drink is said to have originated from a decoction of the tops of the
spruce fir. In Norway and Denmark as well as in Sweden this liquor
is made from boiling the leaves, rind and branches of pines. But the
_Spruce_ beer of Great Britain and Ireland—either white or brown,
according as sugar or molasses is employed in the making—is an essence
or fluid extract procured by boiling the shoots, tops, bark and cones of
the Scotch fir (_pinus sylvestris_). _Spruce beer_ is supposed to be of
much medicinal value as an antiscorbutic. Samuel Morewood presents us
with a gratifying reflection on this matter. While, he says, _Spruce_
is beneficial to the health of man, it has not, by its “consequence
depreciated his character, or lowered him in his moral dignity.”
TARTARY.
The beer to be met with in Tartary is for the most part of an indifferent
quality. That brewed from barley and millet by the Turkestans,
termed _baksoum_, more resembles water boiled with rice than beer.
They, however, admire it, and affirm that it is an invaluable remedy
for dysentery. The reader will have already perceived that it is a
cosmopolitan practice to pamper the appetite under the pretence of
preserving the health. _Baksoum_ is acid in taste, of no scent, a feeble
intoxicant, and cannot be kept for any length of time.
[Illustration]
_Non-Alcoholic Drinks._
[Illustration]
TEA.
I.
Popularity of Tea as a Drink—Consumption in England, and
comparative Use all over the World—Legend of its Origin—Date
of its Use—Growth of the Plant—Different Kinds of Tea—Great
Falling off in the Exports from China—Ceylon Tea—High Prices
of—Statistics—Analysis of Tea.
Of all non-alcoholic beverages, Tea claims the pre-eminence, being drank
by nearly, if not quite, half the population of the world, and common
alike to all climes and all nations.
In China it is the national beverage, and it is used not only as an
ordinary drink, but it is the chief factor in visits of ceremony,
and in hospitality. Japan, too, is a large consumer, and its houses
of entertainment are “Tea” houses. In the wilds of Thibet its use is
universal, and so it is on the steppes of Tartary, where, however, it
is made as nauseous and repulsive a drink as possible. In Russia, it is
the traveller’s comfort, and every post house is bound by law to have
its _samovar_ hot and boiling, ready for the wayfarer. In Australia, New
Zealand, and Tasmania, the “billy” of tea is familiar, and forms the only
drink of the shepherd, the stockman, and the digger. All the British
colonies and possessions are devotees to the “cup which cheers, but not
inebriates.” Great Britain herself is a great tea drinker, whether it be
the “five o’clock tea,” which has developed into a cult, with vestments
peculiar thereto; the poor seamstress, stitching for hard life, who takes
it to keep herself awake for her task; or the labourer, who takes his
tin bottle with him to the field. In fact, go where you will, in every
civilized portion of the world (except Greece, where the consumption is
merely nominal), and you will find drinkers of tea.
Great Britain is the centre of the tea trade of the world, and in 1889
she imported a total quantity of 222,147,661 lbs., the declared value of
which was £9,987,967. Of this she took for her own consumption, and paid
duty thereon, 185,628,491 lbs, which, at 6_d._ per lb. duty, produced
a revenue of £4,640,704. Wisely or not, Mr. Goschen, in the Budget for
1890, reduced the duty to 4_d._ per lb.
In spite of this enormous quantity of tea drank in Great Britain, she
does not rank as the largest consumer per head, which, leaving out
China, Japan, Thibet, and Tartary, where statistics are unknown, is as
follows:—[121]
Australian Colonies,
New Zealand,
Tasmania,
Great Britain,
Newfoundland,
Canada,
Bermuda,
United States,
Holland,
Cape Colony,
Natal,
Russia,
Denmark,
Uruguay,
Argentine Republic,
B. Honduras,
Barbadoes,
Trinidad,
Antigua,
British Guiana,
Persia,
Portugal,
Bahamas,
Switzerland,
Norway,
Germany,
Grenada,
Morocco,
St. Vincent,
Jamaica,
Belgium,
Sweden,
France,
Roumania,
Austria-Hungary,
Bulgaria,
Spain,
Turkey (no returns),
Italy (ditto),
Greece (nominal),
Mauritius, 1888, 106,589 lbs.
