Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1892-09-29
ABOUT LEA DRINKING. /.
~ o. aTs lLALE
An Expert Says There is No Good Tea In
America, A-Itfa..


An Expert Says There Is No Good Tea In
fi America. a-Itfa-
A few words Of advice to teardrinkerk
may not be malapropos. .-s.-~-.rT
When left the United States was
considered fair Judge Of tea. Now,
after having visited Ceylon,. ,Formosa
and theoAmoy district find ] knew.
nothing of tea. .ttf o.Al q, ~
We Americans don't know the first
principles Of making tea. The delicate
leaf should never touch metal. 1t
should be kept in paper, wood, glass or
porcelain. TO make it, put small
quantity in a porcelain cup fill, the lat
ter with boiling water, cover it up with
porcelain saucer and let it stand three
minutes
Then, if You desire to be an epicure
drink only the upper layer of the
golden liquor, throw the rest away,
rinse the cup, and begin drawing de
novo. Never use sugar any more than
you would sweeten Chambertin or pour
molasses into Mumm's extra dry. Do
not use milk. It ruins the flavor OF tea
and the combination injuries the
stomach. The cloudiness produced by
adding milk to tea arises from the
action of the tannin upon the casein,
and is, chemically speaking, pure
leather.
Above all things do not boil tea,
says Edward Bedloe, United States
consul at Annoy, China. The heat
drives off the perfume, spells the flavor
and extracts the tannin, the astringent
principle. If the boiling be done in a
tin or iron pot the tannin attacks, the
metal and makes the liquid black.
This fluid is simply diluted ink.
Never let the tea stand except in a
tightly-closed porcelain pot. Standing
changes it from delicious, wholesome
beverage into an ill-tasting and bitter
liquor. Better make it. in small guam
titles and make it often. In summer,
when you want to cool off quickly, sip
the tea boiling hot, with slice Of pre-
viously peeled lemon, or nicer still, OF
orange without the rind, floating in it..
In winter, especially when you have a
cold and require n sudorific, add wine
glassful of arrack to it and drink II
down as hot as you can stand it,. 1t
will bring out a profuse perspiration
when punch or hot Scotch falls to thaw
you out.
Beware of green tea! 1t is an abom-
nation and fraud. In the first place,
1t is the unripe leaf, and bears the same
relation to the real article that the
green does to the ripe peach. The green
tea of commerce derives its rare color
from being cured, or rather killed,
on dirty copper pans, from being
mixed with weeds and shrubs, from be-
ing stained with indigo and chrome yell
low, from being colored with verdigrs,
grass juice, chlorophyl. Every green
dye known to commerce has been used
| to produce that much admired but
death-dealing color, except it may be
paris green. AS soon as the use of that
poisonous substance will give a profit
of a cent pound, no doubt it will be
literally used by the nercenary Mongo-
liam merchant and the much more mer.
cenary, cultured European tea trader.
/ will venture the statement that
there is no fine tea in the United States.
What goes to our country is the cheap
stuff used here by the coolies and jail
inmates.
When an American housekeeper pays
one dollar per pound for her Oolong or
English breakfast, she is buying what
is sold here for twenty-five cents No
really good tea is sold here for less than
one dollar per pound by the wholesale.
If laid down in the market at home II
could not be sold for less than one dol
lar and seventy-five cents -Goldth-
waite's Magazine.