THE CHEMISTRY OF COFFEE AND TEA. 367 



the nutrient matters ; that, unless in tightly closed vessels, it wastes 

 the fragrance, the qualities held in choicest esteem and highest value ; 

 and that, when used with teas, it renders the beverage so strongly as- 

 tringent as to be both disagreeable and unwholesome. 



The opinion is general, though not universal, that coffee is a 

 stronger stimulant than tea, comparing them as American beverages. 

 On this question, the analyst can only aver that a given weight of tea- 

 leaf yields about three times as much of the common stimulant prin- 

 ciple as the same weight of roasted coffee. How many cups of tea 

 may be made from a pound of the dry leaf, or how few cups of coffee 

 are made from a pound of the browned berry ; and how long either 

 quantity, dispensed under regulations both prudent and generous, will 

 continue to supply a flowing cup in daily service of an individual 

 these questions may be respectfully referred to authorities more com- 

 petent than chemists. The proper judges can comprise none other 

 than the gracious autocrats of the tea-table themselves ; and when they 

 shall have vouchsafed perfectly definite replies, regarding these desired 

 numbers and quantities, then in a very short time some assurance can 

 be given of the stimulating effects of coffee in comparison with tea. 



But, pending all conclusion from chemical identity and parallel 

 quantity of constituents, any sufferer from coffee may resort to tea, 

 and any injury from either may be cited against the closest chain of 

 reasoning which chemistry can present. Most people have a small 

 stock of experimental science of their own, sufficient for personal 

 theory, if not wholly in accord with personal practice. And now re- 

 garding the effects of coffee in comparison with tea, let it be remem- 

 bered that sleeplessness during the hours of repose may come from 

 irritation in the stomach as well as from stimulation in the brain. 

 The rich, oily, and albuminoid matters of roasted coffee, and especially 

 the empyreumatic oil to which its flavor is due, are liable to derange 

 the digestion of many persons, while tea is seldom subject to this dis- 

 advantage, and its diffusive fragrant oil may be helpful to the action 

 of the digestive powers. In countries where the people rarely have 

 indigestion, it is not found that coffee prevents sleep more than tea, 

 but this report is often made in America, where the digestion is not 

 the best in the world. The astringent influence of tea, unless prepared 

 with brief steeping, may produce ultimate injury, but seldom causes 

 immediate disturbance. To the action of the stimulant alkaloid itself, 

 of course some persons and some nations are more susceptible than 

 others, but we may be sure that it is only from this action that in- 

 creased mental activity and the Arakefulness of nervous exhilaration 

 are obtained, alike in the use of coffee and of tea. And it is doubtless 

 far more from this action of the one alkaloid found in both beverages, 

 than from any other constituents, that their habitual use becomes in- 

 jurious to many persons. 



The consumption of coffee and tea in the United States in one year 