Sierra Leone, 1888, 6,008 lbs.
The tea shrub grows wild in Assam, and in other parts between the limits
of N. Latitude 15° to 40°, and this zone is most favourable to its growth
in its cultivated form, although of late years Ceylon, which is nearer
the equator, has made enormous strides in the production of tea. Up to
the present time, however, China has furnished the largest quantity, and
for centuries has enjoyed the monopoly of its production; a monopoly now
broken down, and every day vanishing, mainly owing to the roguery of its
manufacturers and the folly of its growers.
Of course such a plant could have had no common origin, and no reader
need be surprised at its story. The legend runs that Prince Darma, or
Djarma, the third son of King Kosjusvo, went, very many centuries ago,
from India to China, where he abode, and became celebrated for his
piety. Like the _fakirs_ of India, he showed his religious tendencies
in a morbid manner—living only under heaven’s canopy, fasting for
weeks together, and eliminating sleep altogether from his daily wants.
Tradition says that this state of things continued for years, until, one
day, weary nature asserted her pre-eminence, and Darma slept. Imagine
his holy horror on his awakening! Something of the same kind must have
possessed Cranmer when he stretched forth his right hand in the flames
of his funereal pyre, with the heart-wrung exclamation, “This hand
hath offended.” So with Darma; filled with pious horror, his first
thought was, how to expiate his offence, and his peccant eyelids were,
consequently, cut off and thrown upon the ground. Next day, returning
to the spot where he had involuntarily sinned, he saw two shrubs, of a
kind never before beheld in China. He tasted them, found them aromatic,
and, moreover, possessing the quality of imparting wakefulness to their
consumer. The discovery and miracle became noised abroad, and hence the
popularity of tea in China.
But, apart from this legend, the Chinese themselves have no certain
record of the introduction of tea into their country. They believe that
it was in use in the third century, and in the latter end of the fourth
century, Wangmung, a minister of the Tsin dynasty, made it fashionable
and much increased its consumption. In all probability it was chewed at
that time, for a decoction of it does not appear to have been drank
until the time of the Suy dynasty, when the Emperor Wass-te, suffering
from headache, was cured by drinking an infusion of tea leaves, by the
advice of a Buddhist priest. In the early seventh century this manner of
using the shrub was general, and it has maintained its popularity unto
the present time, making itself friends wherever it is introduced.
The tea-plant somewhat resembles the Camellia Japonica, and Linnæus,
imagining that the black and green teas came from different shrubs, named
them _Thea bohea_ and _Thea viridis_. Fortune has definitely settled that
both green and black tea are made off the same plants, and it is now
taken that there is but one tea-plant, the _Thea Sinensis_, of which,
however, there are several varieties, induced by climate, soil, etc.
Tea-plants are grown from seeds, and are made bushy by pinching off the
leading shoots. They are planted in rows, each plant being three or four
feet distant from the other, and the leaves are stripped in the fourth
or fifth year of its growth, and are plucked until the tenth or twelfth,
when the plant is grubbed up. May and June are the general months of
picking, which is done mostly by women; but the time varies according to
the district.
The young and early leaves give the finest and most delicate teas, but
the flavour very much depends upon the drying and roasting; but still
some soils and climates have a great deal to do with the taste, the
finest tea in China growing between the 27th and 31st parallels of
latitude.
[Illustration: THEA SINENSIS.]
The Trade names of teas imported from China to England are:
_Black_—Congou, Souchong, Ning Yong and Oolong, Flowery and Orange Pekoe.
The latter, and Caper, being artificially scented, are, therefore,
carefully eschewed by _cognoscenti_. _Green_—Twankay, Hyson Skin,
Hyson, Young Hyson, Imperial, and Gunpowder. Black tea has the rougher
taste, and produces the darkest infusion. Green tea, however, has the
greater effect upon the nerves, and if taken strong, acts as a narcotic,
producing, with some people, tremblings and headaches, and on small
animals even causing paralysis. It is, therefore, generally mixed with
black in small proportion, say ¼ lb. to 1 lb. black tea. There is also
what is called _brick tea_, which is consumed in the North of China,
Tartary, and Thibet, but which we never see in England. This choice tea
is made from the stalks and refuse and decayed twigs, mixed with the
serum of sheep and ox blood, which, when it is pressed into moulds,
hardens it.
