Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-05-04
American Tea.

American tea has been the subject of
much speculation and experiment among
our enterprising horticulturists, but though
they have succeeded in transplanting the
Chinese shrub and insuring a tolerablY
hOurishing growth, it yet remains matter
of doubt whether the peculiar flavor and
distetic effects of the leaf will be preserved
in a foreign climate and on an uncongenial
soil. The strongest characteristics of all
plants, animals and races of men are de-
veloped from the surroundings of their
inhabitants which on their migration must
be modified just in proportion as the cir
cumstances of their new situation differ
from those of their birth place A famil-
lar illustration of this is seen in the imme-
date degeneracy of Havana tobacco. when
placed this side of the Gulf while more
marked instance is afforded by the hemp
plant, which in India possesses the most
powerful narcotic qualities, which it has
entirely lost in Europe and America.
As it is impossible to be sure that i'm
ported tea is pure and unadulteTated, and
as its introduction into this country is as
yet subject of experiment of problemeti-
cal success, the discovery of an Indigenous
plant that would take the place of tea as
beverage would be matter of great ma
tional importance Many substitutes for
tea have been plant, wnicn w.;
quite generally use1 during the Revolution,
and is still commo in the interior of Penn
sylvania, sweet fern, partridge bush, sage,
sc. But these plants bear the same rela-
tion to Chinese tea that peas, rye and other
4 to or M ha hnl lauS Of
the Middle States does to chocolate-that
is they resemble somewhat in taste the re-
spective beverages for which they are used &,
but they do not contain one particle of the
essential alkaloid, which, in tea, is called
theme, in coffee, caffeine, and in chocolate,
or cocoa, bromine, and to which the pecul-
lar stimulating effects of those civilized
drinks are due There is but one other
plant known to contain this principle-the
mate of Paraguay, the extract of which
has been named matteine-and these four
plants, coffee, tea cocoa and mate have
been instinctively adopted by the human
race. though in entire Ignorance of the fact
that they all contained an identical element,
specially adapted to restore the waste OF
the brain and nervous system, consequent
on the wear and tear of civilized life.
1t has long been known by residents in
South America that mate possesses greater
invigorating qualities than either coffee
tea, or cocoa, the Indians sometimes labor.
ing for several days with no other susie
nance. Though the trade in the articles be.
tween Paraguay and the other states
amounts to several millions of dollars a
year, yet on account of the nature of the
plant or some defect in its preparation, il
will not bear a sea voyage, and consequent
/ ly not much has ever been imported, though
/ the opinion was expressed by Mr.. Tod
our former Minister to Brazil, that if i
could be brought to the United States, i
would in a great measure supersede the
use of tea. He was evidently not aware
what Professor Cotton, the botanist ha:
recently decided to be fact, that the plan
grows In abundance and luxuriance al
along the southern coast, in the latitud,
corresponding with its South American
habitation. 1t is known in the Carolinas a
} the yupon, and has been used for tea eve
since the settlement of the country, an
from time immemorial by the aborigine:
Prof. Cotton says that the laborers, sailor
, and raftsmen of Eastern North Carolin
agree that they find more nourishment i
it than in coffee, tea or spirit, while it
accompanied by no reaction or feelings Q
exhaustion. So highly is it priced in place
that large plantations of it have been lai
, out, and carefully cultivated.
1t has always been known to botanist
, that the yupon belonged to the same genu
the ilex-as the Paraguay mate, thoug
l owing to the difference in the locality
varies fromit somewhat in appearance; ye
it was never till recently suspected to /
!, identical with it, which fact we believe W,
/ first suggested by Rev. j. c. Fletcher,
: his work on Brazil He found in one
: the inferior towns of that country an Anne
:, ican woman engaged in keeping Yank
baked bean saloon, with whom he entert
: into conversation in regard to the accou
panying beverage of mate, when she assure
r him, that it was the same truck whit
st they used In Carolina under the name
It yupon tea, Since the war it has be,
d brought in small quantities, by the maste
,, of coasting vessels as far North as Philade
- phia and Baltimore, where it was sold f
d from five to ten cents pound, yielding
l. that price fair profit. A gentleman
t, this vicinity informs us that he recent
re drank it in Philadelphia, and that he co
'r siders it equal to japan tea, both in aav
and stimulating effects. He further sa
:; :, that the honest Quakers of that city ha
N commenced adulterating their import
at teas with it, often to the extent of one ha
Il which gives them a profit of more than
= dollar pound on the yupon,