THE LITTLE TEA BOOK 



it had long been a favorite beverage 

 in the mountains of the Celestial 

 Kingdom. The plant, however, is 

 found in so many parts of Japan 

 that there can be little doubt but 

 what it is indigenous there as well. 



The word TEA is of Chinese origin, 

 being derived from the Amoy and 

 Swatow reading, " Tay," of the same 

 character, which expresses both the 

 ancient name of tea, " T'su," and 

 the more modern one, " Cha." Jap- 

 anese tea, "Chiya" pronounced 

 Cha. 



Tea was not known in China be- 

 fore the Tang dynasty, 618-906 A.D. 

 An infusion of some kind of leaf, how- 

 ever, was used as early as the Chow 

 dynasty, 1122-255 B.C., as we learn 

 from the Urh-ya, a glossary of terms 

 used in ancient history and poetry. 



