Drinks of the World

Non-Alcoholic Drinks

Tea. I.

Popularity of Tea as a Drink—Consumption in England, and comparative Use all over the World—Legend of its Origin—Date of its Use—Growth of the Plant—Different Kinds of Tea—Great Falling off in the Exports from China—Ceylon Tea—High Prices of—Statistics—Analysis of Tea.

Of all non-alcoholic beverages, Tea claims the pre-eminence, being drank by nearly, if not quite, half the population of the world, and common alike to all climes and all nations.

In China it is the national beverage, and it is used not only as an ordinary drink, but it is the chief factor in visits of ceremony, and in hospitality. Japan, too, is a large consumer, and its houses of entertainment are “Tea” houses. In the wilds of Thibet its use is universal, and so it is on the steppes of Tartary, where, however, it is made as nauseous and repulsive a drink as possible. In Russia, it is the traveller’s comfort, and every post house is bound by law to have its samovar hot and boiling, ready for the wayfarer. In Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, the “billy” of tea is familiar, and forms the only drink of the shepherd, the stockman, and the digger. All the British colonies and possessions are devotees to the “cup which cheers, but not inebriates.” Great Britain herself is a great tea drinker, whether it be the “five o’clock tea,” which has developed into a cult, with vestments peculiar thereto; the poor seamstress, stitching for hard life, who takes it to keep herself awake for her task; or the labourer, who takes his tin bottle with him to the field. In fact, go where you will, in every civilized portion of the world (except Greece, where the consumption is merely nominal), and you will find drinkers of tea.

Great Britain is the centre of the tea trade of the world, and in 1889 she imported a total quantity of 222,147,661 lbs., the declared value of which was £9,987,967. Of this she took for her own consumption, and paid duty thereon, 185,628,491 lbs, which, at 6d. per lb. duty, produced a revenue of £4,640,704. Wisely or not, Mr. Goschen, in the Budget for 1890, reduced the duty to 4d. per lb.

In spite of this enormous quantity of tea drank in Great Britain, she does not rank as the largest consumer per head, which, leaving out China, Japan, Thibet, and Tartary, where statistics are unknown, is as follows:—121

Australian Colonies,

New Zealand,

Tasmania,

Great Britain,

Newfoundland,

Canada,

Bermuda,

United States,

Holland,

Cape Colony,

Natal,

Russia,

Denmark,

Uruguay,

Argentine Republic,

B. Honduras,

Barbadoes,

Trinidad,

Antigua,

British Guiana,

Persia,

Portugal,

Bahamas,

Switzerland,

Norway,

Germany,

Grenada,

Morocco,

St. Vincent,

Jamaica,

Belgium,

Sweden,

France,

Roumania,

Austria-Hungary,

Bulgaria,

Spain,

Turkey (no returns),

Italy (ditto),

Greece (nominal),

Mauritius, 1888, 106,589 lbs.

Sierra Leone, 1888, 6,008 lbs.

The tea shrub grows wild in Assam, and in other parts between the limits of N. Latitude 15° to 40°, and this zone is most favourable to its growth in its cultivated form, although of late years Ceylon, which is nearer the equator, has made enormous strides in the production of tea. Up to the present time, however, China has furnished the largest quantity, and for centuries has enjoyed the monopoly of its production; a monopoly now broken down, and every day vanishing, mainly owing to the roguery of its manufacturers and the folly of its growers.

Of course such a plant could have had no common origin, and no reader need be surprised at its story. The legend runs that Prince Darma, or Djarma, the third son of King Kosjusvo, went, very many centuries ago, from India to China, where he abode, and became celebrated for his piety. Like the fakirs of India, he showed his religious tendencies in a morbid manner—living only under heaven’s canopy, fasting for weeks together, and eliminating sleep altogether from his daily wants. Tradition says that this state of things continued for years, until, one day, weary nature asserted her pre-eminence, and Darma slept. Imagine his holy horror on his awakening! Something of the same kind must have possessed Cranmer when he stretched forth his right hand in the flames of his funereal pyre, with the heart-wrung exclamation, “This hand hath offended.” So with Darma; filled with pious horror, his first thought was, how to expiate his offence, and his peccant eyelids were, consequently, cut off and thrown upon the ground. Next day, returning to the spot where he had involuntarily sinned, he saw two shrubs, of a kind never before beheld in China. He tasted them, found them aromatic, and, moreover, possessing the quality of imparting wakefulness to their consumer. The discovery and miracle became noised abroad, and hence the popularity of tea in China.

But, apart from this legend, the Chinese themselves have no certain record of the introduction of tea into their country. They believe that it was in use in the third century, and in the latter end of the fourth century, Wangmung, a minister of the Tsin dynasty, made it fashionable and much increased its consumption. In all probability it was chewed at that time, for a decoction of it does not appear to have been drank until the time of the Suy dynasty, when the Emperor Wass-te, suffering from headache, was cured by drinking an infusion of tea leaves, by the advice of a Buddhist priest. In the early seventh century this manner of using the shrub was general, and it has maintained its popularity unto the present time, making itself friends wherever it is introduced.

The tea-plant somewhat resembles the Camellia Japonica, and Linnæus, imagining that the black and green teas came from different shrubs, named them Thea bohea and Thea viridis. Fortune has definitely settled that both green and black tea are made off the same plants, and it is now taken that there is but one tea-plant, the Thea Sinensis, of which, however, there are several varieties, induced by climate, soil, etc.

Tea-plants are grown from seeds, and are made bushy by pinching off the leading shoots. They are planted in rows, each plant being three or four feet distant from the other, and the leaves are stripped in the fourth or fifth year of its growth, and are plucked until the tenth or twelfth, when the plant is grubbed up. May and June are the general months of picking, which is done mostly by women; but the time varies according to the district.

The young and early leaves give the finest and most delicate teas, but the flavour very much depends upon the drying and roasting; but still some soils and climates have a great deal to do with the taste, the finest tea in China growing between the 27th and 31st parallels of latitude.

The Trade names of teas imported from China to England are: Black—Congou, Souchong, Ning Yong and Oolong, Flowery and Orange Pekoe. The latter, and Caper, being artificially scented, are, therefore, carefully eschewed by cognoscenti. Green—Twankay, Hyson Skin, Hyson, Young Hyson, Imperial, and Gunpowder. Black tea has the rougher taste, and produces the darkest infusion. Green tea, however, has the greater effect upon the nerves, and if taken strong, acts as a narcotic, producing, with some people, tremblings and headaches, and on small animals even causing paralysis. It is, therefore, generally mixed with black in small proportion, say ¼ lb. to 1 lb. black tea. There is also what is called brick tea, which is consumed in the North of China, Tartary, and Thibet, but which we never see in England. This choice tea is made from the stalks and refuse and decayed twigs, mixed with the serum of sheep and ox blood, which, when it is pressed into moulds, hardens it.

The Russians are said to get the finest tea that comes out of China—called Caravan Tea—which is made into large bales, covered with lead. This goes to Russia entirely overland, and to this fact some attribute its superior and delicate flavour.

The tea trade of China is rapidly going from her, and she has but herself, and the shortsighted knavery of her growers and manufacturers, to thank for it. According to a Tea Circular,122 the following are the imports and deliveries of China tea from 1st to 30th June:—

1888.	1889.	1890.
6,697,000 lbs.	508,000 lbs.	452,000 lbs.

a truly fearful falling off. English people got tired of the flavourless stuff sent from China, and India and Ceylon having perfected the manufacture (which at first start of the industry of tea growing in those parts was not good), send us delicious tea, of a much higher market value than that of China.

Ceylon tea, especially, has enormously won the favour of the English tea-drinking community in a very few years, as the following short statistics, taken from a Tea Circular,123 will show,—

The total value of all the Ceylon tea in bond in	1880 was	£5,024.
Ditto ditto ditto	1888 ″	£1,555,095.
The duty on above, at 6d. per lb., was respectively		£2,871.
		£464,664.

showing that not only had the quantity imported enormously increased, but so had the quality, as shown by the enhanced market value. One instance, although an exceptional one, will show what Ceylon can produce in the way of tea. On 13th January, 1890, was sold at the London Commercial Tea Sale Rooms, a consignment of tea from the Gallebodde Estate, Ceylon, which experts described as the finest tea ever grown. This unique tea was of the brightest gold colour, resembling grains of gold. Its sale excited the keenest competition, and it was eventually knocked down for £4 7s. per lb., but it was resold a few days afterwards to a wholesale firm at the enormous price of £5 10s. per lb.

“Much excitement prevailed yesterday in the London Commercial Tea Sale Rooms, Mincing Lane, on the offering of a small lot of Ceylon tea, from the Gartmore Estate. This tea is composed almost entirely of small ‘golden tips,’ which are the extreme ends of the small succulent shoots of the plant. Competition was of a very keen description, the tea being ultimately knocked down to the Mazawattee Ceylon Tea Company at the unprecedented price of £10 2s. 6d. per pound.”—Standard, March 11th, 1891.124

Another circular of the same firm of tea brokers gives a list of 132 tea gardens in Ceylon.

Indian tea is fast helping to supersede China tea, and another Tea Circular125 points out that, “Towards the 190 million lbs. probably required for home use during the coming year, India and Ceylon together will contribute fully 150 millions.” It also gives the following:—

“London Statistics for Year ending 31st May.”

		1888.	1889.	1890.
Import,	Indian	86,371,000	94,954,000	101,052,000
	Ceylon	14,705,000	26,390,000	34,246,000
	China	117,185,000	98,695,000	90,097,000
	Java	2,989,000	4,170,000	3,107,000
	Total	221,250,000	224,209,000	228,502,000
Delivery,	Indian	85,619,000	91,368,000	101,168,000
	Ceylon	12,578,000	23,830,000	31,947,000
	China	116,870,000	105,668,000	87,652,900
	Java	3,133,100	3,862,000	3,280,000
		218,200,000	224,728,000	224,047,000
Of which—
Home Consumpt.		183,000,000	185,250,000	187,940,000
Export		35,200,000	39,500,000	36,107,000

There are three active substances in tea, which we should do well to notice: Volatile Oil, Theine, and Tannin.

