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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.08.01*END** +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by Richard and Margie Druery +E-mail - richardandmargie@mail.com + + + + + +TEA LEAVES + +By Francis Leggett & Co. + + + + +PREFATORY + +The casual reader in many a nook and corner of this extended land +will perhaps ask--"Who are the publishers of this book, and what +is their purpose?" We anticipate any such enquiry, and reply +that Francis H. Leggett & Co. are Importing and Manufacturing +Grocers; that our object in publishing this and other books is to +bring ourselves and our goods into closer relations with +consumers at a distance from New York; and incidentally, to +provide readers with interesting information respecting the food +which they eat and drink. + +In our search for material to aid in the preparation of this +book, we were greatly indebted to Mr. F. N. Barrett, editor of +THE AMERICAN GROCER, who generously gave us access to what is +probably the most complete and valuable collection of books upon +Foods to be found on this continent. + +We wish to also to acknowledge the kind response of Messrs. Gow, +Wilson and Stanton, of London, to our requests for statistics of +the World's Tea Trade, and particularly for information +respecting the Teas of Ceylon and India. If our limitations of +space had permitted, we should have materially increased the +interest of our little book by additional matter derived from the +last named firm. + +(Omitted) Our colored Frontispiece is a faithful representation +of a Chinese tea plant, showing the flower and the seeds. + + + + +TEA LEAVES + + "Pray thee, let it serve for table-talk."--Merchant of Venice. + +"A cup of tea!" Is there a phrase in our language more +eloquently significant of physical and mental refreshment, more +expressive of remission of toil and restful relaxation, or so +rich in associations with the comforts and serenity of home life, +and also with unpretentious, informal, social intercourse? + +If rank in the scale of importance of any material thing is to be +determined by its extensive and continued influence for good, to +tea must be conceded a very elevated position among those +agencies which have contributed to man's happiness and well- +being. + +Most remarkable changes have occurred in the production of tea +during the past century. About sixty years ago all the tea +consumed on the globe was grown in China and Japan. Our knowledge +of the growth and manufacture of tea was then of an uncertain and +confused character, and no European had ever taken an active part +in the production of a pound of tea. To-day, about one-half of +the tea consumed in the world is grown and manufactured upon +English territory, on plantations owned and superintended by +Englishmen, who have thoroughly mastered every detail of the art, +while nearly all the tea drank in Great Britain is English grown. +Twenty years ago, the suggestion that tea might yet be grown upon +a commercial scale in the United States was received with +derision by the Press and its readers; but one tea estate in +South Carolina has during the past year grown, manufactured, and +sold at a profit, several thousand of the tea of good quality, +which brought a price equal to that of foreign fine teas. + +A natural taste for hot liquid foods and drinks is common to all +races of men, and they may be traced in the soups of meat and +fish, and in their decoctions or infusions of vegetable leaves, +seeds, barks, etc. + +Hot "teas" were in habitual use as beverages among civilized +nations long before they ever heard of Chinese tea, of coffee, or +of cocoa. The English people, for instance, freely indulged in +infusions of Sage leaves, of leaves of the Wild Marjoram, the +Sloe, or blackthorn, the currant, the Speedwell, and of Sassafras +bark. In America, Sassafras leaves and bark were used for teas by +the early colonists, as were the leaves of Gaultheria +(Wintergreen), the Ledums (Labrador tea), Monarda (Horsemint, +Bee-balm, or Oswego tea), Ceanothus (New Jersey tea or red-root), +etc. Charles Lamb, in his essay upon Chimney Sweeps, mentions the +public house of Mr. Reed, on Fleet street in London, as a place +where Sassafras tea (and Salop) were still served daily to +customers in his time, about 1823. Mate, Yerba, or Paraguay tea +has been a national beverage for millions of people in the +central portions of South America for several centuries. + +With the exception of Mate, not one of the above named +substitutes for Chinese tea contains the peculiar nerve +stimulating and nerve refreshing constituent upon which depends +the physiological value of Black or Green tea, the Theine: nor do +they possess the characteristic flavoring principle or essential +oil which distinguishes commercial teas from all other known +plant products. The Ledums are indeed accredited by Professor +James F. Johnson (Chemistry of Common Life) with stimulating and +narcotic properties, but the same may be said of tobacco. + +A comforting, stimulating and healthful beverage, which has been +in habitual use by the most extensive nation of the globe for +more than a thousand years, and which has at length become a +necessity as well as a luxury for seven hundred millions of +people, or of a majority of the inhabitants of the earth, is +certainly worthy of more than the passing thought which +accompanies its daily use in the form of "cup of tea." + +Douglass Jerriold, writing of tea, some 50 years ago, said:-- +"Of the social influence of Tea upon the masses of the people in +this country, it is not very easy to say too much. It has +civilized brutish and turbulent homes, saved the drunkard from +his doom, and to many a mother, who else have indeed been most +wretched and forlorn, it has given cheerful, peaceful thoughts +that have sustained her. Its work among us in England and +elsewhere, aye, throughout the civilized world, has been +humanizing and good. Its effect upon us all has been socially +healthful; peaceful, gentle and hearty." + +There is no article of common use about which so little is +popularly known, or of which "we know so many things which are +not so." The very names of the various kinds of tea which we use +are mysteries of meaning to those who have not made special +researches into the subject. And the cause of the distinctions in +the qualities of different teas, as of black and green, are still +matters of uncertainty and controversy among many dealers of +teas, as well as among unscientific travelers and some untraveled +scientists. The enthusiastic collector of writings upon tea by +self qualified experts, will find himself involved in a maze of +contradictory assertions and opinions from which there is no +escape save by the exercise of judicial powers, by an independent +exercise of his own judgment, in separating truth from error. And +unless he is a proficient in physiology and chemistry, he will +find himself baffled at last, because several important +scientific questions concerning Tea are still unsolved by +adequate authority. + +Then there are otherwise sane persons who profess to discover in +the habitual use of tea by whole nations a cause of national +deterioration. We record the fact as one of the curiosities of +mental perversity in an age of general intelligence. + +How the inestimable qualities which lie latent in the green leaf +of the Tea tree or bush were discovered and developed by the +Chinese is one of those mysteries which we shall never solve. For +it is a remarkable fact that neither the green leaf of the tea +plant, nor the tea leaf dried without mans agency, conveys to +human senses any hint of the agreeable or valuable qualities for +which tea is esteemed, and which have been developed by the art +of man. A leaf of any one of the mints, or of the sassafras tree, +or of the wintergreen vine, after being bruised in the hand and +applied to the nose or the mouth, makes instant impression upon +the senses of taste and small, and at once informs us of its +distinctive qualities. Not so with the tea leaf; a hundred +valueless plants impress those senses more vividly than the leaf +which is worth them all. Infuse the green leaf of the Tea plant +and the prized properties of "Tea" are still wanting, but in +their stead, positively deleterious qualities are said to appear +in the infusion. Commercial Tea must be regarded as an artificial +production. A certain degree of artificial heat, of manipulation, +and induced chemical changes, are the agents which develop the +flavor and aroma of the tea leaf. And the nature of man's +treatment and manipulation determines in large measure not only +the desired flavor, but the distinguishing character of the tea, +its rank as a green, a black, or an "English Breakfast Tea," +all three of which may be evolved by skilful manipulation from +the same tea bush, at the same time. + +Much has been said and written in contention upon this latter +assertion, and books may be quoted upon either side of the +question, but we make the statement without qualification and +upon unquestionable authority. + +As Chinese teas became known to the inhabitants of other parts of +Asia, and to Europeans, curiosity and commercial interests +impelled other races to seek information concerning the origin +and treatment of different Chinese teas. The prices obtained by +the Chinese from foreigners for teas two and three centuries ago +were most exorbitant, and paid the Chinese Government and Chinese +merchants an enormous profit. Quite naturally that sagacious +nation saw the danger of letting the truth concerning the origin, +manufacture and cost of their most precious commodity pass into +the possession of other people, and they strove to prevent +foreigners from penetrating to their inland tea gardens, while +they plied inquisitive enquirers with fairy tales which were +eagerly swallowed. They said that every different kind of tea was +the product of a different species of plant, which bore a +different name, and that the manufacture was a most intricate +process depending upon secrets confined to a very few; that the +leaves could safely be plucked only at certain phases of the +moon, and at certain hours of the day, and that some delicate +varieties of tea leaves were plucked only by young maidens, etc. +They even allowed Europeans to believe that green tea was colored +by salts of copper, on copper plates, having doubtless learned +that their were European merchants who would not be deterred from +vending poisonous foods provided a good fat profit attended the +transaction. In short, they practiced some of the dissimulation +and tricks of trade to which many merchants were addicted. + +To particularize further, and yet generalize at the same time, we +will say here that the Tea plant or tree is greatly modified in +hardiness, in height, in size of leaf, and in the quality of the +leaf for a beverage, by soil, by moisture, tillage, and climate. +Some soils and some climates develop a tea plant decidedly more +suitable for a green tea than for a black tea, and vice-versa. +The Formosa Oolong, with its natural flowery fragrance is a +product of a peculiar soil, said to be a clay topped with rich +humus. Analysis would probably disclose peculiarities in that +soil not yet found in other tea districts. In removal to other +soils and other localities, the Formosa Tea plant loses its most +precious characteristic, its sweet flowery aroma and taste. The +total product of this tea is but 18,000,000 lbs. per annum, an +insignificant quantity compared with the aggregate crops of +Chinese or of Indian tea gardens. If the exceptional +characteristics of Formosa Oolong accompanied the plant when +removed to other localities, its cultivation would quickly become +greatly extended. + +What is known or believed concerning the remote history of Tea +and of its dissemination among other nations than the Chinese and +Japanese, has been told so often that its recapitulation becomes +tedious to those who are familiar with the story. But this book +is intended for the general reader, and for the purpose of +collecting and welding together disconnected and floating facts +and scraps of tea literature gathered from many sources. