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There are three varieties of the tea plant; both black and green tea
can be prepared from them all. Green tea is made from young leaves steamed,
roasted, and dried quickly on copper plates. Black tea is made from leaves
which have been exposed to the air ten or twelve hours before roasting.

There are three varieties of the tea plant; both black and green tea
can be prepared from them all. Green tea is made from young leaves steamed,
roasted, and dried quickly on copper plates. Black tea is made from leaves
which have been exposed to the air ten or twelve hours before roasting.
The action of the air upon the leaves during this exposure causes the
dark color. Green tea gives up less of its juices in drying, which accounts
for its energetic action on the nervous system.

The tea leaf contains the largest amount of nutritive matter of any plant
used as human food, though only a small portion of it is extracted by
our common method of making tea. Some of the savage tribes of Tartary
boil the leaves with soda, and eat them with salt and butter. In our method
of using tea as a beverage, we use such a comparatively small quantity
that the amount of nutriment is very little, its chief value being the
sense of warmth and comfort it gives. It excites the brain to increased
activity, and has a tendency to produce wakefulness. It retards the action
of the natural functions, causes less waste, and, to a certain extent,
saves food. For this reason, when not used in excess, it is suited to
poor people, whose supplies of substantial food are scanty, and to old
persons, whose powers of digestion and whose bodily substance have begun
to fail.

In making tea never use a tin teapot. Allow one teaspoon of tea for one
cup of boiling water. Put the tea in the teapot; pour on the boiling water;
cover closely and place it where it will keep hot, but not boil, for five
minutes.

In boiling tea or allowing the leaves to remain long in the water, by
repated steeping, the fragrant aroma is wasted and the tannin is extracted,
which may cause gastric disorders to those who drink it. Never make tea
in a tin container, as the tannic acid acts upon the metal and produces
a poisonous compound.

Tea that is ground like coffee will yield nearly double the amount of
its exhilarating quality.

THE ORIGIN OF TEA

The Chinese were the first to use tea as a drink. How it originated is
told in a pretty legend that dates from 2000 B.C.

A daughter of a then reigning sovereign fell in love with a young nobleman
whose humble birth excluded him from marrying her. They managed to exchange
glances, and he occasionally gathered a few blossoms and had them conveyed
to her.

One day in the palace garden the lovers met, and the young man endeavored
to give her a few flowers; but so keen was the watchfulness of her attendants
that all she could grasp was a little twig with green leaves.

On reaching her room she put the twig in water, and toward evening she
drank the water in which the twig had been kept. So agreeable was the
taste that she even ate the leaves and stalks. Every day afterwards she
had bunches of the tea tree brought to her, which she treated in the same
way.

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, the ladies of the court
tried the experiment, and with such pleasing results that the custom spread
throughout the kingdom, and the tea industry became one of the greatest
businesses of China and of the world.