The volatile oil can be distilled by ordinary process, and it contains the aroma and flavour of tea in perfection. Its action on the human body is not thoroughly known, with the exception that it is injurious in a greater or less degree. The Chinese are well aware of the fact, and will rarely use tea until it is a year old, thus allowing some of it to evaporate, and it is probably owing to this oil that tea-tasters (who taste as much by smell as by palate) are subject to attacks of headache and giddiness.

Theine is the principle which gives to tea its power of lessening the waste of the tissues in the human body, and, when separated from the decoction, it forms an alkaloid having no smell, a slightly bitter taste, and is composed of colourless crystals. It is also an active agent in Maté or Paraguay tea, in coffee (when it is called caffeine, although identical in substance), in Guarana, which is used as coffee in Brazil, and in the Kola Nut of Africa.

The third product, tannin, gives roughness of flavour to the tea, and is particularly developed by allowing the infusion to stand a long time. It is harmless; at least, its combination in tea has never been found to be hurtful; Its presence is at once shown by dropping some tea on the clean blade of a knife, when it will produce a black stain—the tannin derived from oxgalls, and a solution of iron, forming the ink with which we write.

That Chinese tea has been, and is, largely adulterated, is an indisputable fact, and in those bygone days, when all our supply came from China, it had to be borne. Now, at all events, the Indian and Ceylon teas are pure, and can be taken without the slightest fear. The green teas used to be most adulterated, but the black teas could also tell their tale of fraud.

J. A.

Tea. — II

Introduction of Tea into Europe—Early Authorities thereon—“Tay”—Its Introduction into England—Excise Duty thereon—Thomas Garway’s Advertisement.

When tea was first introduced into Europe is still an unsettled question, and the earliest mention that the writers can find (that is, to verify) is in a volume of Travels by Father Giovanni Pietro Maffei,126 published 1588 (book vi., p. 109). Speaking of his travels in China, he says: “Quanquam è vitibus more nostro non exprimunt merum, uvas quodam condimenti genere in hyemem adservare, mos est; cœterum ex herba quadam expressus liquor admodum salutaris, nomine Chia, calidus hauritur, ut apud Japonios: Cujus maxime beneficio, pituitam, gravedinem, lippitudinem nesciunt; vitam bene longam, sine ullo ferme languore traducunt, oleis alicubi carent.” “Although they do not extract wine from the vines as we do, but have a custom of preserving the grapes as a kind of condiment for the winter, they yet press out of a certain herb, a liquor which is very healthy, which is called Chia, and they drink it hot, as do the Japanese. And the use of this causes them not to know the meaning of phlegm, heaviness of the head, or running of the eyes, but they live a long and happy life, without pain, or infirmity of any sort.”

Another early mention of it is in a book by Giovanni Botero,127 which was translated into English by Robert Peterson, “of Lincolne’s Inne, Gent.” He says (p. 75), “They haue also an herbe, out of which they presse a delicate iuyce, which serues them for drincke instead of wyne. It also preserues their health, and frees them from all those euills, that the immoderat vse of wyne doth breed vnto us.”

Early in the seventeenth century tea was becoming known in Europe, mainly through the instrumentality of the Dutch East India Company, and we learn much about it in the writings of Father Alexandre de Rhodes, who, after thirty-five years’ travel, gave the benefit of his experiences to the public. He left Rome in October, 1618, and thus writes about “De l’Vsage du Tay, qui est fort ordinaire en la Chine.”128 He says, “One of the things which, in my opinion, contributes most to the great health of this people, who often attain to extreme old age, is Tay, the use of which is very common throughout the East, and which is beginning to be known in France, by means of the Dutch, who bring it from China, and sell it at Paris at 30 francs the pound, which they have bought in that country for 8 or 10 sols, and yet I perceive that it is very old, and spoilt. Thus it is that we brave Frenchmen suffer strangers to enrich themselves in the East India trade, whence they might draw the fairest treasures of the world, if they had but the courage to undertake it as well as their neighbours, who have less means of being successful than they have.

“Tay is a leaf as large as that of our pomegranate, and it grows on shrubs similar to the myrtle: it does not exist elsewhere throughout the world, but in two provinces of China, where it grows. The chief is that of Nanquin, whence comes the best Tay, which they call Chà; the other is the province of Chin Chean. The gathering of this leaf in both these provinces is made with as much care as we exercise in our vintage, and its abundance is so great, that they have enough to supply the rest of China, Japan, Tonquin, Cochin China, and several other kingdoms, where the use of tea is so common, that those who drink it but three times a day are most moderate, many taking it ten or twelve times, or, in other words, at all hours of the day.

“When the leaf is gathered, it is well dried in an oven, after which it is put in tin boxes, which are tightly closed, because if the air gets to it, it is spoiled, and has no strength, the same as wine that is exposed to the air. I leave you to judge if Messieurs the Hollanders take care of that when they sell it in France. To know whether the Tay is good, you must see that it is very green, bitter, and so dry as to be easily broken with the fingers. If it passes these tests, it is good; otherwise, be assured it is not worth much.

“This is how the Chinese treat the Tay when they take it. Some water is boiled in a very clean pot, and when it boils it is taken off the fire, and this leaf is put therein, according to the quantity of water: that is to say, the weight of a crown of Tay to a large glass of water. They cover the pot well, and, when the leaves sink to the bottom of the water, then is the time to drink it, for then it is that the Tay has communicated its virtue to the water, and made it of a reddish colour. They drink it as hot as they can, for it is good for nothing if it gets cold. The same leaves which remain at the bottom of the pot will serve a second time, but then they boil them with the water.

“The Japanese take Tay differently, for they make it into powder, which they throw into boiling water, and swallow the whole. I know not whether this method of making it is more wholesome than the former; I always use it thus, and find that it is common among the Chinese. Both mix a little sugar with the Tay to correct the bitterness, which, however, does not seem disagreeable to me.

“There are three chief virtues in Tay. The first is to cure and prevent headache; for my part, when I had a headache, by taking Tay, I felt so comforted, that it seemed to draw all my pain away, for the principal force in Tay is to expel those gross vapours that mount to the head, and inconvenience us. If it is taken after supper, it generally hinders sleep; yet there are some in whom it causes sleep, because by only expelling the grossest vapours, it leaves those which induce sleep. For myself, I have experienced it often enough, when I have been obliged to sit up all night hearing the confessions of my native Christians, which frequently happened; I had only to take Tay at the hour when I should have been going to sleep, and I could go all night without wishing for sleep, and next morning I was as fresh as if I had had my usual slumber. I could do this once a week without being incommoded. Once I tried to continue this wakefulness for six consecutive nights, but on the sixth I was quite knocked up.

“Tay is not only good for the head; it has a marvellous effect in comforting the stomach, and aiding the digestion, so that it is ordinarily drank after dinner, but not generally after supper, if sleep is required. The third thing that Tay does is to purge the reins of gout and gravel, and it is, perhaps, the true reason why these maladies are unknown in these countries, as I have said before.”

One thing is very certain. Tea would not have been in use any length of time in France before it would be drank, as a novelty, in England, and by the year 1660 it had become in such general use that it was made a vehicle for taxation, as we see by the 12 Chas. II., c. 23: “For every gallon of Chocolate, Sherbet, and Tea, made and sold, to be paid by the Makers thereof, Eightpence,” and men were appointed to visit the coffee-houses twice daily to see the quantity brewed.

But this was so inconvenient, that in 1688, after giving this scheme a good trial, the Act was repealed by 1 Will. & Mary, c. 40, and the duties on coffee, chocolate, and tea (for this latter 1s. per lb.) were charged and collected at the Custom House, because “It hath been found by experience, that the collecting of the duty arising to your Majesties by virtue of several Acts of Parliament, by way of excise, upon the liquors of Coffee, Chocolate and Tea, is not only very troublesome and unequal upon the retailers of those liquors, but requireth such attendance of officers, as makes the neat receipt very inconsiderable.”

In the British Museum is a broadside folio advertisement, supposed to be about A.D. 1600, of a tobacconist, one Thomas Garway, who kept a coffee-house in Exchange Alley, known up till late years, when it has disappeared in the universal rage for improvements, as Garraway’s Coffee House. It is as follows:—

“An Exact Description of the Growth, Quality, and Vertues of the Leaf TEA, by Thomas Garway in Exchange Alley, near the Royal Exchange in London, and Seller and Retailer of TEA and COFFEE.

“Tea is generally brought from China, and groweth there upon little Shrubs or Bushes, the Branches whereof are well garnished with white Flowers that are yellow within, of the bigness and fashion of sweet Brier, but smell unlike, bearing thin green leaves about the bigness of Scordium, Mirtle, or Sumack, and is judged to be a kind of Sumack: This Plant hath been reported to grow wild only, but doth not, for they plant it in their Gardens about four foot distance, and it groweth about four foot high, and of the Seeds they maintain and increase their Stock. Of all places in China this Plant groweth in greatest plenty in the Province of Xemsi, Latitude 36 degrees, bordering upon the West of the Province of Honam, and in the Province of Namking, near the City of Lucheu; there is likewise of the growth of Sinam, Cochin China, the Island de Ladrones and Japan, and is called Cha. Of this famous Leaf there are divers sorts (though all of one shape) some much better than the other, the upper Leaves excelling the other in fineness, a property almost in all Plants, which Leaves they gather every day, and drying them in the shade, or in Iron pans over a gentle fire till the humidity be exhausted, then put up close in Leaden pots, preserve them for their Drink Tea, which is used at Meals, and upon all Visits and Entertainments in private Families, and in the Palaces of Grandees. And it is averred by a Padre of Macao, native of Japan, that the best Tea ought not to be gathered but by Virgins who are destined to this work, and such Quæ non dum Menstrua patiuntur; gemmæ quæ nascuntur in summitatæ arbuscula, servantur Imperitorie̅, ac præcipuis ejus Dynastis: quæ autem infra nascuntur, ad latera, populo conceduntur. The said Leaf is of such known vertues, that those very Nations so famous for Antiquity, Knowledge, and Wisdom, do frequently sell it amongst themselves for twice its weight in Silver, and the high estimation of the Drink made therewith, hath occasioned an inquiry into the nature thereof among the most intelligent persons of all Nations that have travelled in those parts, who, after exact Tryal and Experience by all Wayes imaginable, have commended it to the use of their several Countries, for its Vertues and Operations, particularly as followeth, viz.:—

“The Quality is moderately hot, proper for Winter or Summer.