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HISTORICAL. + +Until a quite recent period botanists believed that the tea plant +was a native of China, and that its growth was confined to China +and Japan. But it is now definitely known that the tea plant is a +native of India, where the wild plant attains a size and +perfection which concealed its true character from botanical +experts, as well as from ordinary observers, for many years after +it had become familiar to them as a native of Indian forests. + +How early in the history of the Chinese that people discovered +and developed the inestimable qualities of the tea plant is not +known. That Chinese scholar, S. Wells Williams, in his Middle +Kingdom places the date about 350 A.D. But somewhere between 500 +A.D. and 700 A.D. Tea had become a favorite beverage in Chinese +families. Some of the written records of that ancient people push +the epoch of tea-drinking back as far as 2700 B.C., appealing to +ambiguous utterances of Confucius for corroboration. Tea in China +had obtained sufficient importance in political economy in 783 or +793 A.D. to become an object of taxation by the Chinese +Government. + +Gibbon, in his great work, tells us that as early as the sixth +century, caravans conveyed the silks and spices and sandal wood +of China by land from the Chinese Sea westward to Roman markets +on the Mediterranean, a distance of nearly 6,000 miles. But we +hear no mention of the introduction of tea into Europe or western +Asia until a thousand years later. + +According to Mr. John McEwan (International Geog. Congress, +Berlin, 1899,) tea soon found its way from China into Japan and +Formosa, but was not cultivated in Japan on a commercial scale +until the 12th century. + +John Sumner, in a Treatise on Tea (Birmingham, 1863), states that +the Portuguese claim to have first introduced tea into Europe, +about 1557. Disraeli (Curiosities of Literature) offers evidence +that tea was unknown in Russian Court circles as late as 1639. + +But Russia and Persia seem to have naturalized tea as a beverage +about the same time that it became known in England. Little is +said about Persian tea-drinking in modern writing upon tea, but +the testimony of many travelers bears witness to the national +love of tea by Persians. + +The Encyclopedia Britannica concedes to the Dutch, the honor of +being the first European tea-drinkers, and states that early +English supplies of tea were obtained from Dutch sources. It is +related by Dr. Thomas Short, (A Dissertation on Tea, London, +1730), that on the second voyage of a ship of the Dutch East +India Co. to China, the Dutch offered to trade Sage, as a very +precious herb, then unknown to the Chinese, at the rate of three +pounds of tea for one pound of Sage. The new demand for sage at +one time exhausted the supply, but after a while the Orientals +had a surfeit of sage-tea, and concluded that Chinese tea was +quite good enough for Chinamen. If the European traders had known +the virtue of sage-tea for stimulating the growth of human hair, +and had given the Orientals the cue, sage leaves might have +retained their high value with the Chinese until now. + +In these days, it may be remarked, the Dutch are said to drink as +much tea per capita as the Russians, who are as fond of tea as +the Chinese. + +While both the English and Dutch East India Companies exhibited +in England small samples of tea as curiosities of barbarian +customs very early in the 17th century, tea did not begin to be +used as a beverage in England even by the Royalty until after +1650. + +In a number of the weekly Mercurius Politicus (a predecessor of +the present London Gazette), dated September 30, 1658, occurs +this advertisement: + +"That excellent and by all pysitians approved China drink called +by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations Tay, alias Tee, is sold at +the Sultaness Head, a Cophee-house in Sweetings Rents, by the +Royal Exchange, London." + +This appears to be the earliest recorded and authentic evidence +of the use of tea in England. + +Macaulay, in a note in his History of England, says that tea +became a fashionable drink among Parisians, and went out of +fashion, before it was known in London, and refers to the +published correspondence of the French physician, Dr. Guy Patin, +with Dr. Charles Spon, under dates of March 10 and 22, 1648, for +proof of the fact. Macaulay also says that Cardinal Mazarin was a +great tea-drinker, and Chancellor Seguier, likewise. + +Frankest and shrewdest among men of brains who have given to the +world their inmost thoughts, old Samuel Pepys, pauses in the +midst of conferences with Kings and Princes to record that "I +did send for a cup of tea (a China Drink) of which I had never +drank before." This in September 1660. Seven years later he +writes in that wonderful Diary--"Home, and there find my wife +drinking of tee, a drink which Mr. Pelling, the Potticary, tells +her is good for her cold and defluxions." Then goes on to rejoice +over the repulse of the Dutch in an attempt upon London. + +To coffee and tea are due the establishment of that unique +English institution, the London Coffee House. Inns, where quests +were expected to lodge as well as eat; restaurants, in which men +tarried only for a single meal; and Beer and Spirit shops, +abounded in London; but the Coffee House ushered in a new era, +and actually changed the daily habits of a large majority of +representative London citizens. While it is asserted Mr. Jacobs +established the first Coffee House in England, at Oxford, it was +a native of Smyrna by the name of Pasqua Rosee who first opened a +Coffee House in London, in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill, in +1652. Hot coffee only was here dispensed, during the day and +evening. + +Coffee Houses soon increased in number and extended over the +business districts of London. Business men quickly recognized the +value of a beverage which cleared the mental vision while +refreshing and stimulating both mind and body, and repaired to +the Coffee House at all hours for the joint purpose of drinking +coffee and transacting business with their fellows. Coffee-Houses +became the Commercial Exchanges of London, and they were also the +precursors of modern English Clubs. Men of affairs, Statesmen, +literary celebrities, artists, naval and military officers, all +repaired to the Coffee Houses to meet each other, to hear and +discuss the serious topics and the light gossip of the day. + +The introduction of tea gave the coffee-houses another strong +hold upon their customers, and chocolate as a beverage soon +followed. Among the early dispensors of these harmless hot drinks +was Thomas Garway, or as written later, Garraway, whose four- +story brick coffee-house on Exchange Alley, first opened in 1659, +had been a rallying point for Londoners for 216 years, when it +was pulled down to make room for other structures, in 1873. +Garraway left a monument that has outlasted his coffee-house, in +the form of a famous tea circular. + +Garway's Famous Circular is so often quoted and mutilated that we +print it here in full; it has no date, but it is supposed to have +been printed in 1660: + + _____________________________________________ + + AN EXACT DESCRIPTION OF THE GROWTH, QUALITY AND VIRTUES + OF THE TEA LEAF, by Thomas Garway, in Exchange Alley, + near the Royal Exchange, in London, Tobacconist, and + Seller and Retailer of Tea and Coffee. + + "Tea is generally brought from China, and groweth there + upon little shrubs and bushes, the branches whereof are + well garnished with white flowers, that are yellow + within, of the bigness and fashion of sweet-brier, but + in smell unlike, bearing thin green leaves, about the + brightness of Scordium, Myrtle or Sumack. This plant has + been reported to grow wild only, but doth not: for they + plant it in their gardens about four foot distance and + it groweth about four foot high, and of the seeds they + maintain and increase their stock. Of all places in + China this plant groweth in greatest plenty in the + province of Xemsi, latitude 36 degrees bordering up on + the west of the province of Namking, near the city of + Lucheu, the Island Ladrones, and Japan, and is called ' + ChA.' Of this famous leaf there are divers sorts (though + all one shape), some much better than others, the upper + leaves excelling the others in fineness, a property + almost in all plants; which leaves they gather every + day, and drying them in the shade or in iron pans, over + a gentle fire, till the humidity be exhausted, then put + close up in leaden pots, preserve them for their drink, + TEA, which is used at meals, and upon all visits and + entertainments in private families, and in the palaces + of grandees; and it is averred by a padre of Macao, + native of Japan, that the best tea ought to be gathered + but by virgins who are destined for this work, and such, + 'quae non dum manstrua patiuntur; gemmae quae nascuntur + in summitate arbuscula servantur Imperatori, + acpraecipuis e jus dynastus: quae autem infra nasccuntur + adlatera, populo conceduntur.' + + The said leaf is of such known virtues, that those very + nations so famous for antiquity, knowledge and wisdom, + do frequently sell it among themselves for twice its + weight in silver; and the high estimation of the drink + made therewith hath occasioned an enquiry into the + nature threrof amongst the most intelligent persons of + all nations that have travelled in those parts, who, + after exact trial and experience by all ways imaginable, + have commended it to the use of their several countries, + and for its virtues and operations, particularly as + followeth, viz: + + The quality is moderately hot, proper for winter and + summer. The drink is declared to be most wholesome, + preserving in perfect health until extreme old age. The + particular virtues are these; + + It maketh the body active and lusty. + + It helpeth the headache, giddiness and heaviness + thereof. + + It removeth the obstructions of the spleen. + + It is very good against the stone and gravel, cleaning + the kidneys and ureters, being drank with virgin's + honey, instead of sugar. + + It taketh away the difficulty of breathing, opening + obstructions. + + It is good against tipitude, distillations, and cleareth + the sight. + + It removeth lassitude, and cleanseth and purifieth acrid + humours, and a hot liver. + + It is good against crudities, strengthening the weakness + of the ventricle, or stomach, causing good appetite and + digestion, and particularly for men of corpulent body, + and such as are great eaters of flesh. + + It vanquisheth heavy dreams, easeth the frame, and + strengtheneth the memory. + + It overcometh superfluous sleep, and prevents sleepiness + in general; a draught of the infusion being taken, so + that without trouble, whole nights may be spent in + study, without hurt to the body, in that it moderately + healeth and bindeth the mouth of the stomach. + + It prevents and cures agues, surfets, and fevers, by + infusing a fit quantity of the leaf, thereby provoking a + most gentle vomit and breathing of the pores, and hath + been given with wonderful success. + + It (being prepaired and drank with milk and water) + strengthenth the inward parts, and prevents consumption; + and powerfully assuageth the pains of the bowels, or + griping of the guts, and looseness. + + + It is good for colds, dropsys, and scurvys, if properly + infused, purging the body by sweat and urine, and + expelleth infection. + + It driveth away all pains of the collick proceeding from + wind, and purgeth safely the gall. + + And that the virtues and excellences of this leaf and + drink are many and great is evident and manifest by the + high esteem and use of it (especially of late years) + among the physicians and knowing men of France, Italy, + Holland and in England it hath been sold in the leaf for + six pounds (sterling) and sometimes for ten pounds the + pound weight; and in respect of its former scarceness + and dearness it hath been only used as a regalia in high + treatments and entertainments, and presents made thereof + to princes and grandees till the year 1657. The said + Thomas Gaeway did purchase a quantity thereof, and first + publicly sold the said tea in leaf and drink, made + according to the directions of the most knowing + merchants and travelers in those eastern countries; and + upon knowledge and experience of the said Garway's + continued care and industry in obtaining the best tea, + and making drink thereof, very many noblemen, physicians + and merchants, and gentlemen of quality, have ever since + sent to him for the said leaf, and daily resort to his + house in Exchange Alley aforesaid, to drink the tea + thereof. + + And that ignorance nor envy may have no ground or power + to report or suggest that which is here asserted, of the + virtues and excellencies of this precious leaf and + drink, hath more design than truth, for the + justification of himself, and the satisfaction of + others, he hath here enumerated several authors, who in + their learned works have expressly written and asserted + the same and much more in honour of this noble leaf and + drink, viz.--Bontius, Riccius, Jarricus, Almeyda. + Horstius, Alvarez Semeda, Martinivus in his China Atlas, + and Alexander de Rhodes in his Voyage and Missions, in a + large discourse of the ordering of this leaf, and the + many virtues of the drink, printed in Paris, 1653, part + x, chap.13. + + And to the end that all persons of eminency and quality, + gentlemen and others, who have occasion for tea in leaf, + may be supplied, these are to give notice that the said + Thomas hath tea to sell from sixteen to fifty shillings + in the pound. + + And whereas several persons using coffee have been + accustomed to buy the powder thereof by the pound, or in + lesser or greater quantities, which if kept for two days + loseth much of its first goodness, and forasmuch as the + berries after drying, may be kept, if need require, some + months, therefore all persons living remote from London, + and have occasion for the said powder, are advised to + buy the said coffee-berries ready dried, which being in + a mortar beaten, or in a mill ground to powder, as they + use it, will so often be brisk, fresh, and fragrant, and + in its full vigour and strength, as if new prepaired, to + the great satisfaction of the drinkers thereof, as hath + been experienced by many of the best sort, the said + Thomas Garway hath always ready dried, to be sold at + reasonable rates. + + All such as will have coffee in powder, or the berries + undried, or chocolata, may, by the said Thomas Garway, + besupplide to their content; with such further + instructions and perfect directions how to use tea, + coffee, and chocolata, as is or may be needful, and so + as to be efficatious and operative, according to their + several virtues. + _____________________________________________ + + +Garway's Circular embodies the redundancy of a modern legal +document with the pretentious ignorance and hifaluting language +of the so-called medical treatises of his day. There are many +ear-marks of both lawyer and doctor in this curious composition, +and we can imagine the ostentatious pride with which Garway +circulated the learned sense and nonsense among patrons no wiser +than himself. