A beverage is any liquid used to quench thirst. A hot drink on a cold day or a cold
drink on a hot day can make an important contribution to the comfort and morale of the
troops. Beverages such as coffee, tea, and carbonated drinks of low nutritive value, and
those containing cocoa, milk, eggs, fruit, or fruit juices are of high nutritive value.
Beverages may be served hot or iced, depending upon the season of the year, the meal being
served, and the type of work performed by the troops. The essential factors to be taken
into account in the preparation of beverages are freshness, blend and temperature of
ingredients (including water); accuracy of measurements; care in preparation; time of
preparation (just before serving for coffee and tea); cleanliness and adequacy of
equipment; and selection of the other components of the meal.
COFFEE
The preparation of coffee demands as much detailed attention as does any other part of
the meal. Well-prepared coffee that ideally complements a meal adds immeasurably to eating
enjoyment. Coffee is made when hot water comes in contact with ground coffee and extracts
certain soluble materials from it. The amount of time the water is in contact with the
coffee grounds governs to some extent the flavor of the coffee. Mild-flavored coffee
results from short-time contact of water and coffee and bitter or more astringent flavors,
from long contact. However, coffee that tastes good to one person does not necessarily
taste good to another. Three ingredients of coffee, caffeols, caffeine, and tannin,
control the flavor and aroma, the stimulating effect, and the bitterness. Caffeols are
water soluble, and when the temperature of the water rises, their flavor and aroma are
transferred from the coffee to the water.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COFFEE BREWING
Measure or weigh quantities of water and
coffee carefully. Prepare only in amounts necessary to maintain continuous service. Urn
coffee held 1 hour or longer and automatic coffee maker coffee held 30 minutes or longer
deteriorates in flavor and loses its aroma.
Use the proportion of
3/4 pound of coffee to 2-3/4 gallons of water for a standard strength brew.
Ingredients for a good coffee brew are
fresh coffee and freshly boiling water. Water that has been boiled a long time will have a
flat taste which will affect the brew.
For an ideal brew, boiling water should
pass through coffee within 4 to 6 minutes.
Keep equipment clean. Clean immediately
after each use to prevent rancidity.
Urns and urn baskets should be washed with
hot water and special urn cleaner or baking soda. (DO NOT use soap or detergent powder.)
Rinse with clear water. When not in use, leave 1 or 2 gallons of clear water in urn. Drain
before making coffee.
When using new urn bags: A new urn bag
should be thoroughly rinsed in hot water before using. After using, urn bags should be
thoroughly rinsed in clear, hot water; keep submerged in cold water until next use.
Faucets and glass gauges should be cleaned
often with gauge brushes, hot water, and urn cleaner or baking soda. Rinse with clear
water. Caps on faucets and gauges are removable to permit cleaning.
ICED COFFEE PREPARATION
Iced coffee can be prepared either from instant coffee or from ground coffee brewed in
an urn. The procedures and precautions for proper coffee brewing should be observed when
preparing iced coffee, but another factor, dilution, must be considered. The original brew
must be twice as strong to allow for melting of the ice.
SUGGESTIONS FOR CONTROL OF QUALITY
Listed below are several suggestions which help to produce brewed coffee of standard
quality. For instant coffee issued for use in a dining facility, the instructions on the
package are used for preparation of the brew.
Store roasted coffee in an airtight metal container because coffee loses its flavor and
aroma rapidly when exposed to air, and because it absorbs odors which lower its quality.
Use older stocks first. Within three days after opening, vacuum coffee has lost much of
its flavor.
Realize that coffee brews are definitely affected by the type of water used. Extremely
soft or hard and very alkaline waters do not produce good coffee yields. Excess chlorine,
sulfur, ammonia, and other chemicals in water produce off-flavored coffee.
Do not store routed coffee in wooden containers because the coffee may absorb odors from
the wood, and the containers cannot be properly cleaned and dried.
Do not brew coffee in an iron container, because the chemical reaction between the
tannic acid and the container will produce a brew that is unfit to drink.
Brew coffee 15-20 minutes prior to serving.
Serving temperatures should never exceed 180º F--185º F.
Do not allow brewed coffee to boil.
Do not add a new brew to a leftover brew.
JUDGING THE FINISHED PRODUCT
Fresh coffee should have a pleasant taste and should not have a bitter or acid flavor.
It should smell fragrant, mellow, and rich, not rancid or oily. The color of a rich brew
should be rich, dark brown, not black. Clarity of the brew is more related to coffee
strength than to color. Coffee should be bright, clear, and sparkling. To test the clarity
of coffee, lower a teaspoon into a full cup of coffee, and observe the spoon through the
coffee; there should be no cloudiness, dullness, or muddiness. The constituents of brewed
coffee which are of chief importance in judging it are flavor substances, stimulating
substances, and bitter substances. Table 1 shows the characteristics of these constituents
and how they are affected by improper temperatures.
TEA
Like coffee, tea has three ingredients that control the flavor and aroma, the
stimulating effect, and the bitterness. These ingredients are theols, theine, and tannin.
Theols are water soluble, and their flavor and aroma are transferred from the tea to the
water. Tea brewing is known as an "infusion," a process whereby boiling water
poured over tea leaves causes a chemical reaction that releases theine (or caffeine), a
vegetable tannin, and tiny amounts of oils, color, and other substances from the leaves.
The basic idea of good brewing is to capture the flavor essence of tea obtained by this
reaction at the proper time. Two forms of black tea are used, bulk tea and teabags. In
addition powdered instant tea has special uses in the military services.