“The Drink is declared to be most wholesome, preserving in perfect health untill extreme Old Age.

“The particular Vertues are these:—

“It maketh the Body clean and lusty.

“It helpeth the Head-ach, giddiness and heaviness thereof.

“It removeth the Obstructions of the Spleen.

“It is very good against the Stone and Gravel, cleansing the Kidneys and Vriters, being drank with Virgin’s Honey instead of Sugar.

“It taketh away the difficulty of breathing, opening Obstructions.

“It is good against Lipitude distillations, and cleareth the Sight.

“It removeth Lassitude, and cleanseth and purifieth adult Humors and a hot Liver.

“It is good against Crudities, strengthening the weakness of the Ventricle or Stomack, causing good Appetite and Digestion, and particularly for Men of a Corpulent Body, and such as are great eaters of Flesh.

“It vanquisheth heavy Dreams, easeth the Brain, and strengtheneth the Memory.

“It overcometh superfluous Sleep, and prevents Sleepiness in general, a draught of the Infusion being taken, so that, without trouble, whole nights may be spent in Study without hurt to the Body, in that it moderately heateth and bindeth the mouth of the Stomach.

“It prevents and cures Agues, Surfets and Feavers, by infusing a fit quantity of the Leaf, thereby provoking a most gentle Vomit and breathing of the Pores, and hath been given with wonderful success.

“It (being prepared and drank with Milk and Water) strengtheneth the inward parts, and prevents Consumptions, and powerfully asswageth the pains of the Bowels, or griping of the Guts, or Looseness.

“It is good for Colds, Dropsies, and Scurveys, if properly infused, purging the Blood by Sweat and Urine, and expelleth Infection.

“It drives away all pains in the Collick proceeding from Wind, and purgeth safely the Gall.

“And that the Vertues and Excellencies of this Leaf, and Drink, are many and great, it is evident and manifest by the high esteem and use of it (especially of late years) among the Physitians and Knowing men in France, Italy, Holland, and other parts of Christendom; and in England it hath been sold in the Leaf for six pounds, and some times for ten pounds the pound weight, and, in respect of its former scarceness and dearness, it hath been only used as a Regalia in high Treatments and Entertainments, and Presents made thereof to Princes and Grandees till the year 1657. The said Thomas Garway did purchase a quantity thereof, and first publickly sold the said Tea in Leaf and Drink, made according to the directions of the most knowing Merchants and Travellers into those Eastern Countries; And upon knowledge and experience of the said Garway’s continued care and industry in obtaining the best Tea, and making Drink thereof, very many Noblemen, Physitians, Merchants and Gentlemen of Quality have ever since sent to him for the said Leaf, and daily resort to his House in Exchange Alley aforesaid, to drink the Drink thereof.

“And that Ignorance nor Envy have no ground or power to report or suggest that what is here asserted of the Vertues and Excellences of this pretious Leaf and Drink hath more of design than truth, for the justification of himself and satisfaction of others, he hath here innumerated several Authors, who, in their Learned Works, have expressly written and asserted the same, and much more, in honour of this noble Leaf and Drink, viz., Bontius, Riccius, Jarricus, Almeyda, Horstius, Alvarez Semeda, Martinious in his China Atlas, and Alexander de Rhodes in his Voyage and Missions, in a large discourse of the ordering of this Leaf, and the many Vertues of the Drink, printed at Paris 1653 part 10. Chap. 13.

“And to the end that all Persons of Eminency and Quality, Gentlemen and others who have occasion for Tea in Leaf, may be supplyed, These are to give notice that the said Thomas Garway hath Tea to sell from sixteen to fifty Shillings the pound.

“And whereas several Persons using Coffee, have been accustomed to buy the powder thereof by the pound, or in lesser, or greater quantities, which, if kept two dayes looseth much of its first Goodness. And, forasmuch as the Berries after drying may be kept, if need require for some Moneths; Therefore all persons living remote from London, and have occasion for the said powder, are advised to buy the said Coffee Berries ready dryed, which being in a Morter beaten, or in a Mill ground to powder, as they use it, will so often be brisk, fresh, and fragrant, and in its full vigour and strength as if new prepared, to the great satisfaction of the Drinkers thereof, as hath been experienced by many in this City. Which Commodity of the best sort, the said Thomas Garway hath alwayes ready dryed to be sold at reasonable Rates.

“Also such as will have Coffee in powder, or the Berries undryed, or Chocolata, may by the said Thomas Garway be supplied to their content: With such further Instructions and perfect Directions how to use Tea, Coffee and Chocolata, as is, or may be needful, and so as to be efficatious and operative, according to their several Vertues.

“Finis.

“Advertisement. That Nicholas Brook, living at the Sign of the Frying-pan in St. Tulies Street against the Church, is the only known man for the making of Mills for grinding of Coffee powder; which Mills are by him sold from 40 to 45 shillings the Mill.”

J. A.

Tea. — III

Pepys and Tea—First English Poem on Tea—Price of Tea temp. Queen Anne—Scandal over the Tea Cup—Jonas Hanway and Dr. Johnson on Tea—Love of the latter for this Beverage—How to make Good Tea.

By Garway’s Advertisement we get at one fact, that the use of tea had not been brought into popular use before 1657: a fact which is borne out by that old quid nunc Pepys, who would surely have noticed it, as, indeed, he did as soon as it was brought under his ken. He mentions it in his diary under date 25th Sept., 1661, as being then a novelty, at all events to him. “I did send for a Cup of Tee, a China Drink of which I never drank before.” And again, 28th June, 1667, “Home, and there find my wife making of Tee, a drink which Mr. Pelling the Potticary tells her is good for her cold and defluxions.” So that even then it was not a common drink with people well to do, as we know Pepys was. The old English custom of drinking beer at breakfast died very hard—nay, it is not yet dead—surviving in farm houses in many places in the country, notably in Somersetshire; and when tea became cheap enough to be drank by the middle classes, those beneath them in the social scale indulged in sage tea, and infusions of other home grown herbs.

As it increased in popularity, the poets got hold of it, and numerous were the laudatory verses in Latin respecting its virtues. But, as far as can be found, the earliest English poem about it was by Waller, as under:—

“OF TEA.

Commended by Her Majesty.129

“Venus her Myrtle, Phœbus has his bays;
Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise.
The best of queens,130 and best of herbs, we owe
To that bold nation130 which the way did shew
To the fair region where the Sun does rise,
Whose rich productions we so justly prize.
The Muses’ friend, Tea does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapours which the head invade,
And keeps that palace of the soul serene,
Fit on her birthday to salute the Queen.”

As years went on, its popularity became greater, and it is satisfactory to find by the following extract from Lord Clarendon’s diary, 10th Feb., 1688, that the tea imported was good, and that it was treated properly. “Le Père Couplet supped with me; he is a man of very good conversation. After supper we had tea, which he said was as good as any he had drank in China. The Chinese, who came over with him and Mr. Fraser, supped likewise with us.”

With time, the consumption of tea increased, and its price was much lower; but still, taking the money value in the time of Queen Anne, in relation to our own it was excessively dear, and its value fluctuated much. Black tea varied in 1704 from 12s. to 16s. per pound; in 1706, 14s. to 16s.; in 1707, which seems to have been an exceptionally dear year, 16s., 20s., 22s., 24s., 30s., and 32s. In 1709 it was from 14s. to 28s.; and in 1710, 12s. to 28s. Green tea in 1705 was 13s. 6d.; in 1707, 20s., 22s., 26s.; in 1709, 10s. to 15s.; and in 1710, 10s. to 16s. The difference between new and old is given once; the new tea is 14s., and the old 12s. and 10s.

The margins in price are not only accounted for by difference in age, but it was well known that old leaves were re-dried and used in the cheaper sorts; indeed, there is a very curious advertisement in the advertising portion of the Tatler, Aug. 26th, 1710: “Bohea Tea, made of the same Materials that Foreign Bohea is made of, 16s. a Pound. Sold by R. Fary only, at the Bell in Grace Church Street, Druggist. Note. The Natural Pecko Tea will remain, after Infusion, of a light grey colour. All other Bohea Tea, tho’ there be White in it will Change Colour, and is artificial.”

Tea was now “in Society,” and was made the medium of pleasant little réunions. The accompanying illustration gives a Tea-party, temp. Queen Anne, by which it appears that the cups had no handles at that time, and were of veritable oriental porcelain, and that it was not considered a breach of good manners to drink tea out of saucers.

But even this Eden had its serpent, in the shape of scandal, from which the tea table seemed no freer in the time of Good Queen Anne than our own.131 “Thus they take a sip of Tea, then for a draught or two of Scandal to digest it, next let it be Ratifia, or any other Favourite Liquor, Scandal must be the after draught to make it sit easie on their Stomach, till the half hour’s past, and they have disburthen’d themselves of their Secrets, and take Coach for some other place, to collect new matter for Defamation.”

An anonymous poet of that time sings thus of the tea table:—

“Here we see Scandal, (for our sex too base),
Seat in dread Empire in the Female Race,
’Mong Beaus and Women, Fans and Mechlin Lace,
Chief seat of Slander, Ever there we see
Thick Scandal circulate with right Bohea.
There, source of black’ning Falsehood’s Mint of Lies,
Each Dame th’ Improvement of her Talent tries,
And at each Sip a Lady’s Honour dies;
Truth rare as Silence, or a Negro Swan,
Appears among those Daughters of the Fan.”

Peter Motteux, in the same reign (1712), wrote “A Poem in Praise of Tea;” but his theme may, after all, only have been taken to advertise his East India Warehouse in Leadenhall Street. He says:—

“From boist’rous Wine I fled to gentle Tea;
For, Calms compose us after Storms at Sea.
In vain wou’d Coffee boast an equal Good;
The Chrystal Stream transcends the flowing Mud.
Tea, ev’n the Ills from Coffee sprung, repairs,
Disclaims its Vices, and its Vertue shares.
  To bless me with the Juice two Foes conspire,
The clearest Water with the purest Fire,
Wine’s Essence in a Lamp to Fewel turns,
Exhales its Soul, and for a Rival burns.
The Leaf is mov’d, and the diffusive Good,
Thus urg’d, resigns its Spirits in the Flood.
  In curious Cups the liquid Blessing flows,
Cups fit alone the Nectar to enclose.
Dissembled Groves and Nymphs by Tables plac’d,
Adorn the Sides, and tempt the Sight and Taste,
Yet more the gay, the lovely Colour courts,
The Flavour charms us, but the Taste transports,” etc., etc.

