The Russellville Democrat., 1883-06-14

Tea, fragrant and exhilarating tea,
gentlest and most lady-like Of all bever-
ages, soIace of old age and sweet COM
lnuner of sociabilify. tbs OF tea this
article viii speak Who, in poring over
come volume of half-forgotten lore,
riginating on British soil d century or
more ago, has nct been siisAsy conscious
4 II certain iudescTihabse spirit, sash
oenefting, contemplative and gossipy--
| the influence of the Oriental herb upon
the nervous system of the writers Of
Queen Anne and the first two Georges
reirnsp Could the pleasantly senti-
mental "Tr1stram Shandy 7 ever have
been written in our time, when a vile
decoction has to supply the place of the
/ genuine articlep Does not Dickens, and
| Still more Thackeray, infuse q quantity
different from that Of writers OF the
present day into their tales? Tea plays
very important part in the makeup OF
their words and sketches. You feel that
the wholesome cup that cheers but not
inebriates was then an Indispensable
! adjunct to every chat and to every
meeting of old cronies. More ardent
| ! suids were then, as now, not missing
1m the social board, but tea in every
Instance preceded them or was their
concomitant. Alas for the days of purs,
unauthorized and not too expensive
tea! They have fled, never to return
tnis side the ocean as well as beyond
Let us see. What is found to-day
when we imbibe the pellucid fluid hon
ored by the name of teaP Wen enter
restaurant on Fifth avenue, right
where hundreds Of cups of the cheering
stuff are sold daily, at the rate of five
cents each, to the mechanic, to the print
err, to the clerk or small shopkeeper.
I Whew, this is not tea. The flavor re-
I sembles more that OF nondescript MKT
ure of extract of sole leather, with a
sprinkling Of pennyroyal or some such
! homely medium.
The investigator passes on and tries
cup in Dearborn-street restaurant. 1t
4 is better, but it is not yet the thing. 1t
is decoction Of tea, true enough; but
of what tea, and prepared in what a
horrid, savage manner Boarding.
house? Worse still. In familiesp Wei,
in few you do get cup of decent tea.
But really good, fragrant tea, the per-
fume of one cupful of which fingers in
the air, where do you find it nowadaysp
! The truth is, good tea has become so
rare thing in America that it must be
counted among the curiosities. Even
( in a large and prosperous city like
Chicago It is exceedingly difficult to find
place where, in exchange for con-
siderable deal of money, you are able
to obtain what may be called good tea.
As partial explanation of this fact,
it NAV be stated that il is impossible to
get Chinese or Japanese tea to this
country without the latter losing con-
siderable of its fine flavor and taste
while on its way on board ship. A sea
voyage invariably spoils tea, a very del
icate herb, to some extent That is the
reason why YOU find the most excellent
grades of tea outside of China ITSELF III
Russia. That is the so-called caravan
tea, it being pressed in China into brick
I'm, wrapped up carefully first in
ainese tissue paper and then in hides,
I'd carried on the back of camels
rough the steppes of Northern China
and by way of kiachta across the undu-
ating plains of Eastern Russia to some
If the larger inland towns like Nishnij.
Novgorod and Kiev. That tea is as far
different in taste from the American
commodity as is the genuine Mocha to
the cheaper kinds of Brazil coffee.
But to come back to the original
theme of teas in America, it is deplor
able fact that about ninety-nine per cent.
ofall the teas to be boughthere and drank
IS less than tolerable. 1t is for that rea-
on, and for the further reason of its
gaolesale adulteration, that Americans
ave become, by large majority" a
alton of coffee-drinkers, whereas, less
an hundred years ago, nay, still
orty years ago, they We're as fond of
eir tea as the English have remained
j to-day. And there is yet another
Eson for the more and more diminish
popularity of tea, viz, the extor-
ate prices the public are made to
~ for very inferior grades of it.-CAs-
go Herald.