849 
This was writteu in February, 1886. We are 
now in February, 1892, and yet the general public 
seem as ignorant as ever, to judge by the current 
newspaper gup. It seems perhaps too much to ex- 
pect that even a dozen readers will change their 
opinion and their practice concerning tea and coffee. 
Let us hope for the best, however. Many people 
are of the opinion that tea and coffee, though nice, 
are naughty, and have a vague idea that drinking 
such beverage is against the natural harbits of natural 
man. Others again swear by tea and scoff at the 
idea of any harm accruing to its votaries in what- 
ever way and wliatever quantity they drink it. But, 
as Sir W, Roberts remarks, man ia now a very com. 
plex feeder ; he has departed, in the coui-se of his 
civilisation, very widely from tlie monotonous uni- 
formity of diet observed in animals, in the wild 
state. Tliese generalised food customs of mankind 
are not to bo viewed as random practices adopted to 
please the palate or to gratify our idle or vicious 
appetites. These customs must be regarded as the 
outcome of profound instincts, which correspond 
to important wants of the human economy. 
They are the fruit of colossal experience, ac- 
cumulated by countless millions of men 
through successive generation. They have the 
same weight and significance as other kindred facts 
of natural history, and are fitted to yield to observa- 
tion and study lessons of the highest scientific and 
practical value. It is unnecessary to describe here 
Sir W. Roberts' methods of investigation ; they are 
fully set forth in his volume and they are alike 
admirable for the ingenuity of their conception and 
the laborious accuracy of their prosecution. I shall 
concei-n myself at present only with that part of his 
researches which deals with tea, coffee and cocoa, 
merely mentioning that he deals at length with wines 
and all alcoholic beverages, giving too ardent Tem- 
perance-wallahs many a sharp rap over the knuckles, 
none the less effective if indirect. 
Tea exerts a powerful retarding influence on salivary 
digestion, coffee and cocoa a comparatively feeble one. 
Sir W. Roberts estimates the medium strength of tea 
usually drunk at fom' to five per cent ; strong tea may 
contain as much as seven per cent ; weak tea as little 
as two per cent. Medium coffee has a strength of about 
seven per cent, and strong coffee twelve to fifteen per 
cent; cocoa, on the other hand, is generally weaker, 
not more than about two per cent.; and this, he 
thinks, may be one reason why it is more suitable to 
persons with feeble digestions than tea or coffee. Tea 
exercises a powerful inhibitory effect on salivary diges- 
tion, and this appears to be entirely due to the large 
quantity of tannin it contains. It appears that tannin 
exists in two conditions in the tea Jeaf. One, the 
larger portion, is in the free state and is easily 
extracted by hot water ; but about one-foiu-tli is 
fixed and remains undissolved in the fully exhaused 
tea leaves. Some persons have supposed that by 
infusing tea for a very short time— only two or three 
minutes — the passing of tannin into the infusion would 
be avoided. This is a delusion ; yon can no more have 
tea without tannin than you can have wine without 
alcohol. Tannin, in the free state, is one of the most 
soluble substances known. If you pom- hot water on 
a little heap of tannin it dissolves like so much pounded 
sugar. Tea infused for two minutes was not found 
sensibly inferior in its retarding power on sali- 
vary digestion to tea infused for thirty minutes. One 
gentleman of my acquaintance (says Sir W. Roberts) 
in liis horror of tannin, was in the habit of preparing 
his tea by placing the dry loaves on a paper filter and 
simply pournig on the boiling water. In this way he 
thought to avoid tho presence of tannin in his tea. 
J5ut if you try tho oxporiment, and allow the product, 
as It runs Uirough tlie filter, to fall into a sokition 
of por-chlorido of iron, you will find that an intonao 
inky blaclj coloration is produced, showing that 
tannin has come through in abundance. 