As years went on, the poets still sung its praises; and the following portion of “Tea Drinking” brings us down to 1752, by which time it was a necessity in polite society:—

“Sparkling with Youth’s gay Pride, like mirthful May
  In the Sedan enclos’d, by Slaves up-born;
See the Love-darting Dame, swing ’long the Way,
  Or to present the Visit, or return.

The sleek-comb’d Valet trimly trips before;
  Loud, thro’ the gazing Croud, commanding Place;
With well-tim’d Raps he strikes the sounding Door,
  Thunders in Taste, and rattles with a Grace.

Along the Pavement grates the swift-slop’d Chair,
  Back on its well-oil’d Hinges flies the Gate;
Behind the high held Hoop, up-springs the Fair,
  Rustling in rich Array, and silken State.

The how d’ye ended, the Contest of Place,
  And all the fashionable flutt’ring Toils,
Down, curtsying, sink the Laughter loving Race,
  And undisturb’d one Moment, Silence smiles.

Behold! the Beau-complexion’d Porcelain,
  As Bell turn’d Tulips variegated show,
In order set among the tittering Train,
  Replete with Spoils which from Cathaya flow.

The leading Fair the Word harmonious gives,
  Betty around attends with bending Knee;
Each white-arm Fair, the painted Cup receives
  Pours the rich Cream, or stirs the sweetened Tea,” etc., etc.

But, although some wrote in praise of it, there was a class of people who were opposed to its use, and one of them was the celebrated Jonas Hanway, of umbrella fame. Possessed of a competence, he had nothing particular to do, so he turned philanthrope. He took up the cause of the Marine Society, he was a Governor of the Foundling Hospital, and he founded a Magdalen Hospital, which is now at Streatham. These things, however, did not fully occupy his time, and he scribbled de omnibus rebis: among other things, about Tea, against which he had a great aversion. In 1757 he wrote “An Essay on Tea, considered as pernicious to Health, obstructing Industry, and impoverishing the Nation; also an Account of its Growth, and great Consumption in these Kingdoms.”

Judged from our present standpoint, it was a farrago of rubbish and false arguments, and he recommends “Herbs of our own growth in lieu of Tea.” He gives a list of plants which he thinks useful for the purpose:—Ground Ivy, plain, or with a few drops of lemon Balm, or lemon Balm alone, or mixed with Sage, and Lavender flowers; Lavender itself; the fresh tops of Thyme; Mint; the flowery tops of Rosemary, by themselves, or mixed with Lavender; Penny royal and Lavender; Horehound; Trefoil flowers; Sorrel; Angelica; Sage; Cowslips; and recommends a drink, which he occasionally used himself, made of Ground Ivy and stick Liquorice.

This roused the ire of no less a person than Dr. Samuel Johnson, who, as “a hardened and shameless tea drinker; who has for many years diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnights, and with tea welcomes the morning,”132 could not sit still, and have his favourite beverage abused. So he wrote a review of Hanway’s Essay, and demolished it. Johnson certainly was an immoderate and enthusiastic tea drinker, and somewhat a tyrant over it, as Mrs. Piozzi rather ruefully relates. “By this pathetic manner, which no one ever possessed in so eminent a degree, he used to shock me from quitting his company, till I hurt my own health not a little by sitting up with him, when I was myself far from well; nor was it an easy matter to oblige him even by compliance, for he always maintained that no one forebore their own gratifications for the sake of pleasing another; and if one did sit up, it was, probably, to amuse one’s self. Some right, however, he certainly had to say so, as he made his company exceedingly entertaining, when he had once forced one, by his vehement lamentations and piercing reproofs, not to leave the room, but to sit quietly, and make tea for him, as I often did in London till four o’clock in the morning.”

When dining one day with William Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell), Johnson told a little story of Garrick and his tea drinking. “I remember drinking tea with him long ago, when Peg Woffington made it, and he grumbled at her for making it too strong.” But the names of worthy and eminent tea drinkers are legion, and its virtues are so patent that even our Legislators have a room set apart in the Houses of Parliament for the discussion of it and other matters.

One or two words only, before concluding the subject of tea, and those are to show how to make a good cup of tea.

The teapot should be thoroughly warmed, and the tea put into it before the addition of the water, which should just have come to the boil, and not have been boiling for any length of time. After standing about three minutes it should be ready for drinking. No second water should be used. A sufficiently large teapot, or teapots, should be provided, and if the quantity required exceeds the supply, then fresh tea should be made.

Tea drinking has been stigmatised by some as slow poisoning; and in one of Hood’s works we are treated to a pictorial representation of “Sloe poison.”

J. A.

Maté

Its Use in South America—Districts where Grown—Its Manufacture—Early Notice of—The Maté Cup and Bombilla—Method of Drinking—Its Rapid Deterioration.

Yerba Maté, or Paraguay Tea, which is made from the leaves of the Ilex Paraguayensis, or Brazilian Holly, takes the place of Thea Sinensis in nearly the whole of South America, where it has been used by the Indians from time immemorial, and by their conquerors and settlers since the seventeenth century.

It grows abundantly in Paraguay, Corrientes, Chaco, and the south of Brazil, forming woods called yerbales. One of the principal centres of the Maté industry is the Villa Real, a small town above Asuncion, on the Paraguay River; another is the Villa de San Xavier in the district between the rivers Uruguay and Parana. If let alone, it grows into a tree some fifteen or twenty feet high; but the plants from which the Maté is collected are moderate-sized shrubs, with numerous stems from one root. The leaves are from four to five inches long, and the finest Maté is made from the smallest shrubs. One bush will furnish three different kinds of tea, which are called caa-cuys, caa-miri, and caa-guaza—caa meaning leaf. Caa-cuys is made from the half expanded buds; but, although fine in flavour, it has the misfortune of not keeping, and, consequently, is all consumed in Paraguay. Caa-miri is prepared in the same way as the Jesuit padres made it, the leaves being carefully picked, and the nerves stripped before roasting them; and the Caa-guaza, which is the commonest, is prepared as follows:—

A Maté yerbal, or plantation, having been found, and a sum paid to Government for the collection of its leaves, a party of from twenty-five to thirty Indians settle down there with the intention of passing some five or six months. They make themselves as comfortable as circumstances will permit, by building wigwams covered with palm or banana leaves. Their next care is to beat, with mallets, a good hard and smooth earthen floor, about six feet square, which is called a tatacua. Over this is built an arch of poles, on which is spread the boughs of the Ilex, and under which a lively fire is kindled, that the leaves may be thoroughly dried without being scorched. This result being effected, the fire is swept off the hearth, and the dried branches being spread thereon, the leaves are beaten off with sticks, which operation reduces them to a coarse powder. Sometimes they are pounded in mortars, made by digging holes in the ground, well rammed; but now-a-days the Maté is generally treated in a more scientific and cleanly manner, the leaves being heated, as tea in China, in large iron pans set in brick work. The dried leaves are then taken to the Maté mill, which may be worked by water power, or by mules, the wooden stampers being worked by teeth placed spirally round the circumference of a revolving cylinder. A good-sized mill will turn out three tons of Maté in a day. The crushed leaves are then tightly packed in bags of damp bullock’s hide, sewn up and left to dry, when they become as hard as stones. These sacks generally weigh from 200 to 220 lbs., and this quantity is considered a good day’s work for a peon. The collectors suffer terribly during this six months of forest life, and the severe labour of collecting, in those tropical forests, is especially fatal to the unfortunate peons.

Its use is as universal as tea in China. The method of taking it has not varied for centuries; and a description of it in 1713133 is as good as if written to-day.

“During the day, they make much use of the Herb of Paraguay, which some call St. Bartholomew’s Herb, who, they pretend, came into that Province, where he made it wholesome and beneficial, whereas, before, it was venomous. Being only brought dry, and almost in Powder, I cannot describe it. Instead of drinking the Tincture, or Infusion, apart, as we drink Tea, they put the Herb into a cup or bowl, made of a Calabash or Gourd, tipped with silver, which they call Maté; they add sugar, and pour on it the hot water, which they drink immediately, without giving it time to infuse, because it turns as black as ink. To avoid drinking the Herb which swims at the top, they make use of a silver pipe, at the end whereof is a bowl, full of little holes, so that the liquor sucked in at the other end is clear from the Herb. They drink round from the same pipe, pouring hot water on the Herb as it is drank off. Instead of a pipe, which they call Bombilla; some part the Herb with a silver separation, called Apartador, full of little holes. The reluctance which the French have shown to drink after all sorts of people, in a country where so many are diseased, has occasioned the inventing of the use of little glass pipes, which they began to use at Lima. That liquor is, in my opinion, better than Tea; it has a flavour of the Herb, which is agreeable enough; the people of the country are so used to it, that even the poorest use it once a day, when they rise in the morning.”

Frezier gives us an illustration of Maté drinking, in which we see a lady using the bombilla, although the Maté cup has an apartador. The silver kettle for supplying hot water is fed with charcoal at the side, and somewhat resembles the Russian Samovar.

We give a modern Maté cup and bombilla; but this, which is made wholly of silver, is only intended for one person’s use.

Sometimes the Maté cups are made of the gourds of the Cuca (Crescentia Cujete) or Cabaço (Cucurbita lagenaria) silver mounted. Indeed, the cup itself is the Maté, which gives the name to the herb, meaning, in the language of the Incas, a calabash. The decoction is drank with a little brown sugar or lemon added, never with milk, and if not drank very quickly will turn quite black.

It loses in flavour and aroma by keeping, so that in England it cannot possibly be drunk in perfection, which, of course, can only be done on the spot where it is produced. Its virtues are much vaunted. It is supposed to give nervous vigour, and to enable the system to resist fatigue; but this can scarcely account for the enormous quantity drunk, although to persons unused to it, when taken in large doses it is both purgative and emetic.

