Taste of Life: When the love for tea brewed kettles, big and small - Hindustan Times

2023-01-13 13:00:20 By : Ms. Sherry Wang

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Taste of Life: When the love for tea brewed kettles, big and small - Hindustan Times

In the mid-1880s, Marcks & Company Ltd opened their shop in Poona. One of the major attractions in the newly opened shop was the Russian samovar.

The Russian tea equipage consisted of a flat stand of six circles around a central one supported on four feet and furnished with two handles. Over the central circle, a raised stand containing a spirit lamp was the tea kettle, and in each of the six circles round it was a cup or rather a glass holder with a handle, answering to the Turkish Zarf. The glasses were very thin, delicately engraved tumblers in which the tea was served with a dash of lemon juice and without milk. The whole set was elaborately embossed in a rich design with a polished black horn insulator in the middle of the handle of the kettle.

The exotic samovar quickly became a favourite in the army households of Poona. Army officials, who did not like the tea served in cantonments, purchased samovars so they could enjoy the beverage in the cosy confines of their homes.

The tea at the Poona cantonment was made in large camp kettles and only the top-ranking officials were allowed to use smaller kettles for their personal use. This rule had been in place since the 1860s.

On June 21, 1863, Lieutenant-Colonel Phayre, Commanding Officer of Her Majesty’s 95th Regiment, Karachi, visited Poona Cantonment. While the purpose of his visit is unknown, it set in motion a chain of events which resulted in standardising the method of preparation of tea initially in the Karachi and Poona cantonments, and later in the other cantonment areas for several years.

That morning during his visit, Phayer found that the tea he had requested his bearer to being, tasted slightly off. The officer initially suspected that the cook had stolen tea leaves from the store and used inferior tea powder. The cook denied the charge. The bearer insisted that the cook had used clean water and fresh milk to make the tea. Phayer then ordered him to bring the tea kettle in which the tea had been made.

The tea kettles used in the Indian cantonments were usually made of brass or copper and could make four to five cups of tea. Each soldier would receive a quota of tea leaves, sugar, and milk, and was allowed to make his tea once a day. Tea would otherwise be served in the mess twice a day. Two or three soldiers sharing a room in the barracks would share a kettle. The storehouse at the cantonments obviously would stock a large number of tea kettles.

When Phayer inspected the kettle, he found that it had in it a dangerous accumulation of verdigris, owing to the strainer preventing it from being tinned inside. Not only did it affect the taste, but also was toxic and could invite ill health.

To obviate this source of danger to health, Phayer wrote a letter to the sanitary commission of the Bombay Presidency and requested them to try, on a comparatively large scale, a method of making tea that was sometimes followed for one person.

The sanitary commission wished to let the soldiers make their tea at least once a day. They decided to get a better kettle designed.

A few months later, such a kettle was made in Karachi. A finely perforated tin-pate double cylinder was manufactured, and the interval between the concentrically placed cylinders, being the receptacle for the leaves, was closed at one end with the perforated tin plate, while a movable lid was fitted to the other end, to close it as a box. The inner cylinder was left open at both ends, to allow free access of the hot water to the tea when infusing. This central tubular space allowed a string to be passed through it, to sling the strainer in the hot water in the camp kettle. The diameter of the outer cylinder was four and a half inches while that of the inner cylinder was one inch. The cylinders were five inches long. The strainer was designed to hold the quantity of tea leaves allowed by regulation for the morning or evening tea of ten men, or nearly three and a half ounces, with room for the expansion of the leaves when infusing.

Ten kettles were made at Karachi, five of which were sent to Poona. Trials were conducted at both places, and the result was favourable. The leaves were infused for ten minutes, allowing one pint of water per individual, and fifteen minutes when one and a half pints were given; in both cases, the tea was well drawn, and the infusion looked and smelt very strong, but on the sugar being added the first was very sweet, but not too much so for the men, who in every trial pronounced the tea to be very good.

While the sanitary commission, pleased with the results, sought permission from the government to manufacture the improved tea kettles on a large scale, Phayer and several other army officials kept insisting that the use of small kettles had to be prohibited. They wanted the tea to be made in a large camp kettle, instead of the much smaller copper or brass tea kettle, or the newly designed kettle. A perforated tin case was presented before the sanitation commission which would serve as the camp kettle.

Ten trials each were made at Karachi and Poona in making tea with the new camp kettle. It was recommended that the tea be infused for fifteen minutes in the large camp kettle, the sulky to be put into the boiling water as the kettle was lifted off the fire, the sugar and milk then put in, and all prepared to be ready for the issue at the exact time laid down for breakfast or evening meal.

The Poona Cantonment soon got rid of small kettles and decided to make tea in large camp kettles.

The chairman of the sanitary board of the Poona Cantonment thought it advisable to add that the allowance for tea and sugar should not be left for a moment with the native cooks, and the milk should be drawn by one of the men, the cows being milked in the presence of the orderly sergeant before each issue; thus purloining and adulteration might be put a stop to, as, of course, the result of the tea made would depend upon the quality and quantity of the ingredients.

The use of large camp kettles did not please most of the soldiers and officers. What added to their misery was a report that recommended that tea and coffee should not be served to army men.

This story is for some other time.

Chinmay Damle is a research scientist and food enthusiast. He writes here on Pune’s food culture. He can be contacted at chinmay.damle@gmail.com

Taste of Life: When the love for tea brewed kettles, big and small - Hindustan Times

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