Old Sugar Fingers

So what I am slowly gathering from this LIFE OF JOHNSON is that the proximity of fingers to your beverage was a constant concern back then. Johnson complains about something that happened to him on his one trip to France: "the footman took the sugar in his fingers, and threw it into my coffee. I was going to put it aside; but hearing it was made on purpose for me, I e'en tasted Tom's fingers." Later, during tea, the spout of the teapot is clogged, and the same footman BLOWS INTO THE SPOUT TO CLEAR IT. All right, I have to admit I'm with Johnson on this one, not cool, man.