HOLLY-LEAF TEA. 45 



and the Paraguay tea is said to get black when allowed to staud 

 a long time in the pot. In the widely-spread field of the genus 

 Ilex such immense variety exists, that botanists can hardly tell 

 whether or not the English Holly is not identical with that of the 

 Himalaya ; indeed, the Holly sports so much, that we have 

 hundreds of them pretty distinct in this country, although all 

 from the same stock ; and not only do the leaves of individual 

 plants differ from one another, but the top of a Holly-tree has 

 frequently entire leaves, whilst the bottom-leaves ai'e waved, 

 and every wave armed with a spine. In connexion with the 

 leaves of Ilex used as tea, it is of the highest importance to bear 

 in mind that the genus Thea (the tea of commerce) is so closely 

 allied to the shining and leathery -leaved Camellia as to be counted 

 by eminent botanists one of that genus ; and although the largest 

 tea-leaf that ever I could unfold from the tea-pot was not more 

 than an inch and a half long, and one inch broad, and of extremely 

 thin texture, still the full-grown tea-leaf is a shining, leathery, 

 laurel-looking leaf, three or four inches long, and half that in 

 breadth ; it is therefore evident that the tender young foliage 

 only is used for the tea of commerce, and Mr. Fortune, in his 

 work on China, expressly states that this is the fact. In the case 

 of Holly-leaves being used for tea, I am certain that many of 

 them remain on the plant seven years, and for aught I can see to 

 the contrary, seven times seven years ; it is therefore not to be 

 expected that " Young Hyson "could ever be made from such old 

 leaves, and consequently, in all experiments with the Holly, young 

 and tender foliage only should be used. The Coffee-plant (Coffea 

 Arabica) has a fine shining mucilaginous foliage, as if there were 

 something in it, as well as in the berry, worth roasting, and this, 

 I find from the newspapers, has actually been attempted lately, 

 thus adding another leaf to our list of tea-stuffs. 



From the foregoing remarks it will be seen that I had good 

 reasons for suspecting that Ilex aquifolium possessed drinkable 

 qualities, and in order to confirm them, I closely examined Ilex 

 Dahoon, comparing it with various varieties of Ilex aquifolium, 

 and in taste, texture, and appearance they were very much alike. 

 I then manufactured some of the leaves of the common Holly, 

 after the Paraguay fashion, and found that well-roasted Holly 

 leaves are quite as good as five-shilling tea. Paraguay tea is 

 almost charred and then pounded to a coarse powder, and the 

 prickles upon our Holly leaves look as if they had been made on 

 purpose to prop the leaf in roasting, for the hot air gets through 

 the mass of leaves without sweating them or requiring them to 

 be turned or tossed as Chinese teas are The smell is very 



