Arizona republican., 1912-12-11
THE STORY OF TEA.

The history of tea drinking is lost in the ancient traditions of the Chin ese empire. It may be, now that China has become a republic and is friendly to America and Europe, that our persevering historians will be able to pick up the lost thread in ancient Chinese library records and tell us when the first tea leaves were picked and breWed into the worlds most famous vererage
 According to Celestial legends tea was discovered by the great emper- or Chinnung, 2737 B. C.. who stands sponsor for everything new in the vegetable line This may or may not be true. but certain it is that in the sixth century tea was already a well known beverage in the land of the poppy and the peacock By the eigth century tea was common enough in every part of China and there is q tax record dated in the year 793 showing that emperor Tin Tsung was determined to exact re- venue from tea. Since that date tea has been regularly taxed as a luxury in every country where it is eXten- Sively used.
 Tea was carried to Japan and cul- tivatiOn established early in the ninth century. IL is quite difficult to establish the exact date when tea drinking was introduced in Europe There is no trace of it prior to the year l5S8 although other Chinese customs had been imported before then. Tea was brought to Europe by the Portuguese who were the most daring in the worlds explorers and discOVerers in that distant day. But tea drinking did not become q habit until the enterprising Dutch traders introduced the custom a few years later.
 The earliest mention of tea drink ing in England occurs in letter from MT. Wickham from Japan dat cd June 27. 1915. In 1856 the Eng fish began to drink tea in society circles. the supply being imported from Java at the cost of $30 to $50 a pound. It is quite needless to say that the common people did not drink much tea during those days. About that time the following ad- Vertisement was printed in an Eng fish paper:
 That excellent and by all Physi- tians approved China drink called by the Chinese Tcha. by other nations Tay. alias Tee, is sold at the Sul- taness Head cophee house in Sweetings Rents. by the Royal Ex- change London"
 By the year 1877 tea was being ex- tensively imported and from that day the price gradually became lower and consequently more people began to drink it until early in the eighteenth century the annual consumption was two pounds per person in Englad Today tea is used the world round It is the natural drink of Russia. ex- tending all over the Russian empire and into Siberia It is the favoritc | beverage of all Asia, including Tibet, India. China. and Japan In Eng | land. Canada and the United States | tea drikig is practiced by practically | every household. Millios and millions 1 of pounds of tea leaves are consum- 1 ed every year.
 l old fashioned methods of growing i and preparing tea were too slow and 1 costly to supply the world. Agricul- turaI experts have improved upon tine tea bush. improving the quality and they have discovered many countries | where tea can be successfully grown In the place of the old charcoal fires for curing tea modern electric dryers 1 are now used in many places in Tn dia and modern machinery is used in packing it for the market. l n mar in ir1cy
 poses the Russian way is best The l Russians make tea in samovar | which is copper urn, heated by l charcoal, designed purposely for tea ! making. The word is taken from the Tartar sanabar, meaning tea urn. The common method of making tea in q pot by throwing in a small handful Of tea leeves and boiling them on the stove is all wrong. yet this is tine Way most people prepare tea. Tea should never be boiled and the tea !eeves should never be allowed tC stand in the beverage because if al
 lowed to stand poisonous oils anC
 tannin soak out and into the drink. American adaptions of the Russian
 samovars are always best for te5
 making. In these the tea Ieeves ari
 placed in a tea ball' and suspended
 in the pot. The water is brough
 to a boil by electric heat and wher
 the beverage is just the right con
 sistency the tea-ball is raised to thu
 top of the pot where it remains, i'm
 prsoning all the detrimental quail
 ties of the tealeeves which migh
 get in the beverage if allowed to re
 main in the pot
 Hire a little salesman at The Re
 publican office. A Want Ad will Se more customers than you can.