The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1912-04-13
The CUP OF TEA.
Something About the Leaf and tn,
Cheering Beverages.

Something About the Leaf and thu
Cheering Beverage.
Tea has been a factor in the sOcia
life Tor more than 500 years one ia,
only 90 read the diary OF Fanny Bur.
ney, The poetry OF Hannah More. IN,
memoirs or Mary Delany and the let
/ tors of Elizabeth M0ntagu 10 realiz,
the importance OF THE fragrant herb
In the days when samuel Johnson held
his famous court i'm Fleet street and
George TIT. was king.
Tea. this vegetable product of the
orient all comes from one kind oi
plant, and the quality and choiceness
81 It's flavor and value depend entire
y upon the time and season of pluck
ing the leaves and the manner of cur
ing them. The early leaves. or first
plucked, are the choice ones. The
leaves OF the last picked are coarse.
and are considered as poor tea. There
are usually three crops q season. one
in April. one i'm May and "a third i'm
June. When the leaves are dried
quickly the result is green tea, but
when they are dried slowly and allow
Cd 10 ferment the product is black tea.
The tea is first dried in the sun. then
on a copper pan over a charcoal fire
Each leaf is rolled in the hands Of
workmen and sorted before being
ready for use. The tea sent out from
China is sometimes dyed but the Chi
nese never drink colored tea them
selves. This evergreen tree which is
kept down To almost the size of bush,
when under cultivation grows from the
seed I'm China. IL is interesting TO
consider the different ways Of making
this delightful beverage. since there
is an art in bringing out the best there
IL i'm IT.. Much fine tea may be wasted
through incompetent manipulation.
There are three schools of tea-tea
having passed through an evolution
Of different stages. boiled tea, whipped
tea and our modern STEPPED tea. The
cake tea, which was boiled: the pow
dcred tea. which was whipped. and the
Leaf tea. which was stepped. represent
the Tang. Sung and Ming dynasties
OF China, or the classic, romantic and
naturalistic schools of tea. The tea
cake was composed of the steamed
leaves crushed i'm n mortar and boiled
with rice. ginger. salt, orange peel
and milk. Spices and onions Were al
so added. In making tea from the tea
cake much attention was given To the !
boiling of the water The first boil
was when the water bubbled and salt
was put into this. The second boil was |
when the bubbles were like beads from
n fountain, and the tea was added to |
that. The third boil was when the
pillows wildly roll in the kettel and at |
this stage "a cup of cold. water was
poured in to settle the tea. 1t is then |
ready To doe drunk. L.otung, "a Chinese |
poet, said of such a cup of tea: "The |
first cup moistens my lips and throat; /
he second cup breaks my loneliness: /
he third cup searches my barren en-
rail, but to find therein some five i
thousand volumes of odd idiographs. |
rhe fourth cup raises slight persp-
alton all the wrong of life passes
through my pores. At the firth cup /
I'm purified. The sixth cup calls me To-
he realm OF immurtals. The seventh
but ] could take no more! II
'nly feel the breath OF cool wind that
Uses i'm my sleeves. Where is Horai-