Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1857-06-06
A GOssip's Speculation on Do
mesti C Drinks

fare is always to be limited to tea
coffee, cocoa and chocolate Surel
there is yet to be discovered, one lea
or berry more to add to the brief cata
logue. What are travellers about tha
they do not experiment more upol
what they botanize'
Why, tea has been in use more thar
two hundred years surely that is lon9
enough to give place to something else
Macpherson in his beautiful history O.
European and Indian commerce, 1--WE
quot from memory states, that tea
was known as early as A. D eight hun.
dred and fifty, and this upon the au-
thority of one Soliman, an Arab mer-
chant; yet we find that Pepys in hi,
Diary, relates-I sent for cup of tea
Chinese drink, of which | had never
drank BEFORE and he dates this infor-
nation 1861, so that if true, this uni
versal potation must have made but
little progress in popular favor for eight
centuries previous.
We think it had altogether very
fair run, and now ought to BE- sati>fen
with its celebrity, and not 20 on, year
after year, engrossing the affections of
two-thirds OF every community. What
has conduced to its popularity amongst
us Yankees; LiebIg perhaps can tell
Us, but he is so awfuliy scientific, that
we need pharmacopeian study to
comprehend his meaning We will en-
deayor 10 translate 1t. He says that
there is bile corrective principle cal
led theme, an alEaloid, that the seden-
tary and s:udlous do we'll 10 partake,
that it is good substitute for animal
food, and that is the re son why fe-
iiiales, and literary persons, who take
hut little exercise, have 50 much par;i-
ality for it.
Our lively friends, the French, use
ii as medicine, and phlegnatic peopI-
never take it, nor ought Young ch,l-
dren to indu' ge, in even IA single cup.
The same learned chemist tells US
that the first tea leaves were procured
from the Chinese in exchange FIR those
of the garden sage, (salria cRfcstrstis)
so little did they at first know its va
lue but when, after time, they be-
came sage without this herb, they re-
fused to barter it at all, and then it
could only be purchased with solid
coin.
We know of one old ntleman who
hflirms that he never tast, d it in his
life. 10 bis kno" Wedge, on accoun; of
the fl 'vor having peculiar effect upon
hls olfactories. He used TO tell droll
story of a tea party, Of which he made
one. He began while it was brewing,
to banter the ladies present upon Their
silly patronage Of the herb, told them
hcw it Drowned Their compl .xion and
shrIvsled their skin; in process of time,
when the liquor was being poured out,
st was obs rived to be as blue as the
sky, all turned TO him as the IN schiei
maker, but he declared his innocence.
In vain were the tea pot, tea urn, and
boiler, emptied of their contents and
feplenlshed the blue oh tinately pre-
vailed, when he suggested the cause to
be, the blue rag Of the pump, (uaually
kept for the washerwoman' convent
ence, in some farm houses, on S s.id
pumps nose, this having fallen into
the boiler at the lime of pumping.
Oar gasherwonan could drink an
immense quantity of this beverage, she
was a strong hale woman We we'll
remember, in our boyhood, losing our
wager, that she could no, drink thirty
cups of tea; and our being foiled too
by the evidence of hr having enjoyed
the tenth after the task.
And what of coffee. This is well
known by all good physicians to be lit
tie less than slew poison to some con.
stituiions. We have known more than
one person invariably jaund,ced by the
habit OF drinking it only twice day.
In Jersey, one of the British Chan
mel islands, several of the inha bitants
have periodical attacks of this com
plant yet such is their iondness for
the drink they will risk the disorder,
despite lis penalties.
Coffee has this alkaloid in an emin-
ent degree. The coffee berry, which
supplies, at the present time, Almost
all European demands, was first dis
lowered in lois, by an AIabian mcr
chant, who sent to Van Hoorn. Cover
nor of Batavia, and who largely propa-
gated it; and this happened twenty
years after its discovery. The seeds
were procured from Mocha, in Arabia.
Niebhur says, that it was first brought
from Abysinia to Yemen by the Arabs
and sold as family me 'iciue.
During the ter years war between
England and France, the duty ON this
berry was so high as almost to put II
out Of the power of the laborlng claSse,
to enjoy siale cup Of 1t. Co5bet, Of
Register Rotoriety, suggested snbsil-
tute, roasted barley, mixed With The
common edible pel. sco.caed almos'
black, which proved to be very pal
atabie drink, aud mad many Of tue cot
fees stimulating properties.
Doctor johnson used to say, 'Giv'
me cup OF tea to make me think, bu
a cup of ceff.e to make me t4ik.
Whether This gives the repnted Ioqua
city 10 our friends the French, an,
their habl,ual taciturnity to the Eng
lsn and American, | leave others t,
settle IN suit themselves.