you have cider cup. If you use claret you add a few drops of lemon juice and double the quantity of maraschino. ”

“ The ancient saying, "The cup is glad of the wine it holds," was but another way of expressing the rule which judges a tree by its fruit and a man by his works; for out of character comes style, and out of a man's nature is his taste distilled. Every soul, like the cup, is glad of what it holds. ”

“ It is made much thicker than with us, and if you let it stand for a minute before drinking, you will find a sediment at the bottom like fine dust. The servants stand ready to take away the cups as soon as you are done drinking, and they do it by holding out both hands, bringing one beneath and the other on top of the cup and holder. ”

“ CHAPTER XIX CUPS AND CORDIALS
“Can any mortal mixture
Breathe such divine, enchanting ravishment?”
————
“The evil that men do lives after them.”
Five recipes for claret cup—Balaclava cup—Orgeat—Ascot cup—Stout and champagne—Shandy-gaff for millionaires—Ale cup—Cobblers which will stick to the last—Home Ruler—Cherry brandy—Sloe gin—Home-made, if possible—A new industry—Apricot brandy—Highland cordial—Bitters—Jumping-powder—Orange brandy—“Mandragora”—“Sleep rock thy brain!” ”

“ A convenience that any victim of the afternoon tea will appreciate is a tray or elongated saucer, oval in shape. At one end is a rest made of gold wire, in which the cup stands. The other is quite-295- large enough to allow of serving sandwiches, biscuit, or even a bit of salad without burdening the guest with a second object to hold. The cup stands firm in its place. Not even the jostling common in a crowded room will displace it or endanger that breakage which so often follows a crush. ”

“ Carefully wrapping up a small cup in a white cloth, he places it amidst the offerings before mentioned, then, with a torch in one hand and a circlet of beads and tinkling hawk bells in the other, he stalks about shaking his charms. After a little time he orders one of the admiring spectators to look in the cup previously wrapped up in white cloth, and sure enough there the soul always is, in the form of a bunch of hair to vulgar eyes, but to the initiated in shape and appearance like a miniature human being. ”

“ Pierces the crystal cup.
And if we thought:
"True, the cup soon is emptied,
The amphora rings hollow
An our veins lack warmth and life"—
It did give us a gentle melancholy
Making our present joy more keen and clear. ”

“ It is something to have at least tasted the cup, and perhaps it is better to turn with writhing lips from the bitter drop near the brim than, drinking it fairly out, to find its sweets pall on the palate, its essence cease to warm the heart and stimulate the brain. ”

“ It will, no doubt, have been noted ere this that between mulled ale and the majority of hot beer-cups the distinction is rather in name than composition, and the various receipts for mulling ale so closely resemble the Wassail Bowl, Flip, &c., that it is quite unnecessary to quote any of {392} them. A word or two on cup making. Cups are easily made and easily marred. All the ingredients must be of good quality, and the vessels used sweet and clean. ”

“ You are the mysterious wine which fills for me the empty cup we call Life. Yes, I like to fancy life a cup which we continually lift to our lips. For many this cup is never filled, and they try painfully to suck what is not there, and die slowly for lack of nourishment. ”

“ In the 17th century the custom of drinking health was conducted with great ceremony; each person rising up in turn, with a full cup, named some individual to whom he drank; he then drank the whole contents of the cup and turned it upside down upon the table, giving it at the same time a fillip to make it ring, or, as our ancient authority has it, "make it cry 'twango.'" Each person followed in his turn ”

“ This beverage, though somewhat too potent for modern palates, may, by proper dilution, be rendered no unworthy cup even in the present age. From the same noble hand we get a recipe for Sack Posset, which full well shows us propriety of taste in its compounder. "Boil a quart of cream with quantum sufficit of sugar, mace, and nutmeg; take half a pint of sack, and the same quantity of ale, and boil them well together, adding sugar; these, being boiled separately, are now to be added. Heat a pewter dish very hot, and cover your basin with it, and let it stand by the fire for two or three hours." ”