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +HISTORICAL -- Continued. + +The same year that Pepys so intrepidly drank his first cup of tea +in London, a tax was imposed by the English Parliament of 8 pence +(16 cents) upon every gallon of tea made and sold as a beverage +in England. A like tax was levied on liquid chocolate and sherbet +as articles of sale. Officers visited the Coffee Houses daily to +measure the quantities and secure the revenue. + +In 1710 the best Bohea tea sold in London for 30 shillings or +$7.00 a pound, inclusive of a government tax of $1.25 on each +pound, and the consumption in England was then estimated at +140,000 lbs. per annum. + +There being no authentic record or official computation of the +population of Great Britain or of England previous to 1801, no +comparison can be made of English tea consumption per capta with +those early days. + +Dr. Samuel Johnson, when taking tea with David Garrick, the +tragedian, and Peg Woffington, about the year 1735, was amused at +Garrick's audible complaints that the fascinating actress used +too much of his costly tea at a drawing. In 1745 the British +yearly consumption of tea was but 730,000 lbs. The Scotch Judge, +Duncan Forbes, in his published letters of that period, wrote +that the use of tea had become so excessive, that . . . + +"the meanest families, even of laboring people, particularly in +boroughs, make their morning's meal of it, and thereby disuse the +ale which heretofore was their accustomed drink; and the same +drug supplies all the laboring women with their afternoon's +entertainment, to the exclusion of the twopenny," (i.e., dram of +beer or spirits). + +So that we may trace our ultra-fashionable 5 o'clock tea of 1900 +back to its plebian origin among plain working people, to the +working woman, to the washerwoman of 150 years ago. Let the +revived custom not lose caste by this admission, but rather gain +in wholesome popular estimation by evidence of a common tie +between the humblest and the most fortunate of mankind. + +A president of an English Court of Sessions also complained that +tea was driving out beer, and indirectly injuring the farmer, in +whose cottage, he omitted to say, the tea canister had begun to +occupy a place of honor, despite the lessened demand for his +malt. + +In 1745, the British tea tax was reduced to 1 shilling (25 cents) +per pound, together with 25 per cent of the gross price. The +selling price immediately dropped, and British consumption in +1846 rose to 2,358,589 lbs. The use of tea has often been checked +by excessive duties or excise tax. From 1784 to 1787 British +consumption rose from five million pounds to seventeen millions +of pounds, consequent upon a reduction of duties. Twenty years +after, under the imposition of exorbitant duties, British +consumption was only nineteen and one quarter millions of pounds. + +It was in those early years of the nineteenth century that tea +firmly and permanently established itself in the humbler +households of England. Its economical prominence elicited from +William Cobbett, the economist and pugnacious editor, a +declaration that from eleven to twelve pounds of tea constituted +the average annual indulgence of a cottager's family, at a cost +of eight shilling for black and 12 shillings for green tea ($2 to +$3) per pound, which was doubtless an over-estimate. And we must +bear in mind that tea in those days was sold by the ounce, +measured into the teapot by the grain, and was steeped until +every vestige of flavor, savory or bitter, had been extracted +from the precious leaves. + +Although in 1807 the governing powers of Great Britain forced +excise duties on teas up to ninety per cent. of their cost, tea +had been proved to be so beneficial and essential to happiness by +British workers that Charles Dickens, in reviewing the situation, +presents it as follows:--"And yet the washerwomen looked to her +afternoon 'dish of tea' as something that might make her +comfortable after her twelve hours of labor, and balancing her +saucer on a tripod of three fingers, breathed a joy beyond +utterance as she cooled the draught. The factory workman then +looked forward to the singing of the kettle, as some compensation +for the din of the spindle. Tea had found its way even to the +hearth of the agricultural laborer, and he would have his ounce +of tea as well as the best of his neighbors." But the heavy taxed +worker was often forced to choose between a tea adulterated with +English plants of other kinds, or the contraband but genuine +commodity offered by enterprising smugglers, who were the despair +of the Crown officers of the revenue, and the recognized friends +of the over-taxed poor. + +It must not be inferred that tea as a beverage became naturalized +in England without meeting with the unreasoning opposition that +usually greets the advent of a stranger. The press and pamphlets +of the day contained frequent attacks upon tea, and the violence +of denunciation usually bore a fair proportion to the ignorance +of the writer; ignorance of physiology, ignorance of medicine, +ignorance of the pamphlets itself. The unfavorable opinions and +portentous predictions of some of the physicians of the period +are among the curiosities of medical records. Tea, like all other +things, may be abused, and a good friend be converted into an +enemy. But cold water has killed many persons, and plain bread +sometimes proves indigestible. + +The plant whose leaves yield the tea of commerce is variously +termed Camellia Theifera; Thea Sinensis; or Chinensis; Thea +Assamica; Thea Bohea and Thea Viridis, according to its origin, +variety of the writer's fancy. While the real character of the +East Indian or Assam tea plant has been recognized by botanical +science less than seventy years, and the Chinese tea plant has +probably been utilized for fifteen hundred years, it will be more +convenient to begin our remarks with the later discovery. + +Writers at the present time continue to describe the tea plant as +a "shrub" of about six feet in height. The indigenous tea plant +of India, which is believed to be the parent stock of Chinese tea +plants, is a tree, growing to a height of 20 to 35 feet with a +trunk 8 to 10 inches in diameter, and bearing leaves of a lively +green, 8 to 9 inches in length and 4 inches in breadth. The +leaves are much more delicate in texture than those of Chinese +plants, which hardly reach 4 inches in length, and the former +contain a larger percentage of the invaluable alkaloid, Theine. +Dr. Chas. U. Sheppard, in a historical sketch of Tea Culture in +South Carolina, tells us that a tea tree which was planted +planted by Michaux, about 15 miles from Charleston, and about the +year 1800, had attained a height of say 15 feet when he saw it a +few years ago. + +The native Indian tree is, however, not now utilized upon a +commercial scale for tea purposes. The reason for neglecting the +native plant we do not find definitely stated, but infer from +several sources of information that it is owing to the extreme +delicacy of constitution of the Assam plant, its demands for +excessive moisture and high temperature, and its preference for +partial shade, evidenced by its growing in the jungle and under +other trees. Possibly a difficulty in restraining its luxuriant +habit of growth is also involved. However this may be, the +commercial tea of Ceylon and India is a product of a cultivated +cross between the tender native Indian and the hardier Chinese +tea plants, in which the Assam strain bears the proportion of one +half to two thirds. A more robust plant under cultivation is the +result, and one which preserves the best qualities of both +varieties. This cross is usually termed a hybrid. + +It seems probable that the removal of the tropical Indian plant +to China, more than a thousand years ago, with its much colder +and dryer climate and its poorer soil--for the best soil of +China has been set apart for rice and other indespensable foods-- +together with continual removal of its leaves, have in time +evolved a tea plant so different from its parent stock, that +scientists failed for many years to recognize the Indian +original. Several times in the early years of this century +zealous travellers and residents of India sent to England +specimens of the native Indian tea plant for scientific +examination. But conservative government officials had already +established a botanical or technical standard for the tea plant +to which every aspirant for relationship must conform; no one of +them seems to have thought of the simple test of the teapot. +Finally some rash investigator, not having the fear of scientific +anathema before his eyes, crudely cured a few leaves, and +actually put them in hot water. Tea merchants immediately +recognized the plant and the magic circle of the Circumlocution +Office was smashed into bits. + +Meanwhile, Chinese tea plants and Chinese experts and laborers +had been imported into India and tea gardens were well under way +before the native tea plant had been recognized. But in the +ultra-tropical climate of India, Chinese tea plants languished, +and success was finally obtained only by abandoning the stunted +Chinese varieties, and getting back nearer to the indigenous Thea +Assimica; and by the introduction of modern agricultural methods +under British management, and even by the use of machinery for +rolling tea and for firing tea by currents of hot air. Indian +laborers now supersede the Chinese workmen, who were not found +sufficiently pliable in adapting themselves to European ideas. + +To preserve the historical record of tea so far as possible, we +will state that while the indigenous Indian tea plant had been +recognized somewhere about the year 1820, the first serious and +sustained attempts to grow tea in India were made by Englishmen, +about 1834, using Chinese tea plants and Chinese workmen for the +purpose. English authorities differ upon the exact dates. The +first shipment of English grown tea from India to London was made +in 1838; it amounted to but 60 chests, which brought at auction +in London $2.25 a pound. The second shipment in 1839 of ninety +five chests brought $2.00 a pound. In 1899 the Indian tea crop +amounted to about 175,000,000 lbs., and the size of Indian tea +gardens varied from 100 acres or less up to 4,000 acres. In 1897 +the total acreage of tea plantations in India was stated by Mr. +Crole at 509,500 acres, equal to nearly 800 square miles. + +Ceylon began to grow tea on a commercial scale as late as 1875, +after her coffee plantations had been ruined by disease. That +year her total acreage was about 1,000 acres, In 1883 Ceylon +exported a million and a half pounds of tea. In 1897 she had +400,000 acres of growing tea, equal to 625 square miles; and the +estimate of Mr. William MacKensie, Tea Commissioner for the +Ceylon Government, of her production for 1900, is 135,000,000 +lbs. + +The aggregate exports of tea by India and Ceylon is about +310,000,000 lbs., a complete reversal of conditions of tea trade +within twenty years, and due entirely to British enterprise and +the fine quality of British grown teas. + +A liberal estimate for the total exports of Chinese and Japanese +teas for 1899 would be 340,000,000 lbs.; so that it is fair to +say that the world's consumption of tea, outside of China and +Japan, is now equally divided between teas of the latter two +countries and those of English growth. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Characteristics Of The Tea Plant. + +Chinese tea plants are usually divided into two classes, and +distinguished a Thea Bohea and Thea Viridis, the former being +most suitable for black teas, and the latter for green teas; and +black and green teas have been indiscriminately made from the +leaves of either. + +A tea shrub of Chinese origin now before us, growing among a host +of common American plants, displays no special characteristics +which would attract attention to itself. It resembles an orange +plant. Its developed leaves are smooth on the surface, leathery +in texture, dark green in color, with edges finely serrated from +point almost to stalk. They are without odor, and when chewed in +the mouth, have a mild and not unpleasant astringency, but no +other perceptible flavor. A leaf of any familiar domestic plant, +such as the lilac, the plantain, or the apple, has a stronger +individuality to the sense of taste, than this green leaf of the +tea plant. + +How was the hidden mystery of its incalculable value to mankind +revealed? What premonition guided the Chinese discoverer to the +preparatory treatment and delicately graduated firing process +which develops tea's precious flavors? And does not this unsolved +question suggest the possible existence of other plants, growing, +perhaps, at our very doorsteps, possessing rare and unrecognized +virtues? + +In form, tea leaves have been compared by writers to leaves of +the privet, the plum, the ash, the willow, but close observers +know that not only do leaves of the species just mentioned +represent different types, but that important variations in form +occur in leaves of the same species, and in leaves growing on a +single tree or plant. The tea plant is subject to the same +vagaries, and any description by comparison will be misleading. +The reader must be content with the typical forms of tea leaves +shown in our engravings on the following page, for which we are +indebted to the kindness of Mr. Joseph M. Walsh, importer of +teas, at Philadelphia. + +All varieties of the tea plant bear a pure white flower, +averaging, say 1 1/4 inches in diameter, and resembling very +closely our single white wild rose blossom. + +Its bunch of bright yellow stamens is so bushy and showy in some +varieties that careless travelers have been led to report the +flower as yellow in color, which is never the case. + +In some Chinese plants, and in those of India, tea blossoms are +very fragrant, and they have been used for scenting tea leaves in +India, if not in China, as other flowers are used by the Chinese. +In India a perfume has been distilled from tea blossoms; and a +valuable oil is expressed from the very oily seeds. The long tap +root of the tea plant renders it difficult to transplant. + +In China, tea is commonly cultivated in small patches or fields, +large tea fields being the exception. The nature of Chinese +inheritance laws and customs which tend to continual subdivision +of land, may be one of the causes of this state of affairs. The +least area of spare ground is frequently utilized by the small +farmer or the cottager for the cultivation of a dozen or more tea +shrubs, from which they procure tea for their own use, or realize +a small sum by sales of the green leaves to tea traders. Many a +rocky hillside or mountain slope, otherwise waste ground, is +terraced so as to detain the rains and meagre soil within its +inwardly inclined banks and trenches, and made to yield a +valuable crop of tea. Indeed, some of the finest flavored Chinese +tea, of fabulous value where they are produced, are grown in +seemingly inaccessible retreats among precipitous mountains. + +The plate on the following page is a reproduction of a Chinese +drawing brought from China by Robert Fortune, the Scotch botanist +and traveler, and first published in Mr. Fortune's Two Visits to +the Tea Countries of China, London, 1853, now out of print. The +picture represents with Chinese fidelity a scene on the River of +Nine Windings, in the Bohea Hills, and in the heart of