LIQUIDS. 307 



tringency and color. River- water makes the best tea; soft water is 

 to be preferred to hard ; but soda should not be used, for it only 

 extracts the astringent tannin. The water should only boil once, 

 immediately before using it, and not for hours, as is sometimes the 

 case ; the teapot should be quite dry as well as hot when the leaves 

 are put into it, and the infusion, as before stated, not allowed to ex- 

 ceed two minutes. Teapots which retain the heat are better than 

 those that allow it to pass off readily; hence black earthenware tea- 

 pots should not be used; white glazed earthenware or porcelain, are 

 suitable; but brightly polished silver teapots are the best, for they 

 radiate much less heat than any other material. 



The Chinese drink their tea without any admixture; the Rus- 

 sians add lemon-juice; the English, sugar and cream or milk. 



THE USE OF SUGAR IN TEA. Only a small quantity of tea should 

 be used by persons who have a tendency to become corpulent. 

 According to some tastes, the flavor of tea is improved by substitut- 

 ing lemon for cream or rnilk pouring out the hot tea over a slice 

 of lemon cut with the rind upon it. Besides being more palatable, 

 the lemon-juice more effectually allays thirst, and is especially 

 valuable at those seasons of the year when fruits and fresh vegetables 

 are not generally to be obtained. 



Dr. Chambers says : " The best tea is that which is pleasantest 

 to the taste of the educated customer, and which contains most of 

 the characteristic sedative principles. The sedative principles in 

 the leaf consist of an essential oil, which may be smelt strongest in 

 the finest teas, weakest in the inferior sorts, entirely absent in 

 fictitious teas; and of the alkaloid theine, which may be demon- 

 strated by heating some tea, dry, in a silver pot, when the salt will 

 appear as a white bloom on the metal. If there is any bouquet at 

 all, or any theine at all in the specimen examined it is worth some- 

 thing. The shortest way to test the comparative value of different 

 specimens is to put a teaspoonful of each in one of the little china 

 teapots or cups with covers, here used as ornaments, but originally 

 intended for this very purpose, which has been previously made 

 quite hot; shake the tea about in the hot pot a few seconds and then 

 pour on, quite boiling, a small half -cup of water on each. Cover 

 them up quickly and let them stand by the fire about a minute. 

 Taste them immediately, without milk or sugar, and choose that 

 which has most aroma." 



Coffee contains the same principle as tea and has an analo- 

 gous influence on the system. It is, however, more heating and 

 stimulating, heavier and more oppressive to the digestive organs 

 and decidedly increases the force and frequency of the pulse. Its 

 effect upon the mental faculties, quickening their energies and caus- 

 ing wakef ulness, is not so marked as in the use of tea. It, however, 

 relieves hunger and fatigue. It appears to have a staying power, 

 lessening the amount of waste and thus economizing other food. It is 

 laxative to some and constipating to others, and is serviceable in 



