SUPPLEMENT TO THE PISHING GAZETTE 
[May 20, 1893 
Tea Time.” 
By CrOBDON STABLES, M.D., C.M., R.X. 
(The Leadenhall Press.) 
“ Who cannot enjoy a good cup of tea, 
Without taste or reason I’m certain must be.” 
■■JV"0TH1XG is more easy to remember, than that tea was flrst 
introduced into England in the year of our Lord sixteen 
hundred and sixty something, Charles the Second's head being 
the uneasy one that then wore the crowm; that it came to us all 
the way irom Canton in China; that it was grown somewhere 
near there in gardens and plantations, superintended by strange 
effeminate-looking Coolies wearing impossible hats, and carrying 
packets of tea as large as ice chests; that the beauty of those tea 
gardens was exceedingly great; that the skies were always blue, 
the birds always bright-winged and happy; that, from grottoes 
and groves, glimpses could be caught of sunny seas, where boats 
lay motionless, and where lovely islands seemed to be hung in the 
very sky itself; and that in those groves and grottoes there 
always sat, or lounged, ladies of fairy-Uke beauty, with triangular 
eyes and boots no bigger than walnut shells. 
Probably a great deal of the schoolboy’s tea lore, or that even 
of the schoolmaster himself, is gathered as much from china cups 
or plates of the willow pattern, as from books themselves ; and 
probably, too, the one source of imformation is about as authen¬ 
tically instructive as the other. 
But when a boy leaves school, for university or college, he 
learns, if botany be a branch of hie studies, that the word tea is a 
corruption of the Chinese Tsia. or Tcha. Cha. He is also taught 
that there are three distinct species of the tea plant, all belonging 
to the natural family Ternstromiacea;, namely, Thea viridis. or 
green tea; Theti Pohea, which yields the black tea; and Thea 
A.5ia«iCTi,Ms, which gives us the teas of India, including Assam. 
At most examinations he would run a risk of being plucked, if he 
boldly asserted that there was only one species of the tea plant. 
And yet he would be as nearly right as possible, for the differences 
which the supposed trio of tea plants exhibit, are probably due to 
the influences of climate, soil, and cultivation. 
From this tea plant, the Thea sinensis, we obtain our supply of 
teas, and several species of tea are offered to us, notably Chinese. 
Indian, and Ceylon. We want the best tea we can get for our 
money. That is certain. 
Getting the very best tea is a matter that concerns our health, 
for tea has become to us one of the necessaries of life; we drink 
It morning and evening, and And ourselves refreshed and bene¬ 
fited thereby. It smoothes our ruffled nerves, calms excitement, 
and gives us strength to battle coolly and successfully against the 
worries of this work-a-day world. 
We want the best tea, therefore, that we can get for our money; 
the best, the purest, and the most genuine. Good quality is a sine 
qua non. It is by this we will judge the tea more than by its price, 
its appearance, its perfume, the respectability of the firm who 
vend it, or the country it comes from. 
The Dutch, once a great maritime power, were perhaps the 
flrst to bring tea to our country. This would be about the year 
1615 or later. But it was known to the English East India Com¬ 
pany some thirty or forty years before that. However, when 
first brought to England in small parcels, it was readily bought 
by the wealthy, who gave from five to ten guineas a pound for it. 
We find it recorded that the East India Company in 1604 pre¬ 
sented His Britannic Majesty with two pounds of tea. It is to be 
presumed, by the way, that His Majesty’s cook was instructed in 
the right way of making this beverage, and that he did not boil 
a pound of tea, strain it, and serve up the leaves as a vegetable 1 
No, he could not have done this, for the king came to like it, and 
after that tea began to get fashionable; and in 1667 we find the 
The Mazawattee Teas are Sold by Specially Appointed 
I Company directing their agent at Bantam to send home one 
hundred pounds of the best ho could procure. 
-As early as 1610 tea began to find its way htto London coffee¬ 
houses, Garraway’s leading. Pepys, Secretary of the Admiralty, 
writes in his diary, “I called for a cup of tea, a Chinese drink 
which I had never before tasted.” This was in September 1661, 
and at that time there was a duty of eighteenpence levied by Act 
of Parliament on every gallon of the infusion. But in 1689 this 
was repealed, and an excise duty of five shillings in the pound 
was levied on the tea itself. 
It is an undoubted fact that there is really no adulteration 
practised on Indian or Ceylon teas abroad. The Chinese, on the 
other hand, have elevated the art almost into a science. They are 
adepts at the work—professionals—roost skilled and learned 
manipulators. 
The people of England have been tea-drinkers universally, for 
considerably over two hundred years, and during that time they 
certainly have not degenerated either mentally or bodily. Our 
women are still the fairest of the fair, our men still as brave as 
brave can be in the field; not only are our writers and artists 
still as clever, and our statesmen quite as able as in the good old 
times, but genius is on the increase. Our tea-drinking then has' 
certainly not lowered us as a nation. Our march is steadily on¬ 
ward, and “ Progress ” and “ Enlightenment ” are the words 
inscribed on our banners. 
Other peoples and countries are left far behind us in the race. 
Notably the Chinese, one of the most ancient races on the face of 
the earth—so ancient indeed that it seems to be in its dotage; 
while, on the other hand, the Japanese, who, by the way, are 
quite as fond of tea as a beverage as the Chinese are, have taken 
up our cry of “ Forward, ’ and are fast following in our wake. 
One thing at least must be said in favour of tea-drinking,—it is 
conducive to sobriety; it thus indirectly tends to increase the 
health of the nation. 