The Russians are said to get the finest tea that comes out of
China—called Caravan Tea—which is made into large bales, covered with
lead. This goes to Russia entirely overland, and to this fact some
attribute its superior and delicate flavour.
The tea trade of China is rapidly going from her, and she has but
herself, and the shortsighted knavery of her growers and manufacturers,
to thank for it. According to a Tea Circular,[122] the following are the
imports and deliveries of China tea from 1st to 30th June:—
1888. 1889. 1890.
6,697,000 lbs. 508,000 lbs. 452,000 lbs.
a truly fearful falling off. English people got tired of the flavourless
stuff sent from China, and India and Ceylon having perfected the
manufacture (which at first start of the industry of tea growing in those
parts was not good), send us delicious tea, of a much higher market value
than that of China.
Ceylon tea, especially, has enormously won the favour of the English
tea-drinking community in a very few years, as the following short
statistics, taken from a Tea Circular,[123] will show,—
The total value of all the Ceylon tea in bond in 1880 was £5,024.
Ditto ditto ditto 1888 ” £1,555,095.
----------
The duty on above, at 6_d._ per lb., was respectively £2,871.
£464,664.
----------
showing that not only had the quantity imported enormously increased, but
so had the quality, as shown by the enhanced market value. One instance,
although an exceptional one, will show what Ceylon can produce in the way
of tea. On 13th January, 1890, was sold at the London Commercial Tea Sale
Rooms, a consignment of tea from the Gallebodde Estate, Ceylon, which
experts described as the finest tea ever grown. This unique tea was of
the brightest gold colour, resembling grains of gold. Its sale excited
the keenest competition, and it was eventually knocked down for £4 7_s._
per lb., but it was resold a few days afterwards to a wholesale firm at
the enormous price of £5 10_s._ per lb.
“Much excitement prevailed yesterday in the London Commercial Tea Sale
Rooms, Mincing Lane, on the offering of a small lot of Ceylon tea, from
the Gartmore Estate. This tea is composed almost entirely of small
‘golden tips,’ which are the extreme ends of the small succulent shoots
of the plant. Competition was of a very keen description, the tea being
ultimately knocked down to the Mazawattee Ceylon Tea Company at the
unprecedented price of £10 2_s._ 6_d._ per pound.”—_Standard_, March
11th, 1891.[124]
Another circular of the same firm of tea brokers gives a list of 132 tea
gardens in Ceylon.
Indian tea is fast helping to supersede China tea, and another Tea
Circular[125] points out that, “Towards the 190 million lbs. probably
required for home use during the coming year, India and Ceylon together
will contribute fully 150 millions.” It also gives the following:—
“LONDON STATISTICS FOR YEAR ENDING 31ST MAY.”
1888. 1889. 1890.
Import, Indian 86,371,000 94,954,000 101,052,000
Ceylon 14,705,000 26,390,000 34,246,000
China 117,185,000 98,695,000 90,097,000
Java 2,989,000 4,170,000 3,107,000
------------ ---------- -----------
Total 221,250,000 224,209,000 228,502,000
Delivery, Indian 85,619,000 91,368,000 101,168,000
Ceylon 12,578,000 23,830,000 31,947,000
China 116,870,000 105,668,000 87,652,900
Java 3,133,100 3,862,000 3,280,000
----------- ----------- -----------
218,200,000 224,728,000 224,047,000
Of which—
Home Consumpt. 183,000,000 185,250,000 187,940,000
Export 35,200,000 39,500,000 36,107,000
There are three active substances in tea, which we should do well to
notice: Volatile Oil, Theine, and Tannin.
The volatile oil can be distilled by ordinary process, and it contains
the aroma and flavour of tea in perfection. Its action on the human body
is not thoroughly known, with the exception that it is injurious in a
greater or less degree. The Chinese are well aware of the fact, and
will rarely use tea until it is a year old, thus allowing some of it to
evaporate, and it is probably owing to this oil that tea-tasters (who
taste as much by smell as by palate) are subject to attacks of headache
and giddiness.
