The Little Tea Book | Page 5

and dilute the
meals of those who cannot take exercise, and will not practise abstinence. His chief
argument in tea's favor is that it is drunk in no great quantity even by those who use it
most, and as it neither exhilarates the heart nor stimulates the palate, is, after all, but a
nominal entertainment, serving as a pretence for assembling people together, for
interrupting business, diversifying idleness; admitting that, perhaps, while gratifying the
taste, without nourishing the body, it is quite unsuited to the lower classes.
It is a singular fact, too, that at that period there was no other really vigorous defender of
the beverage. All the best of the other writers did was to praise its pleasing qualities,
associations, and social attributes.
Still, tea grew in popular favor, privately and publicly. The custom had now become so
general that every wife looked upon the tea-pot, cups, and caddy to be as much her right
by marriage as the wedding-ring itself. Fine ladies enjoyed the crowded public
entertainments with tea below stairs and ventilators above. Citizens, fortunate enough to
have leaden roofs to their houses, took their tea and their ease thereon. On Sundays,
finding the country lanes leading to Kensington, Hampstead, Highgate, Islington, and
Stepney, "to be much pleasanter than the paths of the gospel," the people flocked to those
suburban resorts with their wives and children, to take tea under the trees. In one of
Coleman's plays, a Spitalfield's dame defines the acme of elegance as:
"Drinking tea on summer afternoons At Bagnigge Wells with china and gilt spoons."
London was surrounded with tea-gardens, the most popular being Sadlier's Wells,
Merlin's Cave, Cromwell Gardens, Jenny's Whim, Cuper Gardens, London Spa, and the
White Conduit House, where they used to take in fifty pounds on a Sunday afternoon for
sixpenny tea-tickets.
One D'Archenholz was surprised by the elegance, beauty, and luxury of these resorts,
where, Steele said, they swallowed gallons of the juice of tea, while their own dock
leaves were trodden under foot.
The ending of the East India Company's monopoly of the trade, coupled with the fact that

the legislature recognized that tea had passed out of the catalogue of luxuries into that of
necessities, began a new era for the queen of drinks destined to reign over all other
beverages.
[Illustration of woman]

O TEA!
In the drama of the past Thou art featured in the cast; (O Tea!) And thou hast played thy
part With never a change of heart, (O Tea!) For 'mid all the ding and dong Waits a
welcome--soothing song, For fragrant Hyson and Oolong. . . . A song of peace, through
all the years, Of fireside fancies, devoid of fears, Of mothers' talks and mothers' lays, Of
grandmothers' comforts--quiet ways. Of gossip, perhaps--still and yet-- What of Johnson?
Would we forget The pictured cup; those merry times, When round the board, with ready
rhymes Waller, Dryden, and Addison--Young, Grave Pope to Gay, when Cowper sung?
Sydney Smith, too; gentle Lamb brew, Tennyson, Dickens, Doctor Holmes knew. The
cup that cheered, those sober souls, And tiny tea-trays, samovars, and bowls. . . . So
here's a toast to the queen of plants, The queen of plants--Bohea! Good wife, ring for
your maiden aunts, We'll all have cups of tea. --ARTHUR GRAY.

TEA TERMS
JAPANESE
Ori-mono-châ . . . Folded Tea Giy-ôku-ro-châ . . . Dew Drop Tea Usu-châ . . . Light Tea
Koi-châ . . . Dark Tea Tô-bi-dashi-châ . . . Sifted Tea Ban-châ . . . Common Tea
Yu-Shiyutsu-châ . . . Export Tea Neri-châ . . . Brick Tea Koku-châ . . . Black Tea
Ko-châ . . . Tea Dust Broken Leaves Riyoku-châ . . . Green Tea
CHINESE
Bohea . . . "Happy Establishment" So called after two ranges of hills, Fu-Kien or Fo-Kien
Congou . . . Labor Named so at Amoy from the labor in preparing it. Sou chong . . .
Small Kind Hyson . . . Flourishing Spring Pe-koe . . . White Hair So called because only
the youngest leaves are gathered, which still have the delicate down--white hair--on the
surface. Pou-chong . . . Folded Tea So called at Canton after the manner of picking it.
Brick Tea--prepared in Central China from the commonest sorts of tea, by soaking the tea
refuse, such as broken leaves, twigs, and dust, in boiling water and then pressing them
into moulds. Used in Siberia and Mongolia, where it also serves as a medium of
exchange. The Mongols place the bricks, when testing the quality, on the head, and try to
pull downward over the eyes. They reject the brick as worthless if it breaks or bends.
[Illustration of Japanese woman]

TEA LEAVES
BY JOHN ERNEST MCCANN
According to Henry Thomas