Like Chinese tea, it has a volatile oil, which gives it its peculiar aroma; it also contains nearly 2 per cent. of theine, and about 16 per cent. of an astringent acid, resembling tannin, which causes the infusion to turn black after a slight exposure to the air.

There is another variety of Maté, called Gongonha, which is drunk in Brazil, which is prepared from two other species of holly, the Ilex Gongonha and the Ilex Theezans. In Chili a tea is made from the leaves of the Psoralea glandulosa, and in Central America an infusion of the leaves of the Capraria bifolia is drunk.

J. A.

Cuca

Where Grown—Sustaining Power of Cuca—Early Mention of it, and Methods of Preparing and Using it—Cowley on Cuca—Its Modern Manufacture and Cost—Its Medicinal Properties—Cocaine and its Dangers.

Cuca or Coca (Erythroxylon Coca) is now used as a drink, the leaves, hitherto, having been masticated. It has very valuable medicinal qualities, one of the chief being the ability to sustain fatigue by those who use it. It grows in the valleys of the eastern slope of the Andes, in Bolivia, and Peru; wild in many places, but that in use is generally cultivated. It has been known ever since the Conquest of Peru, notices of it being very early; and, considering the length of time this knowledge has obtained, it is marvellous that it is only of very late years that our scientific men have interested themselves in its medicinal properties, and that an infusion of its leaves has not come into common use.

The earliest mention to be found of it in English is in a134 translation (1577) of a book written by Dr. Monades of Seville.

“Of the Coca.

“I was desirous to see that hearbe so celebrated of the Indians, so many yeares past, which they doe call the Coca, which they doe sow and till with muche care and diligence, for because they doe use it for their pleasures, which we will speake of. The Coca is an hearbe of the height of a yerd, little more or lesse, he carrieth his Leaves like to Arraihau, somewhat greater, and in that Leafe there is marked another Leafe of the like forme, with a line very thinne, they are softe, and of Coulour a light greene, they carrie the seede in clusters, and it commeth to be so redde when it is ripe, as the Seede of Arraihau, when it is ripe. And it is of the same greatnesse, when the hearbe is seasoned, that it is to be gathered, it is knowen in the seede, that it is ripe, and of some rednes like to a blackekishe coulour, and the hearbe beyng gathered, they put them into Canes, and other thinges, that they may drie, that it maie be kepte and caried to other partes. For that they carrie them from some high Mountaines, to others, as Marchaundise to be soulde, and they barter and chaunge them for Mantelles, and Cattell, and Salte, and other thinges whiche doe runne like to money amongest us, they doe put the seede into Almaciga,135 and from that thei do take them up, and set them in another place, into Earth that is wel laboured or tilled, and made as it is convenient for to put them, by their lines and order, as we doe put here a Garden of Beanes, or of Peason.

“The use of it amongest the Indians is a thing generall, for many thinges, for when they doe travail by the waie, for neede and for their content when they are in their houses, thei use it in this forme. Thei take Cokles or Oisters in their shelles, and they doe burne them and grinde them, and after they are burned they remaine like Lyme, very small grounde, and they take of the Leves of the Coca, and they chawe them in their Mouthes, and, as they go chawyng, they goe mingling with it of that pouder made of the shelles in such sorte, that they make it like to a Paste taking lesse of the Pouder then of the Hearbe, and of this Paste they make certaine small Bawles rounde, and they put them to drie, and when they will use of them, they take a little Ball in their mouthe, and they chawe hym; passing hym from one parte to another, procuring to conserue him all that they can, and that beyng doen, they doe retaurne to take another, and so they goe, using of it all the tyme that they have neede, whiche is when they travaill by the waie, and especially if it be by waies where is no meate, or lacke of water. For the use of these little Bawles doe take the hunger and thurste from them, and they say that they dooe receive substaunce, as though that they did eate. At other times thei use of them for their pleasure, although that they labour not by the waie, and thei do use the same Coca alone, chawing it and bringing it in their mouthes, from one side to another, untill there be no vertue remainyng in it, and then they take another.”

Garcia Lasso de la Vega, who wrote his Commentarios Reales in 1609, gives a fine description of Cuca—which is taken from his translator, Sir Paul Rycaut.

“Of the pretious Leafe called Cuca.”

“But above all we must not omit to discourse at large of the Herb which the Indians call Cuca, and the Spaniards, Coca, being that which is, and hath been a considerable part of the Riches of Peru, and such as hath yielded great benefit to the Merchants. And, indeed, the Indians did justly esteem it for the rare Virtues and Qualities of it, which the Spaniards have not onely approved, but have also discovered several other specifick and medicinal Qualities belonging to it. Blas Valera, who was a very curious Person, and one who had resided many years in Peru, and came from thence thirty years after my departure, hath wrote Very largely of the many Virtues of this Herb, and such as he hath found out by his own experience. His words are these, ‘The Cuca is a small, tender Tree or Bind, about the height and biggness of a Vine; it produceth not many Branches, but is full of delicate Leaves, of about the breadth and length of a Man’s Thumb; it is of an excellent smell, and very fragrant; the Spaniards and Indians do both give them the name of Cuca; the which is so much esteemed by the Indians, that they prefer it before Gold, or Silver, or Pretious Stones. They plant and manure them with great art and diligence, and gather them with great care, pulling them leaf by leaf, and then lay them to dry in the Sun, and so the Indians eat them dry.

“‘The Virtue and Benefit of this Cuca is plainly observable in labouring Men, who, having eaten it are much refreshed, and often labour a whole day in the strength of it, without any other nourishment. The Cuca moreover preserves the Body from many infirmities; and our Physicians make use of it, being dried and beaten to powder, to ease and assuage the Inflammation, or swelling of any Wound; it is good to strengthen bones which have been broken, and expell colds from the Body, and to prevent them; it is good also to cleanse great Wounds of Worms, and heal them; nor is the Virtue of it less, being taken inwardly, than it is by outward applications. Besides all which Virtues, it yields a great benefit to the Bishop and Canons and other Dependents on the Cathedral Church of Cozco, the Tithes of the Leaves of Cuca being their greatest Revenue; it is also a great commodity amongst the Merchants; notwithstanding all which good Qualities of the Cuca, there are many, who being ignorant of its Virtues have wrote against it; for no other reason, than because the Gentiles, in ancient times, did, by their Diviners and Wizards offer this Cuca to their Gods in Sacrifice; and, therefore, having been abused to Idolatry, they conclude that it ought for ever to be esteemed abominable and prophane. This Argument might be available, if it had been the custome to offer this Herb onely to the Devil, but, in regard that both ancient and modern Idolaters have made their Corn, and Fruits, and whatsoever grows above or beneath the earth, their Drinks and Water, their Wool and Clothing, their Flocks and Herds, and all things else, the matter and subject of their Sacrifices; we may argue from the same foundation, that all those things are defiled and rendred as abominable and unclean as the Cuca; but to the clean, all things being clean, let us teach them to abhor and forsake their superstitious and idolatrous Worships, and let us, using our Christian Liberty, receive those Blessings with moderation and thanksgiving.’

“Thus far are the Words of Blas Valera. To which we shall add thus much farther, that this little Tree is about the height of a Man, in the planting of which they cast the seed in its green shell, and when it grows up, they then hoa and open the Earth for it, as they do for Vines, supporting the tender twigs with stakes; and in planting, they take great care that the tender roots be laid streight in the Earth, for with the least doubling they dry and wither; they take likewise the Leaf of every sprig by itself, and, holding it between their fingers, they cut it with great care till they come to the Bud, but do not touch it, for then the whole branch will wither; both the outside and inside of this Leaf in the greenness and shape of it, is like the Arbuteus, onely the Leaves are so thin, that three or four of them, being doubled, are not so thick as that of the Arbuteus....

“When they gather the Leaves they dry them in the Sun; but care is to be taken that they are not over-dried, for then they lose much of their Virtue, and, being very thin, soon turn to powder; nor will they bear much moisture; for they soon grow musty and rotten; but they lay them up in Baskets of slit Canes, of which many fine ones are made in the Antis. With the Leaves of those big Canes, which are about the third of a yard long, they cover the top of the Baskets, to keep Moisture from the Leaves, which is very prejudicial to them; and to consider the great pains and care which is taken to nourish this Cuca, and the provisions of all things which are made for it, we ought rather to render thanks to God for his abundant blessings in the variety of his Creatures, than to believe or conclude that what we write is fabulous or incredible; if these fruits were to be planted or nourished in other Countries, the charge and labour of them would be more than the benefit.

“The Herb is gathered every four Months, that is three times a year, and in the manuring of it care is taken to weed it often; for the Country being hot and moist, the Weeds grow apace, and the Herb sometimes increases so fast, that the season for gathering of it advances fifteen days; so that sometimes they have four Harvests for it in a year; the which, a certain covetous Tithe-gatherer observing, in my time, farmed the Tithes of all the principal and rich Inheritances and Possessions about Cozco, and, taking care to keep them clear and clean from Weeds, he so improved his Revenue, that the year following, the Farmer of the Tithes made two thirds more than what had been made in the preceding years; which caused a Law Suit between the Farmer and the Proprietor, but what the Issue was of it, I that was then but a Boy, did not much remark.

“Amongst many other Virtues of this Cuca, they say it corroborates the Gums, and fortifies the Teeth, and that it gives strength and vigour to any person that labours and toils, onely by carrying it in his mouth. I remember a Story which I heard in my own Countrey. That a certain Gentleman, both by Bloud and Vertue, called Rodrigo Pantoia, journeying once from Cozco to Rimac,136 met with a poor Spaniard (for there are some poor there, as well as here), travelling on foot, carrying a little Girl of about two years of age in his Armes; and being an acquaintance of this Pantoia, he asked him how he came to give himself the trouble of carrying that burthen; to which the person that was on foot, replied, that he was poor, and had not money to hire an Indian to carry it.