a black +tea district. Mr. Fortune spent several days at the scene of the +illustration, and writes of the country as follows: + +"Our road was a very rough one. It was merely a foot path, and +sometimes narrow steps cut out of the rock. When we had gone +about two miles we came to a solitary temple on the banks of a +small river which here winds amongst the hills. This stream is +called by the Chinese, the river of the Nine Windings, from the +circuitous turnings which it takes amongst the hills of Woo-e- +shan. Here the finest Souchongs and Pekoes are produced, but I +believe that they rarely find their way to Europe, or only in +small quantities. The temple we had now reached was small and +insignificent building. It seemed a sort of half way resting +place for people on the road from Tsin-Tsun to the hills, and +when we arrived, several travelers and coolies were sitting in +the porch, drinking tea. The temple belonged to the Taouists, and +was inhabited by an old priest and his wife. . . . The old +priest received us with great politeness, and according to custom +gave me a piece of tobacco and set a cup of tea before me. Sing- +Hoo now asked whether he had a spare room in his house, and +whether he would allow us to remain with him for a day or two. He +seemed very glad of the chance to make a little money, and led us +up stairs to a room. The house and temple, like some which I +already described, were built against a perpendicular rock which +formed an excellent and substantial back wall to the building. +The top of the rock overhung the little building, and the water +from it continually dripping on the roof of the house gave the +impression that it was raining. + +"The stream of the Nine Windings flowed past the front of the +temple. Numerous boats were plying up and down, many of which, I +was told, contained parties of pleasure who had come to see the +strange scenery amongst these hills. The river was very rapid, +and these boats seemed to fly when going with the current, and +were soon lost to view. On all sides the strangest rocks and +hills were observed, having generally a temple and a tea +manufactory near their summit. Sometimes they seemed so steep the +the buildings could only be approached by a ladder; but generally +the road was cut of the rock in steps, and by this means the top +was reached. . . . + +Some curious marks were observed on the sides of some of these +perpendicular rocks. At a distance they seemed as if they were +the impress of some gigantic hands. I did not get very near these +marks, but I believe that many of them have been formed by the +water oozing out and trickling down the surface; they did not +seem to be artificial; but a strange appearance is given to rocks +by artificial means. Emperors and other great and rich men have +had stones with large letters carved upon them let into or built +in the face of the rocks. At a distance these have a most curious +appearance. . . . + +I now bid adieu to the famous Woo-e-shan, certainly the most +wonderful collection of hills I ever behold." + +He says further that some geologist who will visit the scene, may +"give us some idea how these strange hills were formed, and at +what period of the world's existence they assumed the strange +shapes which are now presented to the traveller's wondering +gaze." + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Tea Picking And Yield. + +Chinese tea grown among the mountains and hillsides was in Mr. +Fortune's time distinguished as "Hill tea," while both large and +diminutive plantations on the lowlands or the plains were all +called "tea gardens," a term which is now applied by the +English to the extensive plantations of Ceylon and India. + +Some of the largest tea plantations in China turned out, say, 500 +chests, or 30,000 pounds, of tea per annum, at the same period. + +In both China and the East Indies a common custom prevails of +planting tea bushes about four feet apart, each way, and they are +pruned down to a height varying from three to six feet, to bring +the topmost leaves within reach of the picker. In both named +countries, a first crop of tea leaves may be gathered from the +plant at three years from the seed, but a full crop is not +expected until the plant is about six years old. "A Chinese +plantation of tea, seen from a distance," says Mr. Fortune, +"looks like a little shrubbery of evergreens." And when +journeying in the Bohea black tea country, he remarks--"As we +threaded our way amongst the hills I observed tea gathers busily +employed on all the hill sides where the plantations were. They +seemed a contended and happy race; the joke and merry laugh were +going around; and some of them were singing as gaily as the birds +in the old trees about the temples." There is an old Chinese +ballad of some 30 stanzas, which pictures the reflections of a +Chinese maiden who is employed in picking tea in early spring, +from we select a few verses, literally translated. + + + "Our household dwells amidst ten thousand hills, + Where the tea, north and south of the village, abundantly grows; + From Chinshe to Kuhyu, unceasingly hurried, + Every morning I must early rise to do my task of tea. + + "By earliest dawn, I at my toilet, only half dress my hair, + And seizing my basket, pass the door, while yet the mist is thick; + The little maids and graver dames hand in hand winding along, + Ask me, 'which steep of Sunglo do you climb to-day?' + + "My splint-basket slung on my arm, my hair adorned with flowers, + I go to the side of the Sunglo hills, and pick the mountain tea. + Amid the pathway going, we sisters one another rally, And + laughing, I point to younder village--'there's our house!' + + "This pool has limpid water, and there deep the lotus grows; + Its little leaves are round as coins, and only yet half blown; + Going to the jutting verge, near a clear and shallow spot, + I try my present looks, mark how of late my face appears. + + "The rain is passed, the utmost leaflets show their greenish veins; + Pull down a branch, and the fragrant scent is diffused around. + Both high and low, the yellow golden threads are now quite culled; + And my clothes and frock are dyed with odors through and through. + + "The sweet and fragrant perfumes like that from the Aglaia; + In goodness and appearance my tea'll be the best in Wuyen, + When all are picked, the new buds by next term will again burst forth, + And this morning, the last third gathered is quite done. + + "Each picking is with toilsome labor, but yet I shun it not, + My maiden curls are all askew, my pearly fingers all be numbed; + But I only wish our tea to be of a superfine kind, + To have it equal their 'dragon's pellet,' and his 'sparrow's tongue.' + + "For a whole month, where can I catch a single leisure day? + For at earliest dawn I go to pick, and not till dusk return; + Then the deep midnight sees me still before the firing pan-- + Will not labor like this my pearly complexion deface? + + "But if my face is thin, my mind is firmly fixed + So to fire my golden buds that they shall excel all beside, + But how know I, who'll put them in jewelled cup? + Whose taper fingers will leisurely give them to the maid to draw?" + + +Men, women and children are in China employed for picking tea, +and three crops are gathered in favorable seasons, with +occasionally a fourth picking. Under the stimulus of East Indian +heat and moisture, the "flushes," or new growth of shoots, buds +and leaves, are renewed as often as once in a week or ten days; +so that during a season of nine months, from a dozen, to a +maximum of thirty pickings are made. The same conditions apply to +the tea plantations of Java. After ten or twelve years the bushes +decline in vigor from the strain of constant loss of young +growth, and are replaced by new plants. Thirty pounds of green +leaves are an average day's work for women and children. + +The yield of green leaves or of cured dry tea from a single bush +is necessarily variable with its age, size and condition. In +China, the proportion of manufactured tea to the green leaves is +one to three, or one to three and one-third, while in the East +Indies and Java the allowance is one to four. + +Statistics gathered from India tea planters give us the following +figures, for different districts and years: + +YIELD OF DRY TEA PER ACRE, PER ANNUM. +Pounds.............. 370 333 330 246 562 + +YIELD OF DRY TEA PER BUSH, PER ANNUM. +Ounces.............. 1.18 1.46 1.44 1.08 2.50 + +Mr. Owen A. Gill, of Messrs, Martin Gillett & Co., Baltimore, in +1891, estimated the yield of Indian tea plantations at 400 pounds +per acre per annum, costing at that time in India, ready for +shipment, say, ten cents a pound; to which must be added, +freight, selling charges, etc., of at least four cents a pound. + +Half century ago, Mr. Fortune estimated that in China the small +grower realized for a common Congo tea, about four cents a pound, +but that boxing, transportation to the coast, export duty, etc., +brought the cost in Canton to about ten cents a pound. Fine teas +then paid the grower, say, eight cents a pound, but the English +merchants in Shanghai paid thirty cents for the same teas. + +Dr. Charles U. Shepard of the Pinehurst tea plantation at +Summerville, S.C., recently stated that Chinese bushes are said +to produce 2 ounces of dried tea per bush; those of Japan, 1 +ounce per bush or less; those of India and Ceylon averaging 3 to +4 ounces, and on high ground, 2 to 3 ounces; while Dr. Shepard +has gathered from his own plantation, from acclimatized Assam +crosses, 3 ounces per bush, and from Chinese plants, 4 to 5 +ounces. His Japan plants yielded but 1/2 ounce of tea. + +Picking tea on the level lands of India and Ceylon is very light +work, and women and children are almost exclusively employed. Mr. +David Crole, writing in the serious and practical vein of a +scientific expert, is moved to a poetic sense of the scene when +he speaks of the return of Indian tea pickers from their work at +evening:-- + +"A long line of women with their gay clothes of various hues, +lit up by the expiring gleams of the setting sum, winding their +way along the garden paths, like some monster snake, with scales +of many colors; their gait perfect, undulating, and undisturbed +by the baskets poised gracefully on their heads; singing some +quaint refrain in the usual minor key, or making the air gay with +their chatter and laughter; which, if far distant, strikes the +ear pleasantly as a faint and indistinct hum." + +The tea plant undoubtedly reaches its highest perfection as a +member of the vegetable kingdom, in India and Ceylon, in a +climate of extreme heat and extreme rainfall and moisture, and in +a very rich soil; and the remark is often heard from Indian +planters that "tea and malarious fevers flourish together." +Experience has shown however that the tea plant possesses a +wonderful power of accomodation to adverse conditions. In China +and in the United states, it has been taught to put up with a +comparatively sterile soil, dry mountain air, at heights in China +reaching 6,000 feet above sea level, and occasional temperatures +as low as 12 to 10 degrees Fahr., in the midst of recurrent ice +and snow. + +The story of tea in Japan alone calls for more space than this +entire book could furnish, and there is an ample field for a +treatise upon the cultivation, preparation, and social importance +of tea in that strikingly interesting land. Nearly one half of +the tea consumed in the United states comes from Japan, our +imports of Japan tea being about 44,000 pounds during last year. +Although tea has been grown in that country for more than siz +centuries only about forty years. + +Tea in Japan is largely grown upon hill-slopes and in small +plantations or gardens, the latter term being peculiarly +appropriate to their neat, symmetrical and picturesque +appearance. The character of the soil is noticeably connected +with the quality of the tea. From the putting forth of new leaves +in the Spring-time until the advent of its white fragrant +blossoms in the Autumn, the tea plant is an object of admiration +and affection with the susceptible, nature-loving Japanese. + +We are indebted to an English gentleman and tea merchant who has +resided in Japan for 30 years, for many interesting facts +connected with our subject. + +He tells us that while the principal crop of teas for export is +produced on plantations of comparatively recent establishment, +there are tea gardens in the interior of Japan which have been +cultivated for 500 years; and that tea is still gathered from +bushes which spring from roots which were planted 100 to 300 +years ago. These ancient plants yield a tea in limited quantities +which is elaborately and expensively prepared for the nobility +and wealthy Japanese, and commands prices running up as high as +ten dollars a pound. Some of the choice tea which comes to this +country is picked from plantations which have been in existence +for 300 years, and is sold under the names of "challenge," +"Violet," and "Japonica" teas. + +These facts are in striking contrast with the limited life of +Chinese tea plants, as stated by Mr. Fortune. + +Japan teas do not fall into either of the three classes into +which Chinese and Indian teas have been divided. They have been +styled green teas by the trade, but that appelation grew out of +their customary color, and their mild odor and taste; while Japan +Black teas are now produced from the same leaf. Japan teas are +favorites with many persons who do not relish the herby taste of +other Black teas, and with whom Chinese Green teas disagree. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Tea Manufacture. + +The tedious, long-drawn-out details of tea manufacture, of the +repeated, meaningless, tossing back and forth and Chinese +juggling with the abused tea leaves, are but too familiar to +students of the subject: and too disappointing also, when we are +moved to ask--Why all this manipulation? What is the nature of +the chemical changes which take place? + +So far as we can ascertain by diligent inquiry and reading, no +competent authority has answered these questions satisfactorily. +We have been deluged with generalities and opinions which +contradict themselves, but when we search for a categorical +answer to a simple question, experts hide under a shower of +meaningless phrases. We, alas, are not an expert, nor a chemist, +but just a simple enquirer in search of knowledge expressed in +plain English. Therefore be patient dear reader with our +endeavors to represent or interpret existing conditions of expert +knowledge of tea manufacture at this time. Peradventure a feeble +ray of light may illuminate the darkness of the subject. +Corrections and additions will be welcomed in our future editions +and credit given to their authors. + +Teas may conveniently be divided into the three classes which +have so long been recognized by the American tea trade, namely: + + Green teas, the first remove from the green leaf. + Oolongs, delicate Black teas, having properties further developed + than those of Green teas. + Souchongs, and Congous, both of which have been called "English + Breakfast" teas by Americans, because the former teas were the + customary breakfast beverages of the English people before the + advent of Indian teas. + In these latter teas, fermentation and firing are prolonged beyond + the treatment of Oolongs. The smoky flavor sometimes apparent is + owing to careless and extreme firing. + +In making Green tea, the object seems to be to expel the watery +juices of the leaf and to cure or dry it with the least delay. +Hence, the leaves are not exposed to the sun, but are first dried +in the air for a short time. They are next exposed to artificial +heat, which renders them flaccid and pliable, and prepares them +for the third operation of rolling, which twists the yielding +leaf as seen in manufactured tea, rolls it up into balls, and +squeezes out a considerable portion of its watery juices. It is a +singular fact that in the Chinese methods, they endeavor to get +rid of the exuding juices, while in the Indian treatment, +according to Mr. crole, the manufacturing expert, effort is made +to preserve the sappy juice, and it is continually taken up again +by the balls of leaves. The balls are now broken apart, and the +scattered leaves are submitted to the final drying process by +fire, which finishes Green tea. In this case, it is plainly the +heating treatment which develops the faint flavor and odor of +Green tea, for no fermentation is allowed to begin, unless indeed +brief and unobserved action takes place within the compressed +balls. + +In making an Oolong Black tea, which occupies an intermediate +position between Green tea and Black Souchongs and Congous, the +leaves are first exposed to the action of the air for a +considerable time, and in many cases, to the sun also. An +incipient fermentation may take place, although this is denied by +some. There is certainly a chemical change beyond the brief +preliminary drying of Green tea. During this period the leaves +(in China) are stirred and tossed by the hands. The effect, if +not the object, is to expose greater surfaces to the air, and to +increase oxidation. It is during this operation that the leaves +first begin to manifest characteristics of manufactured tea, in +the way of a fragrant tea odor which the green leaf did not +possess. The development of sweet odors in new hay, quite +different from those of green grass, and also the artificial +development of flavor in tobacco leaves, may be recalled in this +connection. This prolonged exposure to the air is termed +"withering," and the leaves become soft and flaccid, as they do +in the first artificial heating for Green tea. In withering, the +leaves lose about one quarter of their weight in moisture. The +leaves must not be bruised before the termination of this +treatment, or injurious chemical changes will begin. + +The second operation with Black tea is the same rolling into +balls, twisting and squeezing, as in Green tea. Mr. Crole says +that the sap of the leaf thus liberated from its cells "is +spread all over the surface of the rolled leaf, where it is in a +very favorable position for the oxygen of the atmosphere to act +upon it during the next stage of manufacture, namely, +fermentation." Fermentation, he regards as an oxidation process +mainly. + +For the "fermentation" stage, if that controverted term correctly +designates the process, the rolls are either left undisturbed to +heat, or, as in Indian methods, the rolls are broken up, and the +leaves distributed in drawers, with free access of air. In either +case, a spontaneous heating follows, and chemical action is +indicated by a change of color which reddens and darkens the +leaf, and by the evolution of further pleasant "tea" odors. Some +of the tannin is said to be converted into glucose. + +Care must be taken, Mr. Crole says, to arrest fermentation at the +proper stage by the first "firing," and this firing expels about +half of the remaining moisture of the withered leaves, and +probably develops an additional portion of those volatile oils +which give fragrance and taste to manufactured tea; and which Mr. +Crole designates by the name of "theol." Too high or too long +continued firing drives off these oils with the watery juices. +They are also wasted by exposure of manufactured tea to the +atmosphere. Firing is sometimes divided into two or three stages. + +In the above summary we have described all essential treatment of +tea leaves necessary to produce manufactured tea. + +To procure the extreme type of Black teas, a Souchong or Congou, +the fermentation or oxidation, and the "cooking" process, is +simply carried further, and with higher roasting, some of the +volatile oils and delicate flavors are expelled, or are changed +into other flavors. Judging by diminished effects upon tea +drinkers, some of the volatile theine is also lost. + +Both in China and Japan it is the custom to give large portions +of the tea crop which are intended for export to foreign +countries, only a preliminary drying or curing sufficient to +preserve them temporarily. When they arrive at the shipping ports +they are subjected to additional firing and thorough drying. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Chemistry and Physiological Aspects of Tea. + +If the reader desires an example of imperfect and arrested +knowledge in some of the common affairs of life, let him collate +the statements of scientific experts concerning the physiological +effects upon mankind, of tea. He will then admit that "in a +multitude of counsellors there is confusion." + +Without pretending to more than the rudiments of chemical or +physiological science, we shall attempt to examine the nature of +tea, and its effects upon the human system; taking as a basis for +our remarks Professor Jas. F. Johnston's Chemistry of Common +Life, from which work more recent writers draw most of their +inspiration. + +Chemists find in manufacturing tea leaves three principal +constituents to which all the physiological effects of tea are +attributed. These are, (1) Theine, (2) Essential or Volatile +Oils, (3) Tannin. + +Theine is present in the green leaf of tea, and is apparently +unchanged in the manufactured leaf and in the infusion or +beverage. We regard it as the one essential and the most valuable +element of all teas, physiologically considered. Strangely enough +theine is the one important constituent which is entirely +neglected by the tea-tester and the trader. In testing and +grading teas for purchase and sale, their appearance, odor and +taste, their color and body when "drawn," determine their +pecuniary value, without relation to their percentage of theine, +or its effects upon the tester. + +Theine has been found in nature in but a few plants, as in tea, +in coffee, (then termed caffein), in Mat'e (Paraguay or Brazilian +tea), and in the Kola nut of Africa. A very similar principle, +having analogous properties, but containing more nitrogen, exists +in cocoa, (theobroma). + +Theine, when isolated by heat from the tea leaf or infusions, +condenses in minute white needles or crystals, having no odor and +but a faintly bitter taste. In manufactured tea leaves, theine +constitutes from one to five percent. of their weight. According +to Professor Johnston, three or four grains per day of this +substance may be taken without injury by most persons; or such +quantity as would be contained in half and ounce of Chinese black +tea. Indian (Assam) tea and Ceylon tea, being stronger in theine, +would suffice in lesser quantity. + +Theine is soluble in about 100 parts of hat water. It vaporizes +at 185 degrees C. or 365 degrees Fahr., hence it is not driven +off by continued boiling of tea infusion. + +W. Dittmar found by experiment that prolonged steeping of tea +leaves up to ten minutes increased the proportion of theine in +the infusion. His results are as follows: + +STEEPED 5 MINUTES. + +Average of 8 samples Chinese tea: + +Theine, per cent infusion--2.58 Tannin--3.06 + +Average of 6 samples Ceylon tea: + +Theine--3.15 Tannin--5.87 + +Average 12 samples of Indian tea: + +Theine--3.63 Tannin--6.77 + +STEEPED 10 MINUTES. + +Theine, per cent infusion--2.79--Increase about 10 per cent +Tannin--3.78--Increase about 25 per cent + +Average of 6 samples Ceylon tea: + +Theine--3.29--Increase about 5 per cent Tannin--7.30-- +Increase about 25 per cent + +Average 12 samples of Indian tea: + +Theine--3.73--Increase about 3 per cent Tannin--8.09-- +Increase about 20 per cent + +W. M. Green reported that in prolonging the steeping of tea from +10 to 20 minutes, he observed the formation of a tannate of theine, +which diminished the proportion of 1.30 per cent. of theine at +10 minutes to 1.16 per cent. after 20 minutes steeping, a loss of +about 10 percent., unless the latter salt so formed is proved to +yield up its theine constituent in the human stomach. + +While theine is credited as the source of the most powerful and +useful properties of tea, and without which no plant would be +recognized as tea, yet some of the stimulating or exhilarating +influences of this plant are attributed to the volatile oils +which contribute so largely to the flavors and odors which +characterize tea. + +These Essential or Volatile Oils of manufactured tea are said to +reside in the minute cells of the green leaf, but they are +greatly changed by manipulation, for they are not manifest to the +sense of taste or smell when expressed from the green leaf by +bruising, nor does the green leaf yield their aromatic flavors to +an infusion. Professor Johnston says that these precious oils are +artificially developed by manufacture. David Crole declares that +they are developed "to a certain extent during withering, and +also during the first stage of firing," which last process, if +carelessly conducted, "oxidises it (the oil) into resin." + +Green tea, they first remove from the green leaf, imparts very +little flavor or scent to its infusion. In some Oolong Black +teas, and in some Ceylon Black teas, these oils are highly +developed and are very fragrant. In the black Souchongs and +Congous they have again been altered by treatment, but are no +less perceptible, and to many, are quite as agreeable. Although +constituting only one-half to one per cent. by weight of the +dried leaf, these oils are all-important to the trademan and to +the consumer. + +These volatile oils are strongest in new teas, and are gradually +wasted by exposure to the atmosphere. Robert Fortune and other +travelers in China have stated that the Chinese will not use new +teas, but allow them to pass through a sort of "ripening" +process. Mr. Crole, speaking probably of the Indian teas with +which he was so familiar as a planter and chemist, says that +"tea should always be kept for a year before being drank. If the +infusion of freshly manufactured tea is drank, it causes violent +diarrhea; therefore it should be kept a year before it is +consumed, in order to let it mellow." + +There is no doubt that the more impervious the package containing +tea is to the air, the more perfectly the finer qualities of the +tea are preserved. If there is a necessity for ripening or +mellowing by time, air should be rigidly excluded during that +period. + +As to the keeping qualities of fine teas, in tight packages, we +know that they are not spoiled or injured by two years storage in +this climate. + +Tannin is the third important element of the tea leaf, and it +varies greatly in percentage in different teas, and increases +with the age of the growing leaf. It is the cause of the rasping, +puckering, astringent effect upon the tongue and interior of the +mouth. + +Tannin in tea has been a great bugbear with the ill-informed, bit +it is not nearly so deleterious as some careless or unscrupulous +writers would have us believe. In the first place there is a very +insignificant quantity of tannin in properly drawn teas, say in +those drawn for not longer than five or eight minutes. The tannin +present in a fine Black tea, steeped at a moderate temperature +for fifteen or twenty minutes will not harm a delicate stomach. +We take quite as much tannin in some fruits, and make no fuss +about it. Secondly, if a strong solution of tannin is taken into +the stomach and there comes in contact with albuminous or +gelatinous foods, it will expend its coagulating power upon such +substances. If there are no such substances present, it is the +expressed opinion of Mr. Crole (in a discussion upon the +chemistry of tea) that the tannin is converted into glucose and +other harmless products by the digestive processes. The wild +declarations that tea tannin "tans" the coating of the stomach +into a leathery condition is without foundation. Even where too +prolonged steeping has greatly increased the usual proportion of +tannin in tea infusion, milk, when added, neutralizes the +coagulating power of the tannin entirely or to such degree as to +render it harmless. + +Professor Johnston thinks it quite probable that tannin takes +some part in the exhilarating effect of tea, and in that of the +betel-nut of the East. While the astringent influence of strong +tannin upon the bowels is regarded as unfavorable, hot tea +infusion has with many persons a contrary effect, stimulating the +peristaltic movements and antagonizing constipation. + +If tannin is injurious, it should be observed that its proportion +in the leaf of green teas is very much larger than in Black teas. +An analysis by Mulder gave as the percentage of tannin in a Black +tea, 12.85 per cent., and in a green tea as 17.80 per cent. But +another analysis made by Y. Kazai, of the Imperial College of +Agriculture of