Scandal-broth
Tea. The reference is to the gossip held by some of the womenkind over their “cups which cheer but not inebriate.” Also called “Chatter-broth.”
“‘I proposed to my venerated visitor, to summon my … housekeeper … with the tea-equipage; but he rejected my proposal with disdain… .ʹ ‘No scandal-broth,ʹ he exclaimed, ‘No unideaʹd woman’s chatter for me.ʹ”
Entry taken fromDictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.