“In this discourse with him, Pantoia observed that his mouth was full of the Cuca; and it being, at that time, that the Spaniards abhorred all things which the Indians did eat or drink, because they had been abused to Idolatry, and particularly they hated the Cuca, as a base and stinking Weed, which gave cause to Pantoia to ask him farther, why he, being a Spaniards, did use those things which the Spaniards hated; for his necessities could never be so great as to compell him to Meats or Customs unlawfull. To which the Souldier replied, that though he abhorred it as much as the Spaniards, yet necessity forced him to imitate the Indians therein; for that without it he could never be able to travell and carry his Burthen, for that holding it in his mouth, he found such refreshment and strength, that he was able to carry his Load, and perform his Journey with chearfulness. Pantoia wondring at this Report, related to many others, who, afterwards, making the same experiment thereof, found that the Indians made use of it rather for their refreshment and necessity, than for any pleasure in the taste, which in itself is not very pleasant or agreeable.”

A plant having such manifold and beneficent properties must needs have a supernatural origin, and the Indians had a belief that the goddess Varischa first introduced the Cuca plant into Peru, and taught the inhabitants the use thereof. Abraham Cowley sang thereof in his Latin poems, “Sex libri plantarum,” and use is made here of the translation by Nahum Tate, of the fifth book, published in 1700. The Indian Bacchus challenge the other deities to judge between the fruits of the two worlds.

...
“But Bacchus much more sportive than the rest,
Fills up a Bowl with Juice from Grapestones drein’d,
And puts it in Omelichilus hand;
Take off this Draught, said he, if thou art wise,
’Twill purge thy Cannibal Stomach’s Crudities.
  He, unaccustomed to the acid Juice
Storm’d, and with blows had answer’d the Abuse,
But fear’d t’engage the European Guest,
Whose Strength and Courage had subdu’d the East.
He therefore chooses a less dang’rous fray,
And summons all his Country’s Plants away:
Forthwith in decent Order they appear,
And various Fruits on various Branches wear;
Like Amazons they stand in painted Arms,
Coca alone appears with little Charms;
Yet led the Van, our scoffing Venus scorn’d
The shrublike Tree, and with no Fruit adorn’d.
The Indian Plants, said she, are like to speed
In this Dispute of the most sterile Breed,
Who choose a Dwarf and Eunuch for their Head.
Our Gods laugh’d out aloud at what she said.
Pachamama defends her darling Tree,
And said the wanton Goddess was too free,
You only know the fruitfulness of Lust,
And therefore here your Judgement is unjust,
Your skill in other offsprings we may trust,
With those Chast Tribes that no distinction know
Of Sex, your Province nothing has to do.
Of all the Plants that any Soil does bear,
This Tree in Fruits the Richest does appear,
It bears the best, and bears ’em all the year.
Ev’n now with Fruits ’tis stor’d—why laugh you yet?
Behold how thick with Leaves it is beset,
Each Leaf is Fruit, and such substantial Fare
No Fruit beside to Rival it will dare.
Mov’d with his Countries Roming Fate (whose Coil
Must for her Treasures be expos’d to toil)
Our Varicocha first this Coca sent,
Endow’d with Leaves of wondrous Nourishment,
Whose Juice succ’d in, and to the Stomach ta’en,
Long Hunger and long Labour can sustain;
From which our faint and weary Bodies find
More Succour, more they cheat the drooping Mind
Than can your Bacchus and your Ceres join’d.
Three Leaves supply for six days march afford,
The Quitoita with this Provision stor’d
Can pass the vast and cloudy Andes o’er—
The dreadful Andes plac’d ’twixt Winter’s store
Of Winds, Rain, Snow, and that more humble Earth,
That gives the small but valiant Coca Birth;
This Champion that makes war-like Venus Mirth.
Nor Coca only useful art at home,
A famous Merchandize thou art become;
A thousand Paci and Vicugni groan
Yearly beneath thy Loads, and for thy sake alone
The spacious World’s to us by Commerce known.”

Dr. Von Tschudi says that the Coca plant is regarded by the Peruvian Indian, as something sacred and mysterious, and it sustained an important part in religion of the Incas. In all ceremonies, whether religious or warlike, it was introduced, for producing smoke at the great offerings, or as the sacrifice itself. During divine worship the priests chewed Coca leaves, and, unless they were supplied with them, it was believed that the favour of the gods could not be propitiated. It was also deemed necessary that the supplicator for divine grace should approach the priests with an Acullico in his mouth. It was believed that any business undertaken without the benediction of Coca leaves could not prosper; and to the shrub itself worship was rendered.

During an interval of more than 300 years, Christianity has not been able to subdue the deep-rooted idolatry; for everywhere are found traces of belief in the mysterious power of this plant. The excavators in the mines of Cerro de Pasco throw masticated Coca on hard veins of metal, in the belief that it softens the ore and renders it more easy to work. The origin of this custom is easily explained, when it is recollected that in the time of the Incas it was believed that the Coyas, or deities of metals, rendered the mountains impenetrable, if they were not propitiated by the odour of Coca. The Indians, even at the present time,137 put Coca leaves into the mouths of dead persons, to secure to them a favourable reception on their entrance into another world; and when a Peruvian Indian, on a journey, falls in with a mummy, he, with timid reverence, presents to it some Coca leaves as his pious offering.

Markham138 also says, “The reliance on the extraordinary virtues of the Coca leaf, amongst the Peruvian Indians, is so strong, that, in the Huanaco province, they believe that, if a dying man can taste a leaf placed on his tongue, it is a sure sign of his future happiness.”

He also gives an account of the modern cultivation of the plant. Sowing is commenced in December and January, when the rains begin, which continue until April. The seeds are spread on the surface of the soil in a small nursery or raising ground called almaciga, over which there is generally a thatch roof (huascichi). At the end of about a fortnight they come up; the young plants being continually watered, and protected from the sun by the huascichi. The following year they are transplanted to a soil specially prepared by thorough weeding, and breaking up the clods very fine by hand; often in terraces only affording room for a single row of plants, up the side of the mountains, which are kept up by small stone walls. The plants are generally placed in square holes called aspi, a foot deep, with stones on the sides to prevent the earth from falling in. Three or four are planted in each hole, and grow up together.

In Caravaya and Bolivia the soil in which the Coca grows is composed of a blackish clay, formed from the decomposition of the schists, which form the principal geological features of the mountains. On level ground the plants are placed in furrows called nachos, separated by little walls of earth, umachas, at the foot of each of which a row of plants is placed; but this is a modern innovation, the terrace cultivation being the most ancient. At the end of eighteen months the plants yield their first harvest, and continue to yield for upwards of forty years. The first harvest is called quita calzon, and the leaves are then picked very carefully, one by one, to avoid disturbing the roots of the young tender plants. The following harvests are called mitta (“time” or “season”), and take place three and even four times in the year. The most abundant harvest takes place in March, immediately after the rains; the worst, at the end of June, called the Mitta de San Juan. The third, called Mitta de Santos, is in October or November. With plenty of watering, forty days suffice to cover the plants with leaves afresh. It is necessary to weed the ground very carefully, especially while the plants are young, and the harvest is gathered by women and children.

The green leaves, called matu, are deposited in a piece of cloth which each picker carries, and are then spread out in the drying yard, called matu-caucha, and carefully dried in the sun. The dried leaf is called Coca. The drying yard is formed of slate flags, called pizarra; and when the leaves are thoroughly dry, they are sewn up in cestos, or sacks, made of banana leaves, of 20 lbs. each, strengthened by an exterior covering of bayeta, or cloth.139 They are also packed in tambores of 50 lbs. each, pressed tightly down. Dr. Poeppig (writing in 1827-32) reckoned the profits of a Coca farm to be forty-five per cent.

The harvest is greatest in a hot moist situation; but the leaf generally considered the best flavoured by consumers, grows in drier parts, on the sides of hills. The greatest care is required in the drying; for too much sun causes the leaves to dry up and lose their flavour, while, if packed up moist, they become fetid. They are generally exposed to the sun in thin layers.

The approximate annual produce of Coca in Peru is about 15,000,000 lbs., the average yield being about 800 lbs. an acre. More than 10,000,000 lbs. are produced annually in Bolivia, according to Dr. Booth of La Paz; so that the annual yield of Coca throughout South America, including Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Pasto, may be estimated at more than 30,000,000 lbs. At Tacna, the tambor of 50 lbs. is worth 9 to 12 dollars, the fluctuations in price being caused by the perishable nature of the article, which cannot be kept in stock for any length of time. The average duration of Coca in a sound state, on the coast, is about five months, after which time it is said to lose flavour, and is rejected by the Indians as worthless.

Cuca leaves can be bought in London, but up to the present time it has not come into much use as a beverage, yet it is supplied in Roots’ Cuca Cocoa, which is a combination of Cuca leaves, and the Cocoa bean.

There is no doubt whatever in Cuca possessing the qualities ascribed to it, and its application in medicine for many “ills that man is heir to,” is being diligently pursued by physicians all over the civilized world, with very beneficial results, and it is a valuable addition to our pharmacopœia. Johnston, in The Chemistry of Common Life,140 speaking of the general effects of the Coca leaf, says that it “acts differently according to the way in which it is used. When infused, and drunk like tea, it produces a gentle excitement, followed by wakefulness; and, if taken strong, retards the approach of hunger, prevents the usual breathlessness in climbing hills, and, in large doses, dilates the pupil, and renders the eye intolerant of light. It is seldom used in this way, however, but is commonly chewed in the form of a ball or quid, which is turned over and over in the mouth, as is done with tobacco. In this way its action is more gradual and prolonged than when the infusion only is taken. It is also very different in its character, because the constant chewing, the continued action of the saliva, and the influence of the lime or ashes chewed along with it, extract from the leaf certain other active constituents which water alone does not dissolve, when it is infused after the manner of tea.”

It contains at least three different constituents; an odoriferous substance, a bitter principle, and a kind of tannic acid. When Cuca is imported into this country the leaves are coated with a resinous substance, like hops have, slightly soluble in water, but wholly in ether—which, on evaporation, leaves a brownish resin, which is powerfully odorous. This scent vanishes if it is exposed to the air for any length of time, and thus is lost one of the most important ingredients of good Cuca—rendering the leaf useless by keeping.