Japan, made the per centage of tannin (gallo- +tannic acid) in a Green tea 10.64, and in a Black tea from the +same leaf 4.89. In the green leaf from which these teas were +derived he found 12.91 per cent. of tannin. This analysis +indicates also that a portion of the tannin disappears in +manufacturing Green tea, but a still larger, proportion is lost +or changed in the manufacture of Black tea. + +Tannic acid taken into the human stomach in large quantity +produces, according to the U.S. Dispensatory, "only a mild +gastro-intestinal irritation." + +Passing over the phosphoric acid, the gluten, and other +interesting constituents of the tea leaf, we proceed to the +observed effects of tea upon the human system. + +Professor Johnston (before quoted) says that tea "exhilarates +without sensibly intoxicating. It excites the brain to increased +activity and produces wakefulness; hence its usefulness to hard +students, to those who have vigils to keep, and to persons who +labor much with the head. It soothes, on the contrary, and stills +the vascular system, (arteries, veins, capillaries, etc.), and +hence its use in inflammatory diseases, and as a cure for +headaches. Green tea, when strong, acts very powerfully on some +constitutions, producing nervous tremblings and other distressing +symptoms, acting as a narcotic, and in inferior animals even +producing paralysis. Its exciting effect upon the nerves makes it +useful in counteracting the effects of fermented liquors, and the +stupor sometimes induced by fever." And again, tea "lessens +waste," and diminishes the quantity of food required; "saves +food; stands to a certain extent in the place of food, while at +the same time it soothes the body and enlivens the mind." + +Professor A. H. Church, of Oxon, England, in one of his often +quoted books on Food, says that "the infusion of tea has little +nutritive value, but it increases respiratory action, and excites +the brain to greater activity." + +J.C. Hutchinson, M.D., (late President Medical Society of State +of New York), remarks that caffein, which he regards as identical +with theine, "is a gentle stimulant, without any injurious +reaction. It produces a restful feeling after exhausting efforts +of mind or body; it tranquilizes but does not disqualify for +labor, and therefore it is highly esteemed by persons of literary +pursuits. The excessive use of either tea or coffee will cause +wakefulness." + +Dr. Kane, the Artic Explorer, speaking of the diet of his men +while sojourning in the Artic ice fields, said that his men +preferred coffee in the mornings, but at night, "tea soothed +them after a hard day's labor, and better enabled them to sleep." + +Dr. Edward Smith, an English Physiologist, in an address before +the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, remarked that "tea +increased waste in the body, excited every function, and was well +fitted to cases where there was a superfluity of material in the +system;--but is injurious to the under-fed, or where there is +greater waste than supply." Dr. Smith recommended tea as a +preventive of heat-appoplexy, and in cases of suspended +animation, as from partial drowning. + +We have selected these expressions of opinion from among a large +number of diverse character, for the purpose of illustrating the +uncertainty of knowledge concerning tea. To recapitulate:-- + +Professor Johnston finds that tea exhilarates; excites to +activity, produces wakefulness; yet it sooths, and it +tranquilizes the vascular system; it lessens waste and saves +food. + +Dr. Smith found tea to increase waste, and to be injurious where +food is deficient; says tea excites every function,--which must +include the vascular system. + +Dr. Hutchinson and Dr. Kane agree in the main. + +What is the meaning of such radical differences of view? We think +they arise from three causes: First, tea affects different +persons very differently; secondly, the subject has not received +that careful study which it merits, and thirdly, there is a +careless confounding of at least three classes of effects, and a +confusion of terms in describing them. + +We feel an unaffected diffidence in criticising and endeavoring +to improve upon the expressions of scientific men of honest +purpose, but we may be pardoned for pointing the way to a more +careful analysis of the merits and deficiencies of an article of +diet used by so many millions of people. + +We find among the ordinary effects of tea-drinking: + +Exhilaration:--an elevation of feeling, a lightness of mood or +spirits; a cheerfulness or even joy, which is compatible with +rest. This effect may be entirely independent of pure stimulus, +or of any disposition to mental or physical activity. + +Stimulation:--a quickening or rousing to action of any faculty, +but as usually employed, an urging to action of bodily or mental +powers. + +Sustaining:--enabling one to continue the expenditure of energy +with less sense of fatigue, at the time, or afterwards. + +Refreshing:--relieving or reviving after exertion of any kind; +reanimating, invigorating; contributing to rest after fatigue. + +Exciting:--in the sense of stimulation of brain and nervous +system to higher tension, but not necessarily attended by +disposition to labor or useful activity. + +Now some tea-drinkers find in the beverage exhilaration only, a +lightness of mood, but they are disposed to rest and to revery, +to simply a passive meditation, or an indulgence of the +imagination. + +Others are stimulated to mental or to physical activity, and are +sustained during such action. Afterwards they are refreshed when +fatigued, by the same beverage. + +Others again are nervously excited and cannot rest or sleep; but +are too "nervous," as they express it, to set about any formal +task, especially of a mental character. + +We have known tea-drinkers, too, who after a hard day's toil, +could drink two or three cups of strong tea and lie down to sleep +for the night as quietly as babes are expected to--but do not. + +It must be evident that each person should observe the effects of +tea upon himself or herself and be governed accordingly. Tea is a +poison to some temperaments, and so are strawberries. Tea will +cure a headache or may produce one; will dispose to rest or +excite to action. We will sum then by conceding that all our +quoted authorities are right in their conclusions, if limited to +a limited class of tea-drinkers, and all are wrong, in a very +broad application. + +Theine is the one constant agency in the effects of tea. It is +present in teas that are devoid of essential oils--so far as the +senses go--and it then still refreshes, stimulates, sustains, +and even exhilarates, by actual experiment. + +The feeling of "comfort," attributed by some writers to the hot +water of the tea, may be also enjoyed by drinking cold tea, which +is no less refreshing in hot weather. The high-flavored essential +oils (strictly oils which evaporate at very moderate +temperatures) of Formosa teas seem to take part in the superior +exhilarating or almost intoxicating effects of the choice +varieties, but we have no certain proof of the fact; while the +more intoxicating and stimulating, as well as deleterious, green +teas possess very little, if any, of these pleasant oils. + +It seems to be an authodox opinion among physiologists that tea +contributes nothing towards support of the human system; that it +only rouses it into action, an effect which should, consistently, +be followed by corresponding reaction and depression, which +plainly is not the case. This hypothesis leaves the enquiring +layman in a dilemma. Tea must either enable the system to draw +more heavily or more economically upon the resources afforded by +recognized food, or it is itself nutriment. Otherwise, an +established principle of physics--that there can be no +expenditure of energy without correlative cost--would be +subverted. As tea is admitted upon experience to be most useful, +and most craved by mankind, where the supply of food is +insufficient; and as it is known to refresh and sustain in large +degree in the absence of any food whatever, there is fair ground +for the opinion, however heterodox, that tea directly affords +nutriment to the human organism, and, possibly, to the brain and +nerves in particular, as with phosphoric acid. + +Animal gelatine has been placed in the same class with tea by +Liebig, Dr. John W. Draper, and others, and it is asserted that +it conserves waste without itself entering into the substance of +human tissue. It is an accepted physiological law that nothing +taken as food or drink can support expenditure of human energy in +sensible motion, in heat, or in the nervous waste of mental or +emotional exercise without first being built up into living +tissue; the breaking down or chemical decomposition of which +tissue, and subsequent oxidation of less complex compounds or +their constituents, is the direct source of bodily energy of +every description. This, at least, is our reading of modern +authorities, like Foster. If tea and gelatine, and possibly +alcohol, are to form exceptions to the law, the law no longer +stands. But it would seem more reasonable to amend the hypothesis +concerning exceptions, and bring them into line by admitting that +they are nutritious in a manner not yet ascertained. All +physiological laws are provisional, good until proved +insufficient, and then to be amended in the light of accumulating +facts. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Meanwhile Hanna the housemaid had closed and fastened the +shutters, Spread the cloth, and lighted the lamp on the table, +and placed there Plates and cups from the dresser, the brown rye +loaf and the butter Fresh from the dairy, and then, protecting +her hand with a holder, Took from the crane in the chimney the +steaming and simmering kettle, Poised it aloft in the air, and +filled the earthen teapot, Made in delft, and adorned with quaint +and wonderful figures. + + + + +LONGFELLOW'S TALES OF A WAYSIDE INN. + +Many besides those who live principally by the labor of their +brains, will subscribe to the sentiment expressed by Thomas De +Quincey, in his Confessions of an English Opium Eater, when he +said that--"Tea, though ridiculed by those who are naturally of +coarse nerves, or are become so from wine drinking, and are not +susceptible of influence from so refined a stimulant, will always +be the favorite beverage of the intellectual; and for my part, I +would have joined Dr. Johnson in a bellum internecinum against +Jonas Hanway, or any other impious person who should presume to +disparage it." + +The only stimulant that Hazlitt indulged in was strong Black tea, +using the very best obtainable. + +Wordsworth was a lover of tea, and he sweetened his tea beyond +the taste of ordinary mortals. + +Shelly also was a lover of tea. Kant drank tea habitually for +breakfast. Motley used either tea or coffee for breakfast, as +fancy prompted. + +William Howitt found great refreshment in both tea and coffee, +but he wrote that on his great pedestrian journeys, "Tea would +always in a manner almost miraculous banish all my fatigue, and +diffuse through my whole frame comfort and exhilaration without +any subsequent evil effect. Tea is a wonderful refresher and +reviver." + +Justin McCarthy, M. P. the brilliant historian, said that he was +a liberal drinker of tea, and that he found it "of immense +benefit in keeping off headache, my only malady." + +Harriet Martineau dearly loved her cup of tea. Geo. R. Sims says +"Tea is my favorite tonic when I am tired or languid." + +An amiable weakness for Afternoon Tea in the course of his daily +official duties which was manifested by the late Hon. Wm. L. +Strong, the worthy mayor of New York in 1895-6, furnished the New +York newspapers with opportunities for many a good-natured jest +and jibe; one of the best of which we have preserved in the lines +which follow. + + + + +A BALLAD OF OOLONG. + +By John Paul Bocock. + + +Whenever the magistrate, good Li Song +Is short of his favorite tea, Oolong, +He lays his gout and his spectacles down +And hies him away into Chinatown. + +Into the region of Mon Lay Won, +When the day of official life is done, +Into the land of slant-eyed Lee's +He hies him away to replenish his teas. + +All day long, in the places of Tax, +Of rubicund tape and sealingwax, +He toils and moils till the hour of tea, +Blessed old five o'clock, sets him free! + +Blest liberator, better than rum, +Of the Fa and the Fee and the Fi Fo Fum +Of the tammany Ogre who used to dwell +In the metropolitan citadel. + +Blest over all the heroes that be +On the sunny side of the Ceylon Sea, +Nerve him still to be Good and Strong. +Excellent magistrate, great Li Song. + + +Dr. King Chambers, in a Manual of Diet in Health and Disease says +of Tea that--"It soothes the nervous system when it is in an +uncomfortable state from hunger, fatigue, or mental excitement." + +Florence Nightingale said--"When you see the natural and almost +universal craving in English sick for their tea, you cannot but +feel that nature knows what she is about. There is nothing yet +discovered which is a substitute to the English patient for his +or her cup of tea." + +Buckle (the Historian) quotes Dr. Jackson as saying (in 1845) +that--"Even for those who have to go through great fatigues, a +breakfast of tea and dry bread is more strengthening than one of +beefsteak and porter." + +Prof. Parkes says--"As an article of diet for soldiers, tea is +most useful. The hot infusion, like that of coffee, is potent +both against heat and cold; it is useful in great fatigue, +especially in hot climates, and also has a great purifying effect +upon water. It should form the drink par excellence of the +soldiers on service." + +Admiral Inglefield, in 1881, said, that in evidence given before +the Artic Committee, of which he was a member, all the witnesses +were unanimous in the opinion that spirits taken to keep out cold +was a fallacy, and that nothing was more effectual than a good +fatty diet, and hot tea or coffee, as a drink "Seamen who +Journeyed with me up the shores of Wellington Channel," says the +Admiral," in the artic regions, after one day's experience of +rum-drinking, came to the conclusion that Tea, which was the only +beverage I used, was much more to be preferred." + +Lord Wolsely, late Commander in Chief of the British