But it is the effects of the habit of tea-drinking on the 
individual which we have at present to consider. 
The cup of delicate tea that we so love to sip, after or before the 
bracing refreshing plunge in the morning tub ; the cup that 
banishes from our brains the lingering shadows of the night that 
has fied, and in which we drown the last faint remembrance of 
our dreams; do we do wrong to drink it? 
All experience goes to prove that good tea, drunk judiciously 
and in moderation, is positively beneficial to the health. It would 
serve no useful purpose to enter minutely into the physiological 
effects of tea on the system; suffice it to say that they depend 
chiefly on three of the active principles or constituents of the leaf 
—(1) the volatile oil; (2) the theine; and (3) the tannin. 
A cup of tea at early mom. Do you indulge in such a luxury, 
reader ? I do. And my servant knows how to make it; knows 
the exact amount of the herb to put into the tiny teapot (the herb 
itself is the most fragrant and best), the exact amount of sugar, 
and the exact proportion of sweetest cream. I give the signal for 
infusion ere I get into my cold bath, and by the time I have done 
and enrobed myself, the salver stands on the mat. Just the 
tiniest milk biscuit is all that is needed as fitting accompaniment, 
and no better beginning could possibly be made to a day. There 
is a deal of virtue in a cup of tea at early mom. 
The question how to get good wholesome tea is really one of 
paramount importance to those who love the most comforting of 
all luxuries, and have a due regard for their health. What is 
wanted is really good, well-blended, and well-flavoured tea, at 
what considering its high quality, is a reasonable price. 
There is as much difference between drinking bad, worthless, or 
adulterated tea, and drinking the genuine unadulterated article, 
as there is between bad health and good. 
Bad or interior tea, as every housewife or mother of a family 
knows, gives all its strength to the flrst water. It won't stand 
the addition of more boiling water; the second cup is a mere 
sham, dish-water, or what you will. The reason of this is that 
the leaf quite expands as soon as the first boiling water is poured 
upon it. and if you want a second good cup you have to add more tea. 
It is not every person who understands how to make a cup of 
tea well. It is very easy, however, to do so when one knows how 
to do it. 
Having been fortunate enough to secure some fine, fragrant, 
unadulterated tea. we must see that it is kept in an air-tight 
canister. 
Before the water has come to the boil the teapot should be well 
warmed, and the tea put in. It may then stand for a short time 
on the hob, until the water boils, when— 
The tea should at once be made. We heat the teapot in order to 
conserve all the caloric in the boiling water. We make the tea as 
soon as the water comes to the boil, because good tea can only be 
made with .fmAfe boiling water, not boiling water that has been 
boiled before, or has been kept boiling too long. Boiled water is 
flat because it is non-aerated, that is the “why and the 
wherefore.” 
Servants want to be drilled to this, or their heads drllletl anti 
the truth rammed into them! A worse fault than even this is 
making tea with water that has gone ojf the boil, which servants 
often do. 
The best tea is spoiled by this treatment. Carbonate of sotla 
should tiever be used to draw the tea. 
It is best to pour on all the water that is wanted, for the first 
cup at all events, at once, and not merely “wet" the tea as it is 
popularly called. 
It is a mistake to add fresh tea to that which has already been 
made by way of getting stronger, and yet we constantly hear the 
remark made; “ Put a little more tea in the pot.” If more tea, 
or stronger tea, is wanted, it ought to be made in another teapot, 
and a spare one often comes in handy. 
Bow long should tea drawl From five to seven minutes, 
according to the kind of tea and the character of the water. 
Invalids and people with delicate stomachs (and everybody else 
for that matter) ought to be most careful to obtain tea of superior 
excellence, and ought to attend rigidly to the plan of making a 
cup of good tea, which we have just been endeavouring to 
explain. 
Sugar and milk, or cream, are merely accessories, and may be 
added in quantity according to taste. Some people like tea 
without either milk or sugar. Others again will tell you that 
milk in tea is just as good as cream. We ourselves prefer cream 
for this reason; owing to its oily nature it retains the volatile 
oil, which would otherwise escape in the steam. The sugar ought 
to be the best white lump, and the cream, creme de la creme, fresh 
and pure and hardly a day old. 
Douglas Jerrold says; “Of the social influence of tea, in 
truth, upon the masses of the people in this country, it is not very 
easy to say too much. It has civilised brutish and turbulent 
homes, saved the drunkard from his doom, and to many a 
mother, who would else indeed have been most wretched and 
most forlorn, it has given cheerful, peaceful thoughts that have 
sustained her. Its work among us in England and elsewhere, ay, 
throughout the civilised world, has been humanising, good. Its 
effect has been upon us all something socially healthful; some¬ 
thing that is peaceful, gentle, and hearty.” 
Blessed tea! may its influence ever extend. 
The Mazawattee teas are pure, delicate in flavour, and not 
adulteratetl. I have tasted and tested specimens of all. 
Good teas are cheap at any price. The Mazawattee tea at two 
shillings and fourpence per lb. is ambrosial, while that at two 
shillings and tenpence is delicious, refreshing, and of pure 
quality; the same may be said of those at one shilling and 
tenpence and two shillings. The Mazawattee tea at four shillings 
is so good that I am keeping it for “ at homes" and my own 
private cup. 
Agents, Leading Family Grocers, throughout the United Kingdom, at Is. lOt?., 2s., 2s. 4(?., 2s 
10<?., and 4s. per lb. 
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