It contains a crystalline bitter principle which can be separated from it by alcohol. Like Theine, it is an alkaloid, and is called Cocaine; but it is not harmless, as, in many particulars, and in its physiological action upon the system, it resembles Atropine, the alkaloid of the deadly nightshade.

It also has a tannic acid, which gives a deep brownish green colour to the per salts of iron. So we see in its constituents it closely resembles the Thea Sinensis, only it is more powerful in its effects on the human frame, and, consequently, ought not to be taken in the same quantity as we now take tea, but it is invaluable in preventing, or greatly diminishing, the ordinary and natural waste which usually accompanies bodily exertion.

J. A.

Kola

Whence Kola comes—Early Mention of—Early Trade in—Cure for Drunkenness—The Cattia edulis—Substitutes for Tea.

Kola can scarcely be called a tea, because, as a drink, it is produced from a nut, instead of a leaf, but it is put here because it contains the alkaloid Theine. Its botanical name is Sterculia acuminata, and it is a native of tropical West Africa, although now introduced into the West Indies and Brazils. The earliest mention of it to be found, is in “the Sieur Brüe’s Journey from Albreda, on the river Gambia, to Kachao, by land, in the year 1700.” Shortly after his start from Gambia, he was entertained by a Portuguese lady, and “after a short Compliment, one of her Slaves, a young, handsome Girl, but very immodestly dressed, presented the General a Pewter Basin full of Kola, a fruit much valued by the Portugueze. It is bitter, and makes the Teeth and Spittle yellow.”

Barbot141 gives a very bad illustration of the nut, and the following description. “The Cola is a sort of fruit, somewhat resembling a large chestnut. The tree is very tall and large, on which this fruit grows, in clusters, ten or twelve of them together; the outside of it is red, with some mixture of blue; and the inside, when cut, violet colour and brown. It comes once a year, is of a harsh, sharp taste, but quenches the thirst, and makes water relish so well, that most of the Blacks carry it about them, wheresoever they go, frequently chewing, and some eat it all day, but forbear at night, believing it hinders their sleeping. The whole country abounds in this Cola, which yields the natives considerable profit, selling it to their neighbours up in the inland; who, as some Blacks told me, sell it again to a sort of white men, who repair to them at a certain time of the year, and take off great quantities of it. These white men are suppos’d to be of Morocco or Barbary, for the English of Bence island assur’d me, there was a great quantity carry’d yearly by land to Tunis and Tripoli, in Barbary.”

So we see that, although a fair trade was done in Kola over 150 years ago, it is only beginning to be known in Europe.

In Congo it is called Makasso, and Guru in Soudan, and the seeds or nuts are used in West and Central Africa to make a refreshing beverage, which is somewhat allied to tea, and which has the same active principle as cocoa, without so much fatty matter. It is refreshing, invigorating, and has digestive properties. In the West Indies it is sometimes used by the negroes to counteract the effects of intoxication. It grows in pods, which contains several seeds, about the size of a horse chestnut. At present it is only used as a tonic. Kola is said to be a cure for drunkenness, and to sober an inebriate in an hour’s time; but woe be to him if he returns to his evil courses for three or four days—his punishment will be equal to sea-sickness.

There is a new product, about which, at present, very little is known in Europe. This is the Cattia edulis, which is said to be similar in its properties to Maté, Cuca, and Kola, in maintaining animal strength for a time, in the absence of food. It has been used by the natives of Arabia and Abyssinia for centuries. The plant is a shrub with lanceolate leaves of an olive-green colour, and it flourishes in Africa between 15° N. and 30° S. latitude, but it is chiefly cultivated in Arabia, especially in the province of Yemen. From Aden it is exported to the north-east of Africa, and the coasts of Somali land. The leaves are either chewed or infused like tea, and their sustaining virtues have recently been tested by M. Leloups, a French therapeutist. He employed not only the infusion, but the tincture, and an extract of the leaves, finding them all to produce wakefulness and banish fatigue. No definite alkaloid has yet been obtained from the leaves.

In conclusion I may give the following list of substitutes for Chinese Tea and Maté.

Popular Name.	Where collected and used.	Name of Plant.
Arabian Tea.	Arabia.	{ Cattia edulis.
	Abyssinia.	{ Cattia Spinosa.
Unnamed.	China.	Sageretia theezans.
New Jersey Tea.	N. America.	Ceanothus Americanus.
Unnamed.	Chili.	Psoralea glandulosa.
Boer Tea.	Cape of Good Hope.	Cyclopia Vogelii.
Sloe and Strawberry Tea.	North Europe.	{ Prunus spinosa ⅓
		{ Fragraria collina or F. resca ⅔.
Long-life Tea.	Bencoolen.	Glaphyria nitida (flowers).
Tea Plants.	New Holland.	Leptospermum scoparium and L. Thea. Melaleuca genistifolia, and M. scoparia.
Tasmanian Tea.
Unnamed.	Chili.	Myrtus ugni.
Colony Tea.	Cape of Good Hope.	Helichrysum serpyllifolium.
Mountain Tea.	N. America.	Gualtheria procumbens.
Labrador Tea.	N. America.	Ledum palustre and Ledum latifolium.
James’s Tea.
Toolsie Tea.	India.	Ocymum album.
Oswego Tea.	N. America.	Monarda didyma and M. purpurea.
Unnamed.	France.	Micromeria thea sinensis.
Sage Tea.	North Europe.	Salvia officinalis.
Ama tsja: Tea of Heaven.	Japan.	Hydrangea thunbergii.
“Burr.”	New Holland.	Acæna sanguisorba.
Santa Fé Tea.	New Granada.	Styrax alstonia.
Unnamed.	Central America.	Capraria bifolia.
Cape Barran Tea.	New Holland.	Correa alba.
Capitão da matto.	Brazil.	Lautana pseudo thea.
Faham or Bourbon Tea.	Mauritius.	Angrœcum fragrans.
Brazilian Tea.	Austria.	Stachytarpheta jamaicensis.
Mexican Tea.	Mexico and Columbia.	Chenopodium ambrosoides.
Apalachian Tea.	N. America.	Viburnum Cassinoides, and Prinos glaber.

A tea is also made of coffee leaves, and this infusion has been drunk for an unknown time in the Eastern Archipelago, especially in the island of Sumatra. It is said to be an agreeable beverage, and is preferred by the natives to the berry.

J. A.

Coffee

Its Growth and Birthplace—Where most Drank—Legends as to its Origin—Its Gradual Spread—Introduction into Europe and England—Pasqua Rosee’s Handbill—The English Coffee Houses—Their Rules—A Poem about Coffee Houses.

Next to tea, Coffee is, perhaps, the infusion most drank, its use being universal in Turkey, Egypt, Persia, and most Mahometan countries; and on the continent of Europe, with the exception of Russia, it is a greater favourite than tea. In Norway and Sweden it is especially drank, whilst tea is comparatively disused.

It is the seed of an evergreen shrub (Coffea Arabica) which grows from six to twelve feet high, with a stem of from six to fifteen inches in circumference. When the blossom falls off, there remains, in its room, or rather, springs from each blossom, a small fruit, green at first, but which becomes red when it ripens; it is not unlike a cherry, and is very good to eat. Under the flesh of this cherry, instead of the stone, is found the bean, or berry, which we call coffee, wrapped round in a fine thin skin. The berry is then very soft, and of a disagreeable taste; but as the cherry ripens, the berry in the inside grows harder, and the dried-up fruit being the flesh or the pulp of it, which was before eatable, becomes a shell or pod, of a deep brown colour. The berry is now solid, and of a clear transparent green. Each shell contains one berry, which splits into two equal parts.

In Abyssinia coffee appears to have been used as a drink from time immemorial. Abd-Alkader, a learned native of Medina, writing at the beginning of the seventeenth century, gives us the history of its introduction into Arabia. A certain Sheikh, notorious for his piety and knowledge, named Jemal-Eddin, brought it from Persia to Aden. He was wont to take it as a medicine relieving the headache, enlivening the heart, and preventing drowsiness. This last attribute at once recommended it to the various imams, muftis, and dervishes, who wished to remain awake for the performance of religious exercises at night. The examples of these holy persons had its usual influence upon the people, and coffee drinking soon became a common custom.

Not, however, without considerable opposition did this fashion come into vogue; there were many long and animated disputes about the legitimacy of drinking coffee. Its defenders alleged its medicinal virtues, its opponents declared it to be like wine, of an inebriating nature—indeed, a sort of wine itself; and went so far, in the heat of argument, as to say that all who drank it would appear at the general resurrection with faces blacker than the bottoms of their coffee-pots.

An insult of this sort was surely sufficient to justify a prompt adoption of the severest rejoinder by the other side, and, in replying, they became poetic. Said one:—

“It is a dear object of desire to the collector of knowledge;
It is the drink of the people of God, and in it is health,
It’s odour is Musk, it’s colour Ink:
The wise man and the good will sip it pure as milk in its innocence,
And differing from it but in blackness.”

And another sang—

“Courtesy is the coat of the customers in a Coffee-house.
The Coffee-house itself is as Paradise in its carpets, its company and its tender delights.
When the waiter comes with the Coffee in its cup of porcelain, sorrow disappears, and all anguish sinks under its dominion.
In its water we wash away our impurities, and burn out our solicitudes in its fire.
The man who has looked only on its chafing dish will say, ‘Fie upon the Wine and the Wine Vats.’”

Coffee won the day.

There is, however, another story of its introduction—how in the far-off past a poor dervish, who lived in the deserts of Arabia, noticed that his goats came home every evening in a state of hilarity. Unable to account for this, he watched them, and found them feeding on the blossoms and berries of a tree which he had never before noticed. He experimented upon himself by eating them, and soon became as jocund as his goats, so much so, that he was accused of having partaken of the accursed juice of the grape. But he soon convinced his maligners that the source of his high spirits was harmless, and they, tasting, became converts, and the berry became of general use.