Army, wrote +as follows:-- + +"It fell to my lot to lead a brigade through a distant country +for more than 600 miles. I fed the men as well as I could, but no +one, officer or private, had anything stronger than tea to drink +during the expedition. The men had peculiarly hard work to do, +and they did it well, and without a murmur. We seem to have left +crime and sickness behind us with the 'grog,' for the conduct of +all was most exemplary and no one was ever ill. " + +Mr. Winter Blyth, Medical Officer of Health for Marylebone, +(London), says in reference to long cycling excursions, and +experiments with beer and spirits,--"My own experience as to +the best drink when on the road is most decidedly in favor of +Tea. Tea appears to rouse both the nervous and muscular systems, +with, so far as I can discover, no after-depressing effects." + +"Edward Payson Weston, the great Pedestrian, finds in Tea and +rest the most effective restoratives. He once walked 5000 miles +in 100 days, and after each day's work, lectured on 'Tea versus +Beer.'" + +C. J. Nichod, late Secretary of the London Athletic Club, writes +in his book--"Guide to Athletic Training," that "Tea is +preferable for training purposes, possessing less heating +properties and being more digestible than beer or spirits." + +Cowper's lines, however hackneyed in quotation, are still classic +in their application to English homes and their evening +accompaniment, Tea. + + "Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, + Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, + And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn + Throws up a steamy column, and the cups + That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each, + So let us welcome peaceful evening in." + + +"Tea" was the designation of the customary evening meal in +most American families for about two centuries, and as late as +1850, since which time it has merged in the more substantial +"late dinner," in cities and towns especially, although the last +meal of the closing day is still "Tea" in spirit and in name +in many families where commercial necessities have not compelled +change. The same is true of England from which we derive our +customs, and with which we also changed it. According to +Washington Irving's veracious History of New York, tea-parties +were indulged in by the Dutch inhabitants of New Amsterdam during +the reign of Governor Wouter Van Twiller (which commenced in +1633). Irving says: + +"But though our worthy ancestors were singularly averse to +giving dinners, yet they kept up the social bonds of intimacy by +occasional banqueting, called tea parties. + +"These fashionable parties were generally confined to the higher +classes or noblesse, that is to say, such as kept their own cows, +and drove their own wagons. The company commonly assembled at 3 +o'clock, and went away about six, unless it was in winter time, +when the fashionable hours were a little earlier, that the ladies +might get home before dark. . . . The tea was served out of a +majestic Delft tea-pot, ornamented with paintings of fat little +Dutch shepherdesses tending pigs, with boats sailing in the air +and houses built in the clouds, and sundry other Dutch fantasies. +The beaux distinguished themselves by their adroitness in +replenishing this tea-pot from a huge copper tea-kettle. . . . + +To sweeten the beverage, a lump of sugar was laid beside each +cup, and the company alternately nibbled and sipped with great +decorum, until an improvement was introduced by a shrewd and +economic old lady, which was to suspend a large lump directly +over the tea-table by a string from the ceiling, so that it +should be swung from mouth to mouth--an ingenious expedient +which is still kept up by some families in Albany, but which +prevails without exception in Communipaw, Bergen, Flatbush, and +all our uncontaminated Dutch villages. + +"At these primitive tea-parties the utmost propriety and dignity +of deportment prevailed. No flirting or coquetin gambu of old +ladies, nor hoyden chattering and romping of young ones, no self +satisfied struttings of wealthy gentlemen with their brains in +their pockets, nor amusing conceits and monkey divertisements of +smart young gentlemen with no brains at all. On the contrary, the +young ladies seated themselves demurely in their rush-bottomed +chairs, and knit their own woolen stockings, nor ever opened +their lips except to say "yaw, mynherr," or "yaw, yaw, Vrouw," +to any question that was asked them, behaving in all things like +decent, well educated damsels. As to the gentlemen, each of them +tranquilly smoked his pipe, and seemed lost in contemplation of +the blue and white tiles with which the fire-places were +decorated, wherein sundry passages of scripture were piously +portrayed." + +But it was in New England that the tea-party reached its highest +importance as a social function, and in the New England of more +than a century ago. Then and there were the weightiest themes of +religion and philosophy of such enthralling interest and so +interwoven with the practical affairs of men, that they were +familiarly discussed all the way from the pulpit and desk to the +household and tea-table, and were liable to be brought forward at +the table of the artisan, the farmer, or the shopkeeper, as well +as at that of the scholar. Every reader of early New England +history or New England fiction must be aware of this fact. The +presence of the "minister." so far from discouraging these +discussions, usually stimulated them, and lent them additional +interest. Instances of such gatherings and conversations, of +typical New England tea-parties, may be found in Mrs. Stowe's +Minister's Wooing. + +The "tea-table" will always live in name and in association, +and we trust in reality, as an essential feature of family life, +even though the nature of the repast has greatly changed. The +pleasantest part of the working-day in former years was the +occasion when the family, drawn together by common interests and +sympathies, after the heavier tasks of the day were completed, +gathered around the table whose crowning symbol of good cheer was +the familiar and homely old tea-pot. From this fairy godmother +flowed forth a spirit of kindly toleration and genial good humor. + +A quiet fireside, a snug corner, and a singing tea-kettle, were +potent sources of enjoyment to young as well as old folks, in +those days when the kitchen was not turned entirely over to alien +hands. + +The tea-kettle and the hearth-stone may be pushed back out of +sight or even quite banished from the household, by modern +metropolitan life and enforced changes; but under the influence +of old associations and traditions, they will surely return in +time with recurring cycles of sentiment or of fashion. + +Five o'clock Tea is but an attempt to revive an old custom, and +for those whom fortune has favored with leisure for social +amenities at that hour, it furnishes an agreeable and informal +occasion for exchange of courtesies and for harmless gossip or +even more dignified "conservation." + +A correspondent of the New York Sun recently gave an account of +actual or impending changes in the social customs of Paris, which +have a bearing upon this branch of our subject. He writes that +the English five o'clock tea having been adopted by Parisians +several years ago, and being found to interfere with the still +fashionable 7 o'clock dinner, an effort was recently made to +revive the ancient mid-day dinner, say at 2 o'clock. In some +cases, the difficulty was met by taking tea at five o'clock, and +serving a substantial supper late in the evening. + +When we desire to get away for a time from our modern +conventional ideas and restraints, and indulge in a bit of homely +healthy sentiment, we may fall back on such utterances as the +following, from Dicken's Cricket on the Hearth: + +"Now it was, you observe, that the Kettle began to spend the +evening. Now it was, that the Kettle, growing mellow and musical, +began to have irrepressible gurglings in its throat, and to +indulge in short vocal snorts, which it checked in the bud, as if +it hadn't quite made up its mind yet, to be good company. Now it +was, that after two or three such vain attempts to stifle its +convivial sentiments, it threw off all moroseness, all reserve, +and burst into a stream of song so cosy and hilarious as never +maudlin nightingale yet formed the least idea of." . . . + +"So plain, too! Bless you, you might have understood it like a +book--better than some books you and I could name, perhaps. With +its warm breath gushing forth in a light cloud which merrily and +gracefully ascended a few feet, then hung about the chimney- +corner as its own domestic Heaven, it trolled its song with that +strong energy of cheerfulness, that its iron body hummed and +stirred upon the fire, and the lid itself, the recently +rebellious lid--such is the influence of a bright example-- +performed a sort of jig, and clattered like a deaf and dumb young +cymbal that had never known the use of its twin brother." . . . + +"And here, if you like, the Cricket DID chime in! with a +Chirrup, Chirrup, Chirrup of such magnitude, by the way of +chorus, with a voice so astoundingly disproportionate to its +size, as compared with the Kettle, (size! you couldn't see it!) +that if it had then and there burst itself like an overcharged +gun, if it had fallen a victim on the spot, and chirruped its +little body into fifty pieces it would have seemed a natural and +inevitable consequence for which it had expressly labored." . . . + +"There was all the excitement of a race about it. Chirp, +chirp, chirp! Cricket a mile ahead. Hum, hum, hum-m-m! Kettle +making play in the distance, like a great top. Chirp, chirp, +chirp!--Cricket round the corner. Hum, hum, hum! Kettle +sticking to him in his own way, no idea of giving in. Chirp, +chirp, chirp ! Cricket fresher than ever. Hum, hum, hum-m-m! +Kettle slow and steady. Chirp, chirp, chirp! Cricket going to +finish him. Hum, hum, hum! Kettle not to be finished. Until at +last, they got so jumbled up together, in the hurry-skurry, +helter-skelter of the match, that whether the Kettle chirped or +the Cricket hummed, or the Cricket chirped and the Kettle hummed, +or the Cricket chirped and the Kettle hummed, or the both chirped +and both hummed, it would have taken a clearer head than yours or +mine to have decided with anything like certainty. But of this +there is no doubt, that the Kettle and the Cricket, at one and +the same moment, and by some power of amalgamation best known to +themselves, sent each his fireside song of comfort streaming into +a ray of the candle that shone through the window, and a long way +down the lane. And this light, bursting on a certain person who +on the instant, approached towards it through the gloom, +expressed the whole thing to him, literally in a twinkling, and +cried, 'Welcome home, old fellow! Welcome home, my boy!" + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "The willow-pattern that we knew + In childhood. with its bridge of blue, + Leading to unknown thoroughfares." + ----Keramos, Longfellow. + +Peradventure some who read these rambling paragraphs may be the +fortunate possessor of a few pieces of that willow-pattern, blue +or pink china table ware which was but too lightly esteemed when +it was a common heritage of English and American families. If +not, a vivid remembrance of the ware and of the fancies which it +inspired, must be little less prized by those who cherish such +associations with home and childhood. We are tempted here to +recall some of our own reminiscences of old china, which the +impatient reader may excusably skip for more serious matter. + +From the semi-aquatic summer-house with roof curving upward like +an inverted umbrella, imprinted upon a favorite tea-plate, we +often sallied forth in fancy to explore the Chinese world as +portrayed in blue or pink upon earthen table-ware of the olden +time. And what a world! How artfully adapted to childish +notions, how convenient for bird's-eye views, this arrangement of +lofty mountain peaks, deep gorges, and rocks of fantastic forms, +tangled up with examples of nature subdued by Chinese art in +landscape gardening and ornate architecture. In the near distance +(far and near are the same in Chinese art), we behold a slender +streak of waterfall descending from mountain peaks a thousand +feet or height by comparison; a broad flight of stone stairs +leading up to a palace or temple of intricate construction and +marvellous ornamentation; a majestic river a mile or two in +width, winding serenely by these wonders of nature and art, but +submitting to be spanned by a single arch of bridge, perhaps +thrice the length of the Chinaman advancing over its camel-humped +back, who placidly regards from under his ruffle-edged umbrella +the pleasure boats floating beneath him. A little group of high- +born Chinese ladies in holiday attire are seated in a garden of +potted plants on the river's bank, drinking tea, flirting their +fans, and doubtless talking over the latest Court gossip. Nearby +is a willow, not the stiff, ugly tree now seen upon tame and +degenerate imitations of real old China pottery, but a graceful +weeping-willow, whose drooping branches sweep the opposite +shore, as sublimely indifferent to distance as the untrammeled +artist himself. + +No hint here of imperative human toil, or of human need, or of +anything but present enjoyment and rest; it is a picture of +contented, comfortable existence, for dreamy contemplation, amid +a grouping of art and nature that calmly defies probability and +challenges the impossible. + +But perhaps the Chinese artist had more justification for his +incredible fancies than we have imagined. Strange contradictions +occur in China, judged by our conventional standards, and there +are surprises and incongruities even in their actual landscapes, +which are unsuspected by thousands of our intelligent countrymen. +Some examples of such departure from our notions of natural and +of artificial scenery are given in the illustrations of this +work. + + + +CHAPTER X. + + "The east wind fans a gentle breeze, + The streams and trees glory in the brightness of the spring. + The bright sun illuminates the green shrubs, + And the falling flowers are scattered and fly away, + The solitary cloud retreats to the