“ It was customary at their entertainments to elect, by throwing the dice, a person termed "arbiter bibendi," to act much in the same way as our modern toast-master, his business being to lay down to the company the rules to be observed in drinking, with the power to punish such as did not conform to them. The gods having been propitiated, the master of the feast drank his first cup to the most distinguished guest, and then handed a full cup to him, in which he acknowledged the compliment ”

“ A teapot that will not “pour out” freely is an annoyance at the best of times, and to the most placid of souls. (The fact that tea through the lid is as good as tea through the spout is more than counter-balanced by the fact that tea in the cup is better than tea on the table-cloth. And it is a very difficult art, only to be acquired by patient practice, to pour tea into the cup and the cup alone, from the top of a spout-bunged teapot. Try it.)
Bertram’s had temper waxed and deepened. ”

“ When a drink is to be served hot, never let the mixture boil, but let the heat be applied as gently as possible: a fierce heat causes the spirit to evaporate, and moreover destroys or materially alters the fine aromatic flavour on which so much of its delicacy depends. When the hot cup is brewed, be careful to retain the heat as much as possible, by a covering to the vessel ”

“ On the other hand, when a cool cup is to be made, its greatest adjunct is ice, either in lumps, which may be retained in the cup, or, as is preferable, a portion of pounded ice should be violently shaken with the mixture and afterwards strained off. ”

“ And—parenthetically be it observed—the man who has no soul for cup-making should never entertain at a race meeting. The servants will have other things to attend to; and even if they have not it should be remembered that a cup, or punch, like a salad, should always, if possible, be mixed by some one who is going to partake of the same.
[Pg 225]
Dissolve six ounces of sugar in half-a-pint of boiling water; add the juice of three lemons, one pint of old brandy, a wine-glassful of cherry brandy, a wine-glassful of maraschino, half a wine-glassful of yellow chartreuse, two bottles of champagne. ”

“ Since sugar is so necessary to our enjoyment of this popular beverage, it is obvious that a considerable part of all the sugar we consume must find its way into the national coffee cup. The stupendous amount of 40,000,000,000 cups of coffee is consumed in this country each year. Taking two teaspoonfuls or two lumps as a fair average per cup, we find that about 800,000,000 pounds of sugar, almost one-tenth of our total annual consumption, are required to sweeten Uncle Sam's coffee cup. ”

“ In public assemblies the wine-cup was never raised to the lips without previously invoking a blessing from a supposed good deity, from which custom it is probable that the grace-cup of later days took its origin; and at the conclusion of their feast, a cup was quaffed to their good genius, termed "poculum boni Dei," which corresponds in the present day with the "coup d'étrier" of the French, the "dock un dorish" of the Highland Scotch, and the "parting-pot" of our own country. The Romans also frequently drank the healths of their Emperors ”

“ The cup was then refilled and the unfortunate drinker was compelled to go through the same ceremony again. Every one at the table took the cup and 'turned it over' in succession, the chief shepherd keeping the pail constantly supplied with beer. The parlour guests were of course invited to turn the cup over with the guests of the kitchen, and went through the ordeal with more or less of success. For my own part, I confess that I failed to catch the cup in the hat at the first trial and had to try again; the chairman, however, mercifully gave me only a small quantity of beer the second time. ”

“ A wide, shallow cup is the best kind to use for tea-leaf divination—white if possible. A narrow cup adds to the seer's difficulties, as the tea-leaves cannot be plainly seen. Small cups, too, are objectionable for the same reason, and a fluted cup is even worse. A plain, even surface is required, with no pattern of any kind, as this has a tendency to confuse the symbols. Indian tea and the cheaper mixtures, which contain so much dust and twigs are of no use for reading a fortune, as they cannot form into pictures and symbols that can easily be distinguished. ”

“ And this Cup may oftentimes be used, and if at length the wine should not attract sufficiently, the Cup with the wine is to be set in seething hot water for a little time, that the wine might the better attract, and work, when need shall require. Now he that gives such kind of Cups to others, must instruct them concerning the ordering, and administring of the same. One Cup is sufficient for the Master of a Family, with his whole Family for all the daies of their life. It is not to be used by all, and every one, and in all Diseases indifferently, but only by those that are strong and young ”