METHODS OF TEA BREWING
Standard recipes from Armed Forces Recipe Service for preparing hot tea and iced tea
are shown in figure 4. The most frequently used method of brewing tea in the dining
facility is the use of individual teabags. The teabags are placed conveniently near urns
of water heated to 175º to 185º F. ), and each person brews his tea in a cup. When
powdered instant tea is issued for use as iced tea in summer menus, the tea is added to
cold water, not water to the tea. The mixture is stirred until the tea is dissolved and is
then poured over cracked ice.
SUGGESTIONS FOR CONTROL OF QUALITY
The following suggestions should help to control the quality of brewed tea:
Store tea leaves or bags in airtight metal containers to avoid loss of flavor and aroma.
Determine the hardness and softness of the water available, and adjust the brewing time
accordingly. Very soft water hastens the extraction of the flavor-color components from
tea. Hard alkaline water slows down the rate of extraction and produces cloudiness and
darkness.
Schedule the preparation of hot tea so that not more than 15 minutes elapse between
preparation and serving. Prepare in small batches. Maintain a temperature between 175ø
and 180ø F. throughout the serving period. To prevent a bitter taste, tea must never be
boiled.
Do not warm over tea, and do not mix a new brew with a leftover brew.
Store leftover brewed tea to be used as iced tea, provided that ice has not been added
to chill it. If the tea is cooled too rapidly, clouding will occur. This is particularly
true of an overbrewed tea containing a high amount of tannin. By either heating the tea
slightly or adding hot water will clear cloudy tea instantly.
To prevent cloudiness when diluting strong tea, pour the tea into the water, not water
into the tea.
JUDGING THE FINISHED PRODUCT
A good cup of tea has a fragrant, fruity aroma and flavor. It is clear and is free of
oiliness and leaf silt. Unlike coffee, tea has little or no body.
COCOA
Hot cocoa (hot chocolate) or cold cocoa (chocolate milk) is frequently served in place
of, or in addition to, coffee or tea at one of the three daily meals. Milk, as the major
ingredient of these beverages, contributes to the nutrition of the meal by supplying
liberal quantities of minerals, vitamins, protein, and liquids.
PRINCIPLES OF COCOA PREPARATION
There are several cooking principles in cocoa preparation that must be learned to
produce a consistently good standard product.
The starch in the cocoa must be cooked to make it soluble.
When milk is heated for more than a few minutes, even at temperatures below the boiling
point, a thin skim forms over the surface. If the container is kept covered during the
heating process, the amount of skim is reduced.
Beating the milk-cocoa mixture produces a foam that serves as a surface coating.
JUDGING THE FINISHED PRODUCT
A good cup of hot cocoa should have a pleasing appearance and taste. The color should
be light, rich-brown, not gray or muddy, and the texture should be smooth with no skim,
foam, or sediment. The flavor should be delicately sweet, not scorched.
FRUIT DRINKS
Tasty, cold fruit juices may be served as a valuable addition to a breakfast meal, or
they may be served as appetizers. Fruit drinks such as lemonade, orangeade, and mixed
fruit punch stimulate and boost energy and provide a cooling effect for a hot summer day.
METHODS OF PREPARATION
Cold fruit juices and fruit drinks requiring sugar are usually prepared as outlined
below.
CANNED FRUIT JUICES. Iced juices should be prepared far enough in
advance so that they are thoroughly chilled before serving. To help the palatability of
these juices, shake the containers before opening them to redistribute the fruit solids
tending to settle in the bottom of the container, and serve the juices as soon after the
containers are opened as possible to insure that the solid particles stay in suspension.
FROZEN, CONCENTRATED FRUIT JUICES. To prepare frozen, concentrated
juices, thaw them to a slush stage in a refrigerator, empty the contents into a pitcher,
add the specified amount of water, mix vigorously, and chill and serve. DO NOT ADD ICE.
INSTANT FRUIT JUICES. In some situations instant fruit juices may be
issued to dining facilities. These products, which are highly palatable and easy to use,
should be prepared according to the instructions on the containers.
LEMONADE, FRUIT PUNCHES, AND OTHER SWEETENED ICED DRINKS. The standard
recipes show the ingredients and the methods for making fruit-juice beverages requiring
sugar, such as orangeade, lemonade, and fruit punches. It is important to note that in
most instances a simple sweet syrup, instead of granulated sugar, is used as a sweetener.
The fruit mixture is refrigerated until time to be served, and then crushed ice is added.
SUGGESTIONS FOR CONTROL OF QUALITY
The following suggestions should help to control the quality of fruit juices and fruit
drinks:
Store unused portions of opened canned fruit juices in a satisfactory storage container
with a tight-fitting cover. Acid fruit juices left in the can tend to develop a
"tinny" taste. Also, fruit juices absorb refrigerator odors and flavors.
Store frozen fruit juices at 0º F., or lower, to retain maximum quality.
Taste sweetened fruit drinks before serving them to insure that the beverage is not
sour. Sharp, acid fruit beverages are preferable because acidity leaves a fresh taste, and
sour beverages are not palatable.
JUDGING THE QUALITY
Fruit beverages must have a good flavor with just the right amount of sweetness. Iced
beverages must not be diluted by melting ice.
Primary Content Provider: U.S. Army
Curriculum and Site Design: David L. Heiserman
Publisher: SweetHaven Publishing Services
