Coffee, Saucering and Homemade Potions

Coffee is, without a doubt, a staple in Southern life, but not only as a beverage. Like many other items, coffee can be enjoyed in a variety of ways and can serve multiple purposes.

Coffee even has its own urban legends. Nashville brand Maxell House, whose slogan is “Good to the last drop,” has faced a bit of controversy about that phrase’s origin. In 1907, former President Teddy Roosevelt visited Tennessee’s Hermitage, the estate that was the former home of Andrew Jackson. When the Rough Rider was served a second cup of Maxwell House coffee, as the legend goes, Roosevelt remarked that it was “Good to the last drop.” Researchers question the veracity of the story, yet the Maxwell House’s official position is that it is legitimate, although that has waivered at times.

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It is funny how a comment on Facebook can bring back sweet memories. I read the following comment: “Did people actually drink their coffee from a saucer?” One reader responded that his grandfather “saucered” his coffee, and he also enjoyed his “soakie”. This reminded me of my mother; she filled her coffee cup about 3/4s full of milk and then topped it off with coffee. We teased her about liking a little coffee with her milk.

Click here to read about poke, or polk, sallat

Centuries ago, saucers were used for serving condiments and sauces, but today the term is used to describe the small plate that supports a cup and is usually used to serve coffee or tea. A small piece of dishware, along with a cup, it’s usually a part of a place setting in a tea or dinner set. Some teacups are sold as a set with matching saucers, sometimes alone or as part of a complete set. These may include a teapot. They are often used for bread plates and small dessert plates as well.

Some people pour their hot tea or coffee from the cup into the saucer; the size of the saucer determines the rate at which it cools. The coffee left in the cup was used to “dip” mom’s biscuit or toast. I did not remember it being called “soakie”, I asked the gentleman that had posted his grandfather enjoyed his “soakie” if his grandfather dipped bread in his coffee, and he said, “yes, he used a biscuit.”

Drinking coffee from a saucer was certainly a tradition in this area. I remember seeing lots of adults drinking their coffee from a saucer when I was a child. Coffee was very hot, and when they “saucered” their coffee, it was a way to quickly let it cool. This post started my mind turning; I could smell the coffee and see my parents sitting at the kitchen table having their morning coffee together.

Click here to read about sweet tea, the drink of the South.

How do you properly “saucer” your coffee? Is the coffee poured into a saucer to cool and then poured back in the cup? Or do you drink right from the saucer? There is no right answer. Mom would pour some hot coffee in her saucer, then blow on it until it was cool enough to drink. Once the coffee was cool enough, she would drink it from the saucer. My dad would saucer his coffee too, but once it was cool, he would pour it back into his cup, and the cool coffee helped cool the rest of the coffee in his cup. Was one way better than another?

My mom had a friend from England that saucered her hot tea just like her neighbors. In the 1700s, in Victorian society, people commonly poured their tea or coffee into a saucer and drank directly from the small plate. The saucer allowed the beverage to cool more quickly, and that remaining in the cup stayed warmer.

Then I remembered other ways my mother used coffee. When we had fried country ham, my mother would make Red-eye gravy. This was made with only two ingredients, the drippings of the fried country ham and black coffee. It was so good. We poured the gravy on our slice of ham and used a biscuit to “sop” it up.

Drinking the leftover coffee was not enough for my mom and many like her. There are many great uses. I grew up in a time when we did not waste. Most people discarded the grounds left behind after brewing coffee and poured out the coffee they did not drink. My mom used the coffee grounds to fertilize her roses, and she had some of the prettiest roses I have ever seen.

Mom also used the coffee grounds to repel bugs. She would keep a bowl of grounds in the kitchen where she kept our fresh fruit; she always said the flies would not come around the coffee grounds. Today I keep a box of baking soda in my refrigerator to help absorb odors, but mom kept a clean sock filled with coffee grounds to do the same thing.

There are countless ways to reuse your leftover coffee, and I am sure my mom knew all of them. She did not want to waste a single drop. Mom left the coffee on the heater after breakfast and would drink it during the day. Everything from cooking to degreasing her dishes, mom used leftover coffee. It can be a really great cleaning agent, and it’s strong enough to clean up greasy surfaces. If you decide to reuse your coffee, know that it can stain. Be careful with the surfaces you use it on.

Once the leftover coffee had cooled down, it could be used to water plants, but only once in a while. You would not want to water the plants with coffee every day.

Women would wash their hair in the leftover coffee; it helped to remove dirt on the hair and scalp while making the hair shinier. When mom needed to cover a spot on a piece of furniture or baseboard, she used a cloth and leftover coffee; it covered what needed to be stained, a cheap and easy solution in place of store-bought stain.

Mom used coffee in place of milk or cream and made chocolate cupcakes and she made a chocolate frosting with just brewed coffee, unsweetened cocoa powder, butter, and confectioners’ sugar for the cupcakes. To make sure nothing went to waste, she broke up the left-over breakfast bacon and sprinkled it on top of the frosting. Not sure I would want to eat it today, but I loved them back then. Coffee is also a great ingredient to add to steaks or other meats. It helps the flavor while also tenderizing it.

Just remember that leftover coffee only lasts for three to four days when refrigerated. Discard it after that. If the coffee has been sitting out at room temperature, try to use it within 12 hours. Good luck and happy saucering!