“ Every individual, as a matter of course, carries his own case or pocket knife; the liquids are served in rude earthenware, and each drinks out of a cup apportioned to five or six individuals. It is the height of civility to hand one's cup to a neighbor, so that he may assist in emptying it ”

“ We have already written that the head of the household does not dilute the wine for himself, rather having another perform this service, so as to display his free state. We, however, are not particular in this practice, for it appears arrogant for a man to order his wife to dilute this cup, as he is no better than she. ”

“ It's like eating on the grass, which is as unpleasant as can be; nobody likes eating on the grass but lovers, and they are thinking of something besides eating. As for your cups, they're pretty to look at, I agree, but they're less convenient for drinking than glasses, and the champagne doesn't foam so much in a cup ”

“ A pint of Scotch ale, a pint of mild beer, half a pint of brandy, a pint of sherry, half a pound of loaf sugar, and plenty of grated nutmeg. This cup may be drank either hot or cold.
Egg Flip.
Add the whites and yolks of three eggs, beaten together with three ounces of lump sugar, to half a pint of strong ale; heat the mixture nearly to the boiling-point; then put in two wine-glasses of gin or rum (the former being preferable) , with some grated nutmeg and ginger; add another pint of hot ale, and pour the mixture frequently from one jug to another before serving. ”

“ If the person was present whose health was drank, he was expected to remain perfectly still during the operation, and at the conclusion to make an inclination of his head,—this being the origin of our custom of taking wine with each other, which, with sorrow be it said, is fast exploding. A very usual toast for a man to give was the health of his mistress; and in France, when this toast was given, the proposer was expected to drink his cup full of wine as many times as there were letters in her name. ”

“ INGREDIENTS.—1 quart bottle of champagne, 2 bottles of soda-water, 1 liqueur-glass of brandy or Curaçoa, 2 tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, 1 lb. of pounded ice, a sprig of green borage.
Mode.—Put all the ingredients into a silver cup; stir them together, and serve the same as claret-cup No. 1831. Should the above proportion of sugar not be found sufficient to suit some tastes, increase the quantity. When borage is not easily obtainable, substitute for it a few slices of cucumber-rind. ”

“ A bottle or cup is standing on a table or in a cupboard, and under the impression that it contains beer or spirits, tea or coffee, or even pure water, some one quaffs the contents, and only finds when it is probably too late that he has drunk some virulent poison. ”

“ Mint gives an agreeable flavour to Juleps, but is not of general application. A sprig of sweet-scented verbena, put into some cups, imparts an aromatic and agreeable flavour; but all these herbs must be used with caution, and are only pleasant when judiciously introduced.
Let your utensils be clean, and your ingredients of first-rate quality, and, unless you have some one very trustworthy and reliable, take the matter in hand yourself; for nothing is so annoying to the host, or so unpalatable to the guests, as a badly compounded cup. ”

“ At table, first put the sugar into the cup, then fill half-full of boiling milk, add your coffee, and you have a delicious beverage that will be a revelation to many poor mortals who have an indistinct remembrance of, and an intense longing for, an ideal cup of coffee. If cream can be procured so much the better, and in that case boiling water can be added either in the pot or cup to make up for the space occupied by the milk as above; or condensed milk will be found a good substitute for cream. ”

“ The cosy fire is bright and gay,
The merry kettle boils away
And hums a cheerful song.
I sing the saucer and the cup;
Pray, Mary, fill the tea-pot up,
And do not make it strong.
5— (Browning, who treated it allegorically)
Tut! Bah! We take as another case—
Pass the bills on the pills on the window-sill; notice the capsule
(A sick man's fancy, no doubt, but I place
Reliance on trade-marks, Sir) —so perhaps you'll
Excuse the digression—this cup which I hold
Light-poised—Bah, it's spilt in the bed!—well, let's on go—
Hold Bohea and sugar, Sir ”