hollow hill; + The birds return to their leafy haunts: + Every being has a refuge whither he may turn; + I alone have nothing to which to cling. + So, seated opposite the moon shining o'er the cliff, + I drink and sing to the fragrant blossoms." + +The foregoing lines are by Le Tai-Pih, styled the Chinese +Anacreon, literally translated by R. K. Douglas, in the +Encylopaedia Britannica. They might easily apply to a tea garden. + +The power of a single word to arouse trains of thought composed +of the most varied ideas, to set in motion a panorama of scenery +which is well nigh endless with persons of lively imaginations, +is illustrated by this word, tea. While to one person it may +suggest only refreshment and personal comfort, and to another, +scenes of home life, to still others it will bring into being all +that the dreamer has read or heard of China, that land of Cathay, +and of its slant-eyed, mild mannered wearers of the pig-tail, and +their real or fabulous characteristics. Not the least interesting +of such associations are memories of the queer manners and habits +of the Chinese people, some of which to us outside barbarians, +appear so drolly opposed to our civilization of fancied +superiority. Let us recapitulate a few of the most marked +differences between the Chinese and Western peoples. + +The very first antithesis that strikes us is the braided pig-tail +of long black glossy hair so religiously cherished by the men. +Have they forgotten that this is a badge of servitude? The +original inhabitants of China--by which we mean that people who +occupied central China as far back as the beginning of the +Assyrian Empire, or say 1300 years before Christ,--are said to +have worn their jet black hair long, and coiled loosely upon the +crown of the head, but they did not shave any portion of the +head, nor braid their hair in a queue. The northern tribes of +Manchus and Mongols (Tarters or Taters in olden nomenclature), +who inhabited Manchuria and Mongolia, had endeavored to conquer +the Chinese in wars which began about 950 A. D., and during which +in the 12th century, the celebrated Jenghiz Khan and Kublai Khan +severally commanded the Mongolian armies. These wars continued +until 1627 A. D. when the Manchurian invaders regarded their +conquest as sufficiently assured to warrant them in imposing +their commands upon their Chinese vassals. At that time the +Manchus partly shaved their head and wore braided queues. In 1627 +an edict was issued by the Manchus requiring all Chinese subjects +to henceforth follow the Manchu fashion and to wear the pig-tail +as a token of submission to their conquerors. So, after time a +badge of bondage became with the Chinese an insignia of national +pride and honor. + +Then, let us consider their written language, the oldest in the +world except Hebrew, says Dr. Williams, and the oldest spoken +language without any exception. Professor James Legge, writing +upon Confucianism and Taoism, says that the written language of +China takes us back at least five thousand years. Like most +things in China, the language has suffered very little change +since its adoption and completion. It does not consist of words, +built up of letters, as with us; it has no alphabet, no letters, +but its curious symbols represent objects, qualities, ideas, or +sounds, which by combination express every shade of Chinese +thought. The number of these written characters is variously +estimated by European philologists at from 25,000 to 50,000, +although it is believed that one may become a fair reader of +Chinese literature, by acquiring a knowledge of say 10,000 of the +pictorial symbols, with their allowable variations of form in +use. Punctuation is not ordinarily used in Chinese literature and +of course sentences or paragraphs are not divided from each other +by capitals, for they have none. + +In the spoken language, rising or falling inflections, and +indescribable variations of tone must be learned, as well as +pronunciation, and when it is said that there are many different +dialects, each unintelligible to those accustomed to some other +one, there seems to be little encouragement for the introduction +of Chinese into our public school system. For all this, Dr. +Morrison, the compiler of a Chinese and English dictionary, +declares that "Chinese fine writing darts upon the mind with a +vivid flash, a force and beauty, of which alphabetic language is +not capable." + +Graphic representation of an idea in a picture illustrates Dr. +Morrison's meaning. + + Chinese written or printed composition is arranged in + perpendicular columns, which are read from top to bottom + and from the right to the left; and a Chinese book + begins at the end from our point of view. + + When in China two polite acquaintances accost each + other, they pause before meeting and each shakes his own + hand; (a much neater and more refined custom than our + own). + + To raise one's hat to a Chinaman is to offer an insult. + + A favorite road vehicle for passengers is a wheel + barrow, and a mast and sail are often attached to aid in + its propulsion, with a fair wind. + + Kite-flying is a sport for old men, boys look on. + + The game of checkers or draughts is played with 360 men. + + Shop signs are set on end. + + White is the universal color for full mourning. Men make + women's head dresses. + + Women row heavy boats on the canals. + + A Chinese compass needle points to the south. + + In addressing a person, his last or surname is first + written, and his first name last. + + The seat of honor at the table is at the left of the + host. + + Fashions in fine clothing never change in China. + + Thieves are required by the Government to be organized + into companies or guilds with elected heads, with whom + the Government and public may treat. + + If a man is busy at his store, a traveling restaurant + will wait upon him. + + A charcoal furnace, culinary vessels, and food, are + slung upon a pole carried by the proprietor, who stops + before the customer's door, and cooks a meal to order. + + The first paddle-wheel boats built in China were + anchored in the stream where the current turned the + paddle-wheels, and ground grain for food. + + The Chinese paint the edges of their shoe-soles white. + + An expensive coffin is always an acceptable present from + an affectionate son and heir to his living father. + + Military officers in the Chinese army formerly wore + embroidered silk petticoats, and strings of beads around + their necks; they carried fans, and mounted their horses + on the right hand side. + + Chinese Cashiers are said to be uniformly honest. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +American Tea Culture. + +During a period of at least 40 years, tea plants have been +cultivated by a few experimenters in the southern United states, +and American tea, grown South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, has +satisfactorily supplied the family needs of a hundred or more +persons, at a cost not exceeding the retail price of good foreign +tea. + +When Mr. Wm. G. Le Duc, Commissioner of the Department of +Agriculture at Washington, seriously recommended systematic tea +culture in the southern States, press writers and press readers +found a new subject of mirth and standing jokes which lasted for +several years. To be sure, those who laughed so long and loudly +did not know the difference between a Chinese tea plant and a +China Aster, and few of them had ever heard that in certain tea +growing districts of China, ice and snow were familiar associates +of the hardy Chinese tea plant. Enquiry would have taught them +that here in the United States individual tea plants had for many +years withstood a freezing temperature in winter. Better informed +persons fell back upon the objection that Americans could never +learn the secrets of curing tea, and finally that the very low +cost of Chinese labor would be fatal to American competition. But +the mills of the Gods grind right along, regardless of individual +opinions or precedents. Foreign tea plants have been so +acclimatised in South Carolina that a plantation of tea has +withstood a winter temperature of zero, the lowest recorded +degree for 150 years; the secrets of curing the leaf have been +disclosed and successfully practiced by Americans, and a cheap +form of child labor for picking the tea leaves has resulted in +commercial success for American grown tea. + +This result is due to the encouragement of the U. S. Agricultural +Bureau, and the persistent efforts of Dr. Charles U. Shepard, at +Summerville, S. C., who continued his exertions to found a +permanent tea plantation on a large scale long after the +Government authorities had ceased to hope for success. In Dr. +Shepard's tea gardens the deficiency in rain fall is made good by +deep pulverization of the soil and artificial irrigation; the +natural shade of jungle or forest under which the seed germinates +and grows where the plant is indigenous, is supplied by +artificial shade; and the expensive process of picking the leaves +is cheapened by employing children, who are paid in money, and +also by being taught to read and write in a school maintained on +the premises by Dr. Shepard. Machinery has supplanted some of the +tedious hand-manipulation of tea in Dr. Shepard's factory, and +further progress in this direction is constantly being made. + +The Pinehurst tea--for Pinehurst is the designation of Dr. +Shepard's plantation at Summerville--sometimes disappoints those +accustomed to the strong flavors and pronounced fragrance of some +foreign teas, but it contains a full proportion of that +stimulating, sustaining constituent of all genuine teas, theine, +as consumers all discover. Like our American grapes and wines, +American teas will doubtless improve by continuous cultivation +upon a given soil, and probably will at length develop +characteristics of their own, as precious in the estimation of +tea drinkers as those of the exceptional foreign teas. + +Impressed by the importance of Dr. Shepard's success, and the +latent possibilities of this new field of American enterprise, +Messrs. Francis H. Leggett & Co., of New York, have purchased +from Dr. Shepard the entire crop of American Pinehurst teas for +1900, amounting in quantity to several thousand pounds. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +How Shall We Make Tea? + +How shall tea be drawn or infused? Is there but one standard +method for all teas, or all persons? Certainly not. A method +which will suit very many delicate tastes may be briefly stated: +Use water as free as possible from impurities, from earthly +matters like lime. If water is boiled too long its contained air +is expelled and the tea will have a "flat" taste. Use an +earthen teapot by preference; one which is never applied to any +other purpose. A preliminary warming of the dry teapot is +advised. Drop in your tea leaves, and pour on the whole quantity +of water required, while at boiling temperature. Set in warm but +not very hot situation to steep, avoiding so far as practicable, +loss of vapor and aroma from the teapot. + +Now, as to the length of time tea should steep:--it will vary +with different teas and different tastes. Some steep tea but +three minutes; others double the time; while still others extend +the time to 15 minutes. In any event, as soon as the +characteristic flavor is extracted from the leaves, known by the +loss of an agreeable tea-odor in the withdrawn leaves, the +beverage will be improved rather than impaired by pouring it off +into a clean teapot, in which the tea may then be preserved for a +long time without injury. + +To some tastes, a little of the tannin is agreeable, and its +absence would be missed. Then as to sugar or milk: it is evidence +of exaggerated personality (conceit, some call it), to declare +that milk or cream or sugar injure the flavor of tea. As well +insist upon a special spice being used for all viands because the +critic likes it. To hold the Chinese up as examples of what is +proper in tea drinking is to offer a limit to human progress. As +milk or cream neutralize the tannin to a considerable extent, +they are so far desirable, without regard to taste. + + + +OVER MY TEA CUP. + +by Charles J. Everett + +This homely can of painted tin +Is casket precious in my eyes; +Its withered fragrant leaves within, +Beyond all costly gems I prize. +For for those crumpled leaves of tea, +The sunbeams of long summer days, +The song of bird, the hum of bee, +The cricket's evening hymn of praise, +The gorgeous colors of sunrise, +The joy that greets each new-born day; +The glowing tints of sunset's skies, +The calm that comes with evening grey; +The chatter of contented toil, +The merry laugh of childish glee, +The tonic virtues of the soil, +Were caught and gathered with the tea. +Lifeless those withered leaves may seem, +Locked fast in slumber deep as death, +But soon the Kettle's boiling steam +May rouse to life their fragrant breath. +With sigh of deep content we breath +The sweet mists rising lazily, +With eager, parted lips receive taste of tea. +Forlight and warmth and mood of men, +Whate'er the plant hath heard or seen +Or felt, while fixed in field or fen, +And stored within its depths serene, +Are now transmuted into thrills +Of sense or feeling, echoes faint +From peaceful perfumed tea-cladhills, +From placid Orientals quaint. +And fancies born in other lands, +Which dormant lie in magic tea, +Dream-castles fair not made with hands, +By some mysterious alchemy +Emerge from cloudland into sight, +Transform the sombre working-world, +The gloomy hours of day or night +From leaden hue to tint of gold, +Bring rest to wearied heart and brain, +Kind nature's soul to us reveal, +Enlarge the realm of Fancy's reign, +Renew the power to see and feel +The radiance of the rising sun, +The sunset's glow, the moon's pale light, +The promise of a day begun, +The rest from toil that comes with night. +And as I sip my cup of tea, +Though not a friend may be in sight, +I know that a brave company +Is taking tea with me this night. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Tea Leaves, by Francis Leggett & Co. + diff --git a/3452.zip b/3452.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8caafb5 --- /dev/null +++ b/3452.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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