Theine is the principle which gives to tea its power of lessening the
waste of the tissues in the human body, and, when separated from the
decoction, it forms an alkaloid having no smell, a slightly bitter taste,
and is composed of colourless crystals. It is also an active agent in
Maté or Paraguay tea, in coffee (when it is called caffeine, although
identical in substance), in Guarana, which is used as coffee in Brazil,
and in the Kola Nut of Africa.
The third product, tannin, gives roughness of flavour to the tea, and is
particularly developed by allowing the infusion to stand a long time. It
is harmless; at least, its combination in tea has never been found to be
hurtful; Its presence is at once shown by dropping some tea on the clean
blade of a knife, when it will produce a black stain—the tannin derived
from oxgalls, and a solution of iron, forming the ink with which we write.
That Chinese tea has been, and is, largely adulterated, is an
indisputable fact, and in those bygone days, when all our supply came
from China, it had to be borne. Now, at all events, the Indian and Ceylon
teas are pure, and can be taken without the slightest fear. The green
teas used to be most adulterated, but the black teas could also tell
their tale of fraud.
J. A.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
TEA.
II.
Introduction of Tea into Europe—Early Authorities
thereon—“Tay”—Its Introduction into England—Excise Duty
thereon—Thomas Garway’s Advertisement.
When tea was first introduced into Europe is still an unsettled question,
and the earliest mention that the writers can find (that is, to verify)
is in a volume of Travels by Father Giovanni Pietro Maffei,[126]
published 1588 (book vi., p. 109). Speaking of his travels in China, he
says: “Quanquam è vitibus more nostro non exprimunt merum, uvas quodam
condimenti genere in hyemem adservare, mos est; cœterum ex herba quadam
expressus liquor admodum salutaris, nomine Chia, calidus hauritur, ut
apud Japonios: Cujus maxime beneficio, pituitam, gravedinem, lippitudinem
nesciunt; vitam bene longam, sine ullo ferme languore traducunt, oleis
alicubi carent.” “Although they do not extract wine from the vines as we
do, but have a custom of preserving the grapes as a kind of condiment for
the winter, they yet press out of a certain herb, a liquor which is very
healthy, which is called Chia, and they drink it hot, as do the Japanese.
And the use of this causes them not to know the meaning of phlegm,
heaviness of the head, or running of the eyes, but they live a long and
happy life, without pain, or infirmity of any sort.”
Another early mention of it is in a book by Giovanni Botero,[127] which
was translated into English by Robert Peterson, “of Lincolne’s Inne,
Gent.” He says (p. 75), “They haue also an herbe, out of which they
presse a delicate iuyce, which serues them for drincke instead of wyne.
It also preserues their health, and frees them from all those euills,
that the immoderat vse of wyne doth breed vnto us.”
Early in the seventeenth century tea was becoming known in Europe, mainly
through the instrumentality of the Dutch East India Company, and we learn
much about it in the writings of Father Alexandre de Rhodes, who, after
thirty-five years’ travel, gave the benefit of his experiences to the
public. He left Rome in October, 1618, and thus writes about “De l’Vsage
du Tay, qui est fort ordinaire en la Chine.”[128] He says, “One of the
things which, in my opinion, contributes most to the great health of this
people, who often attain to extreme old age, is _Tay_, the use of which
is very common throughout the East, and which is beginning to be known
in France, by means of the Dutch, who bring it from China, and sell it
at Paris at 30 francs the pound, which they have bought in that country
for 8 or 10 sols, and yet I perceive that it is very old, and spoilt.
Thus it is that we brave Frenchmen suffer strangers to enrich themselves
in the East India trade, whence they might draw the fairest treasures of
the world, if they had but the courage to undertake it as well as their
neighbours, who have less means of being successful than they have.
“_Tay_ is a leaf as large as that of our pomegranate, and it grows on
shrubs similar to the myrtle: it does not exist elsewhere throughout the
world, but in two provinces of China, where it grows. The chief is that
of Nanquin, whence comes the best _Tay_, which they call _Chà_; the other
is the province of Chin Chean. The gathering of this leaf in both these
provinces is made with as much care as we exercise in our vintage, and
its abundance is so great, that they have enough to supply the rest of
China, Japan, Tonquin, Cochin China, and several other kingdoms, where
the use of tea is so common, that those who drink it but three times a
day are most moderate, many taking it ten or twelve times, or, in other
words, at all hours of the day.
