When we moved to Kirbyville, Texas in the summer of 1952 the first place we went was called Lea's Cafe downtown in Kirbyville. Kirbyville's downtown was only about 3 or 4 blocks long on Main Street.
Leas's Cafe was a good choice because as I remember it was "hot as the dickens" and they served ice tea in the largest glasses I had ever seen before or since.
Later when I went in that restaurant I would see the old East Texas men sipping their coffee out of the saucers. This I had never seen before East of the Mississippi River. They would pour the hot coffee in the saucer and then blow on it to cool it off. Then it was saucered and blowed and cool enough for drinking.
Here is some good info on this practice.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sau1.htm
Here is an obituary of the owner of Cooper's Cafe which became Lea's Cafe.
"Lea, Roy G.
Funeral services for Roy G. Lea, 59, of Kirbyville was held Friday at Causey�s E.E. Stringer Funeral Home with Paul Bailey, Church of Christ minister, officiating. Interment was in Kirbyville Cemetery. Pallbearers were J.B. Sanders, B.C. Woods, James Bateman, Jeptha Stark, C.B. Herndon and O.L. Smith. Mr. Lea died at his home at 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, August 1, 1979 after a sudden illness. He was a native of Simpson, La., and was reared by his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. R.J. Cooper, after the death of his parents. He owned and operated the Cooper or Lea Cafe for 26 years. He was presently employed at the Texaco Security Guard. He was a veteran with five years service during World War II. He is survived by his wife, Beulah Prevost Lea of Kirbyville; two daughters, Sherry Matthews of Lumberton and Maggie Accord of Kirbyville; two sons, Robert G. Lea and James Lea, both of Kirbyville; two sisters, Ferrelle Rischard of Kirbyville and Theda Walters of Port Neches; a brother, Weldon Cooper of Charlottesville, Va.; and five grandchildren."
At another cafe in Kirbyville, Texas I ordered a hot dog. It was served on a place covered in chilli and I was given a fork with which to eat it.
I kind of like the idea of coffee being served in real cups and real saucers.
Now most places only use styrofoam coffee cups(McDonald's wraps the styrofoam cup in paper on the outside of the styrofoam) with plastic tops on them. The rationale is that it keeps the coffee hot longer and it also allows people to take it out and drink from the cup in their cars.
But as someone else has noted there are far too many people walking around drinking out of paper and styrofoam cups. I think it was Nora Ephron who wrote that.
Also the younger generation are not all drinking coffee any more. Some of them drink Diet Coke for breakfast. Incredible but true.
Little do they know that WW2 was won by(among other things) our soldiers drinking black coffee and smoking cigarettes.
I gave up cigarettes in 1969 but I still drink coffee. Most times I drink it black but sometimes I will add milk and sugar.
As for ice tea with lemon it is a great summer drink. In 1964 I was hitch hiking to New York with Jack Newell and when we got to Meridian in June of that year it was really hot. We went in the Davis Grill and I ordered iced tea. Jack asked me why I ordered iced tea. To him the only drink to have at that time was a beer.
Many years later Jack gave up alcholic drinks in all forms.
But nobody ever gives up iced tea.