In order to diminisli as far as possible tho rolard- 
iug intliieiico of toa on salivary digestion, it should 
bo made weak, and used sparingly, and it slioukl not 
be taken willt but after, the meal. There is another 
moans, inontionod by Sir W. Roberts of obviating 
tho lotardiiiji olluctof ton ou diacatiou, aud com- 
menced by him to the dyspeptic ; it is to add a 
pinch of hicarhonate of soda to the tea when it is 
being infused in the tea-pot. He found that ten 
grains of soda added to an ounce of dry tea 
almost entirely removes this retarding influence. The 
infusion thus made is darker than usual, but the fla- 
vour is not , sensibly altered, nor is the infusion ren- 
dered aklaline, for tea influsion is naturally slightly 
acid, and the soda, in the proportion mentioned, only 
just neutralises this acidity. It is a very general 
practice, I believe, at home, to add a pinch of soda to 
the tea, but not on account of neutralising the acidity, 
I am afraid, but to " soften " hard water. In other 
words, to precipitate excess of lime held in solution 
by the "hard" water, I make it a rule now to add the 
pinch of soda required, and I cannot perceive the 
slightest difference in the flavour of the tea. Taking 
my tea without milk or sugar, as I am in the habit of 
doing, I stand a better chance of detecting any un- 
usual flavour than if I drank it in the usual way. My 
readers, however can readily judge for themselves. 
Coffee, unless taken in a very large quantity, has very 
little retarding effect on salivary digestion; this is 
explained by the fact that the tannin of tea is replaced 
in coffee by a suljstance called cafl'eo-tannic acid. 
Cocoa resembles cofl'ee, and has but little or no effect 
on salivary digestion ; the use of coffee or cocoa is 
therefore preferable to that of tea for persons of feeble 
digestion. Thus far on salivary digestion ; we now turn 
to stomach, digestion, which is a very different thing. 
Tea and coffee both exercise a remarkable retard- 
ing effect on stomach digestion. There was no 
appreciable difference in the two beverages if they 
were of equal strength, but as coffee is usually 
made of greater percentage strength than tea, its 
effect must ordinarily be greater. Cocoa, also, had 
much the same effect if used of the same strength 
as tea or coffee, but when of the strength as ordi- 
narily employed, its effect was inconsiderable. Strong 
coffee— ca,^e >iOiV— had a very powerful retarding 
effect, and persons of weak digestion should avoid the 
customary cup of black coffee after dinner A good 
deal has been said and is being said of the injurious 
effects on gastric digestion of tannin contained in 
tea. It has been alleged that meat fibre is hardened 
by tea, and that the coats of the stomach are liable 
to be injured by Jthis beverage. These views are 
entirely theoretical. For people of strong digestion, 
the use of tea as a beverage is, when taken in modera- 
tion, of great benefit, at least so argues Sir W.Roberts. 
This also applies to coffee and cocoa. They serve he 
maintains, the purpose of wholesomely slowing' the 
otherwise too rapid digestion and absorption of 
copious meals. 
One thing to be borne in mind, especially by 
ladies, is that tea, if taken at the same time as 
farinaceous food (such as bread, toast, porridge, 
cakes and biscuits), is much more likely to retard 
its digestion and cause dyspepsia than if taken a 
little time after eating. It is better to take one's 
five o'clock tea without the customary bread and 
butter or cake, than with it. Indeed, while there 
is little that can be said against a cup of hot tea 
as a stimulant and restorative, when taken about 
midway between lunch and dinner, and icifhout solid 
food, it may, on the other hand, be a fruitful cause 
of dyspepsia when accompanied at that time with 
solid food. It is also a cui-ious fact that many 
persons with whom tea, under ordinary circum- 
stances, will agree exceedingly well, will become 
the subjects of a tea dyspepsia if they drink this 
beverage at a time when they may be suffer- 
ing from mental worry or emotional disturbance. 
Moreover, it is a weU recognised fact that persons 
who are prono to nervous excitement of the circula- 
tion and palpitations of tlie heart, have these 
symptoms greatly aggravated if they persist in tho 
use of tea or coffee as beverages.- The e.xcessivo 
consum ption of tea amongst the women of the poorer 
classes is the cause of much of the so called " heart 
complaints" among them; the food of these poor 
women consists largely of starchy substances (bread 
and butter chiefly) togetliur wit'j to.i, (.<., a food ne- 
cessary which is one of the greatest of all rotardors 
of tho digealiou of atehy food. Tho cH'ccI, g 
