37 



boiling water and tea prepared by long steeping I secured ten samples of 

 tea in the open market and extracted 4 grams of each in i liter of 

 water by both methods. (See table and photographs.) In the quicli ex- 

 traction process the half liter of boiling water was poured over the 4 

 grams of tea, allowed to remain 1 minute and then the infusion was 

 quickly strained into a clean flask. In the slow steeping process the half 

 liter of boiling water was poured over the 4 grams of tea and kept at 

 boiling temperature for about 5 minutes, then strained into a clean flask. 

 To each of the twenty infusions excess of lead acetate solution contain- 

 ing a few drops of acetic acid was added. In the ten flasks containing 

 quickly extracted tea scarcely any precipitate was found, while in the 

 ten flasks containing the same kinds of tea extracted by the longer 

 method very voluminous preciptates formed without exception. In other 

 words the tea made by the orthodox method of long steeping contained 

 vastly greater amounts of astringent material of the nature of tannic acid 

 than the other. 



Many iD^ople halntually drink tea of this description and. having be- 

 come accustomed to it, do not like tea unless it is "strong enough to float 

 a flat iron." That they enjoy a fair measure of health is only another 

 tribute to the enormous resistive powers of the cells of the stomach lining. 

 That many people are unable to drink tea of this type, and so do not drink 

 any. Is, I believe, due to its tannic acid content, not to its content of 

 theine. 



While most teas contain a slightly larger per cent, of theine than 

 coffee does of its alkaloid (caffeine), yet. when we consider the weight 

 per cup of dry material employed in making the two beverages, we see 

 at once that the alkaloid content of the cup of tea is really considerably 

 smaller than that of the cup of coffee. A teaspoonful of tea is liberal 

 for one cup. The ordinary amount of coffee per cup is a tablespoouful. 

 The coffee is denser than the tea, so the relative weights of coffee and 

 tea per cup are about in the proportion of 5 for the coffee to 1 for the .tea. 

 Three per cent, is a fair average for the theine in tea and 1 per cent, for 

 the caffeine in coffee, so the amount of alkaloid in the cup of coffee is 

 really greater than in the cup of tea, even if all the alkaloid is extracted 

 in each case. In reality the theine is not as completely extracted by a 

 one-minute exposure to boiling water as the caffeine is by the longer ex- 

 traction Avhich coffee always receives. So the well made cup of tea is in 

 truth only a delicatelj' flavored and colored cup of hot water. 



