There are platters for food in the kitchens along with eating tines (forks) and spoons. Goblets, footed bowls, small cups, and tiny glasses are shelved behind the bar for the appropriate drink along with corked bottles of aged pagas, fine ka-la-nas, mead, and Turian-wines. Serving trays, urns, teapots, bowls of red and yellow sugars, bowls of powdered bosk milk, and boxes of Bazi tea are under the bar. On top of the bar are pitchers for serving pagas and wines drawn from casks stacked behind the bar and a brazier for heating ka-la-na.

Ka-la-na, ta-wine, Turian-wine, and mead (drunk from a drinking horn in Torvaldsland) can be served in goblets. Sa-paga, sul-paga, and kal-da should be served in footed bowls. Blackwine is normally served in a small cup, and Bazi tea in three small glasses.

Blackwine, kal-da, and hot water for Bazi tea are in kettles suspended within the fireplace with ladles hanging nearby for dipping the hot liquids.

Serving Blackwine and Bazi tea

Blackwine -

The full service of blackwine includes red and/or yellow sugars and powdered bosk milk being added to the drink.

Place a blackwine urn, small bowls of each sugar and powdered milk on a tray with a small cup and small spoon. Fill the urn with blackwine with a ladle from the kettle hanging in the fireplace. Return to the free person and set the tray beside you or on their table. Ask how they wish it prepared, make it so, and finish the serve. If they wish first slave (sweetened with milk) add the sugars and milk first, then pour the blackwine from the urn into the cup.

Note: Second slave is the normal reference used to mean black, unsweetened.

Bazi tea -

The full service of Bazi tea includes the addition of a large amount of sugar as it is traditionally drunk heavily sweetened.

Place the bowls of sugar, three tiny glasses, and a spoon on a tray. Place a measure of Bazi tea leaves contained in a box under the bar in a teapot and fill it with hot water ladled from the kettle hanging in the fireplace. Put the teapot on the tray and return to the free person setting the tray beside you or on their table. Give the tea a moment to brew, then pour one glass to check if it is brewed properly and ready to serve. Pour the sample back into the teapot and ask how they wish their tea. Pour all three glasses and sweeten as desired, then offer each to the free person in succession, one at a time.

Things to be Considered

Concerning blackwine -

Blackwine is a rare and expensive commodity on most of Gor. Thentis, where the beans are grown, has strict export restrictions on it, with severe penalties for those caught smuggling. In addition to being rare and expensive, blackwine is prepared very strong, stronger even than Earth espresso, so serving it in a mug (or mega-mug) would be entirely inappropriate, not to mention there are no references to mugs in the books. Mugs, and the other items discussed below, are things brought to IRC Gor by those who do not wish to follow the knowledge of the books.

Concerning botas -

Botas on Gor are made from cured and tanned verrskin. They are mostly used for carrying liquids while traveling like a canteen from Earth. Consider, if you will, the taste of something kept for any length of time within the cured skin of an animal, especially an alcoholic beverage. They are not used in taverns, and not normally used in more permanent camps. In taverns drinks are kept in casks and/or bottles, and the same is true for more permanent camp sites. This is also true for the wagon peoples.

Concerning ka-la-na -

Ka-la-na is a potent, dry, red wine. It is not sweet, it is not white, nor is it served chilled or iced. The only ice on Gor is that which occurs naturally in the far north and south, in the high mountains, and in the northern or southern lattitudes during the winter. There is no mention in the books of chilled or iced ka-la-na. Also, there is no such thing as mulled ka-la-na. The closest drink to this would be kal-da.

Concerning paga -

There are no references to lumpy, rancid paga in the books. Sa-paga is of fermented and brewed grains filtered before bottling, and sul-paga is a distilled drink, very much like moonshine. There are very few references to heated paga at all, it is not normally served that way in taverns at all. There are no racks of botas filled with paga hanging near the fire.

Concerning the drinking vessels of Gor -

I have seen beautiful cut crystal goblets, goblets and bowls made of gold and silver, inlaid with precious gems. I have seen bowls carved from semi-precious stone, polished and gleaming with many hues and marbling. I have seen many varieties of expensive vessels used to serve drinks in taverns including beautiful silver serving trays. Unfortunately, these things do not exist in the books of Gor except for one reference to a gem studded goblet of either gold or silver..only one..and that was not in a tavern, and silver service for blackwine in the palace of Suliman Pasha. What do exist for the most part are simple drinking vessels; goblets, cups, and bowls of fired and glazed clay, possibly even glass goblets and porcelain or ceramic cups. Bowls might be carved from hardwood and polished well or made of fired clay or ceramic, and Bazi tea glasses are made of simple glass.