“When the leaf is gathered, it is well dried in an oven, after which it
is put in tin boxes, which are tightly closed, because if the air gets to
it, it is spoiled, and has no strength, the same as wine that is exposed
to the air. I leave you to judge if Messieurs the Hollanders take care of
that when they sell it in France. To know whether the _Tay_ is good, you
must see that it is very green, bitter, and so dry as to be easily broken
with the fingers. If it passes these tests, it is good; otherwise, be
assured it is not worth much.
“This is how the Chinese treat the _Tay_ when they take it. Some water is
boiled in a very clean pot, and when it boils it is taken off the fire,
and this leaf is put therein, according to the quantity of water: that
is to say, the weight of a crown of _Tay_ to a large glass of water.
They cover the pot well, and, when the leaves sink to the bottom of the
water, then is the time to drink it, for then it is that the _Tay_ has
communicated its virtue to the water, and made it of a reddish colour.
They drink it as hot as they can, for it is good for nothing if it gets
cold. The same leaves which remain at the bottom of the pot will serve a
second time, but then they boil them with the water.
“The Japanese take _Tay_ differently, for they make it into powder, which
they throw into boiling water, and swallow the whole. I know not whether
this method of making it is more wholesome than the former; I always use
it thus, and find that it is common among the Chinese. Both mix a little
sugar with the _Tay_ to correct the bitterness, which, however, does not
seem disagreeable to me.
“There are three chief virtues in _Tay_. The first is to cure and prevent
headache; for my part, when I had a headache, by taking _Tay_, I felt so
comforted, that it seemed to draw all my pain away, for the principal
force in _Tay_ is to expel those gross vapours that mount to the head,
and inconvenience us. If it is taken after supper, it generally hinders
sleep; yet there are some in whom it causes sleep, because by only
expelling the grossest vapours, it leaves those which induce sleep. For
myself, I have experienced it often enough, when I have been obliged to
sit up all night hearing the confessions of my native Christians, which
frequently happened; I had only to take _Tay_ at the hour when I should
have been going to sleep, and I could go all night without wishing for
sleep, and next morning I was as fresh as if I had had my usual slumber.
I could do this once a week without being incommoded. Once I tried to
continue this wakefulness for six consecutive nights, but on the sixth I
was quite knocked up.
“_Tay_ is not only good for the head; it has a marvellous effect
in comforting the stomach, and aiding the digestion, so that it is
ordinarily drank after dinner, but not generally after supper, if sleep
is required. The third thing that _Tay_ does is to purge the reins of
gout and gravel, and it is, perhaps, the true reason why these maladies
are unknown in these countries, as I have said before.”
One thing is very certain. Tea would not have been in use any length of
time in France before it would be drank, as a novelty, in England, and
by the year 1660 it had become in such general use that it was made a
vehicle for taxation, as we see by the 12 Chas. II., c. 23: “For every
gallon of Chocolate, Sherbet, and Tea, made and sold, to be paid by
the Makers thereof, Eightpence,” and men were appointed to visit the
coffee-houses twice daily to see the quantity brewed.
But this was so inconvenient, that in 1688, after giving this scheme
a good trial, the Act was repealed by 1 Will. & Mary, c. 40, and the
duties on coffee, chocolate, and tea (for this latter 1_s._ per lb.) were
charged and collected at the Custom House, because “It hath been found by
experience, that the collecting of the duty arising to your Majesties by
virtue of several Acts of Parliament, by way of excise, upon the liquors
of Coffee, Chocolate and Tea, is not only very troublesome and unequal
upon the retailers of those liquors, but requireth such attendance of
officers, as makes the neat receipt very inconsiderable.”
In the British Museum is a broadside folio advertisement, supposed to
be about A.D. 1600, of a tobacconist, one Thomas Garway, who kept a
coffee-house in Exchange Alley, known up till late years, when it has
disappeared in the universal rage for improvements, as Garraway’s Coffee
House. It is as follows:—
“An Exact Description of the Growth, Quality, and Vertues of the Leaf
TEA, by _Thomas Garway_ in _Exchange Alley_, near the _Royal Exchange_ in
_London_, and Seller and Retailer of TEA and COFFEE.