From Abyssinia, the use of coffee spread to Persia and Arabia, thence to Aden, Mecca, Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo and Constantinople, whence it found its way to Venice in 1615. But it is hard to say exactly when its use was introduced into England. Robert Burton mentions it in his Anatomy of Melancholy, but not in the 1621 edition. He says,142 “The Turks have a drink called Coffee (for they use no wine), so named of a berry, as black as soot, and as bitter (like that black drink which was in use among the Lacedæmonians, and perhaps the same), which they sip still of, and sup as warm as they can suffer; they spend much time in those coffee houses, which are somewhat like our alehouses or taverns, and there they sit, chatting and drinking, to drive away the time, and to be merry together, because they find by experience that kind of drink, so used, helpeth digestion, and procureth alacrity.”

Anthony à Wood says that the first coffee-house was kept in 1650 in Oxford, by Jacobs, a Jew; and it seems generally recognised that the first coffee-house in London was opened in St. Michael’s Alley, Cornhill, in 1652, by one Pasqua Rosee, a Greek, servant to Mr. Edwards, a Turkey merchant. In “A Broadside against Coffee, or the Marriage of the Turk” (1672), he is thus mentioned:—

“A Coachman was the first (here) Coffee made,
And ever since the rest drive on the trade;
Me no good Engalash! and sure enough,
He plaid the Quack to salve his Stygian stuff;
Ver boon for de stomach, de Cough, de Ptisick,
And I believe him, for it looks like Physick.”

Here is Rosee’s handbill:—

“The Vertue of the Coffee Drink.

“First publiquely made and sold in England, by Pasqua Rosee.

“The grain or berry called Coffee, groweth upon little Trees, only in the Deserts of Arabia.

“It is brought from thence, and drunk generally throughout all the Grand Seignior’s Dominions.

“It is a simple innocent thing, composed into a Drink, by being dryed in an Oven, and ground to Powder, and boiled up with Spring water, and about half a pint of it to be drunk, fasting an hour before, and not Eating an hour after, and to be taken as hot as possibly can be endured; the which will never fetch the skin off the mouth, or raise any Blisters, by reason of that Heat.

“The Turks drink at Meals and other times, is usually Water, and their Dyet consists much of Fruit; the Crudities whereof are very much corrected by this Drink.

“The quality of this Drink is Cold and Dry; and though it be a Dryer, yet it neither heats, nor inflames more than hot Posset.

“It so closeth the Orifice of the Stomack, and fortifies the heat within, that it’s very good to help digestion; and therefore of great use to be taken about 3 or 4 o’clock afternoon, as well as in the morning.

“It much quickens the Spirits, and makes the Heart Lightsome.

“It is good against sore Eys, and the better if you hold your Head over it, and take in the Steem that way.

“It suppresseth Fumes exceedingly, and therefore good against the Head-ach, and will very much stop any Defluxion of Rheums that distil from the Head upon the Stomack, and so prevent and help Consumptions, and the Cough of the Lungs.

“It is excellent to prevent and cure the Dropsy, Gout and Scurvy.

“It is known by experience to be better than any other Drying Drink for People in years, or Children that have any running humors upon them, as the King’s Evil, etc.

“It is very good to prevent Mis-carryings in Child-bearing Women.

“It is a most excellent remedy against the Spleen, Hypocondriack Winds, or the like.

“It will prevent Drowsiness, and make one fit for busines, if one have occasion to Watch; and therefore you are not to drink of it after Supper, unless you intend to be watchful, for it will hinder sleep for three or four hours.

“It is observed that in Turkey, where this is generally drunk, that they are not trobled with the Stone, Gout, Dropsie, or Scurvey, and that their Skins are exceeding cleer and white.

“It is neither Laxative nor Restringente.

“Made and Sold in St. Michael’s Alley in Cornhill, by Pasqua Rosee, at the Signe of his own Head.”

That it met with opposition at its introduction, we have already seen in “A Broadside against Coffee;” but Hatton, in his “New View of London,” 1708, gives a case of clear persecution. “I find it Recorded that one James Farr, a barber, who kept the Coffee House which is now the Rainbow, was, in the year 1657, presented by the Inquest of St. Dunstan’s in the W. for Making and Selling a sort of Liquor, called Coffee, as a great Nusance and Prejudice of the neighbourhood, etc. And who would then have thought London would ever have had near 3000 such Nusances, and that Coffee should have been, as now, so much Drank by the best of Quality and Physicians.”143

The coffee houses soon became popular, because they filled a social want. There were no clubs, as we know them, although there were limited social gatherings, under the name of club, held at stated periods—and the coffee house provided a convenient place for gossip and news. Here were served alcoholic drinks as well as coffee; here the newspapers might be seen; here, also, men could indulge in a pipe, and its advantages are well summed up by Misson,144 who travelled in England in the reign of William and Mary. “These Houses, which are very numerous in London, are extreamly convenient. You have all Manner of News there; You have a good Fire, which you may sit by as long as you please; You have a dish of Coffee, you meet your Friends for the Transaction of Business, and all for a Penny, if you don’t care to spend more.”

“THE RULES AND ORDERS OF THE COFFEE-HOUSE.145

“Enter Sirs, freely, But first, if you please,
Peruse our Civil-Orders, which are these.

“First, Gentry, Tradesmen, all are welcome hither,
And may, without Affront, sit down Together:
Pre-eminence of Place, none here should Mind,
But take the next fit Seat that he can find:
Nor need any, if Finer Persons come,
Rise up for to assigne to them his Room;
To limit Men’s Expence, we think not fair,
But let him forfeit Twelve pence that shall Swear;
He that shall any Quarrel here begin,
Shall give each Man a Dish t’ Atone the Sin;
And so shall he, whose Complements extend
So far to drink in Coffee to his Friend;
Let Noise of loud Disputes be quite forborn,
No Maudlin Lovers here in Corners Mourn:
But all be Brisk, and Talk, but not too much;
On Sacred things, Let none presume to touch,
Nor Profane Scripture, or sawcily wrong
Affairs of State with an Irreverent Tongue:
Let mirth be Innocent, and each Man see,
That all his Jests without Reflection be;
To keep the House more Quiet, and from Blame,
We Banish hence Cards, Dice and every Game:
Nor can allow of Wagers, that Exceed
Five Shillings, which, oft-times, much Trouble Breed;
Let all that’s Lost or Forfeited be spent
In such Good Liquor as the House doth Vent,
And Customers endeavour to their Powers,
For to observe still seasonable Howers.
  Lastly, Let each Man what he calls for Pay,
  And so you’re welcome to come every Day.”

To know of coffee-houses in their prime, we must turn to the pages of Addison and Steele, to the Guardian, the Spectator, the Tatler, etc., but they are well epitomised in the following poem, which bears date 1667:—

“NEWS FROM THE COFFEE-HOUSE.

“In which is shewn their several sorts of Passions,
Containing Newes from all our Neighbour Nations.

“A Poem.

“You that delight in Wit and Mirth,
  And long to hear such News,
As comes from all Parts of the Earth,
  Dutch, Danes, and Turks, and Jews,
I’le send yee to a Rendezvouz,
  Where it is smoaking new;
Go, hear it at a Coffee-house,
  It cannot but be true.

There Battles and Sea-Fights are Fought,
  And bloudy Plots display’d;
They know more things than ’ere was thought
  Or ever was betray’d:
No Money in the Minting House
  Is halfe so Bright and New;
And, comming from a Coffee-House
  It cannot but be true.

Before the Navyes fall to Work,
  They know who shall be Winner;
They there can tell ye what the Turk
  Last Sunday had to Dinner;
Who last did cut Du Ruitter’s Corns,
  Amongst his jovial Crew;
Or Who first gave the Devil Horns.
  Which cannot but be true.

A Fisherman did boldly tell,
  And strongly did avouch,
He Caught a Shoal of Mackarel,
  That Parley’d all in Dutch,
And cry’d out, Yaw, yaw, yaw, Myne Here;
  But as the Draught they Drew,
They Struck for fear that Monck was there,
  Which cannot but be true.

Another Swears by both his Ears,
  Mounsieur will cut our Throats;
The French King will a Girdle bring,
  Made of Flat-bottom’d Boats;
Shall compas England round about,
  Which must not be a few,
To give our Englishmen the Rout;
  This sounds as if ’twere true.

There’s nothing done in all the World,
  From Monarch to the Mouse,
But every Day or Night ’tis hurl’d
  Into the Coffee-house.
What Lillie or what Booker can
  By Art, not bring about
At Coffee-house you’l find a Man,
  Can quickly find it out.

They’l tell ye there, what Lady-ware,
  Of late is grown too light;
What Wise-man shall from Favour Fall,
  What Fool shall be a Knight;
They’l tell ye when our Fayling Trade
  Shall Rise again, and Flourish,
Or when Jack Adams shall be made
  Church-Warden of the Parish.

They know who shall in Times to come,
  Be either made or undone,
From great St. Peter’s-street in Rome,
  To Turnbull-street in London.
And likewise tell, in Clerkenwell,
  What w— hath greatest Gain,
And in that place, what Brazen-face
  Doth wear a Golden Chain.

At Sea their knowledge is so much,
  They know all Rocks and Shelves,
They know all Councils of the Dutch,
  More than they know Themselves.
Who ’tis shall get the best at last,
  They perfectly can shew
At Coffee-house, when they are plac’d
  You’d scarce believe it true.

They know all that is Good, or Hurt,
  To Dam ye, or to Save ye;
There is the Colledge and the Court,
  The Country, Camp, and Navie;
So great a Vniversitie
  I think there ne’re was any;
In which you may a Schoolar be
  For spending of a Penny.

A Merchant’s Prentice there shall show
  You all and every thing,
What hath been done, and is to do,
  ’Twix Holland and the King;
What Articles of Peace will bee
  He can precisely show,
What will be good for Them or Wee,
  He perfectly doth know.

Here Men do talk of every Thing,
  With large and liberal Lungs,
Like Women at a Gossiping,
  With double tyre of Tongues;
They’l give a Broad-side presently,
  Soon as you are in view,
With Stories that you’l wonder at,
  Which they will swear are true.

The Drinking there of Chockolat,
  Can make a Fool a Sophie,
’Tis thought the Turkish Mahomet
  Was first Inspir’d with Coffee:
By which his Powers did Over-flow
  The Land of Palestine;
Then let us to the Coffee-house go,
  ’Tis Cheaper farr than Wine.

You shall know there, what Fashions are;
  How Perrywiggs are Curl’d;
And for a Penny you shall heare
  All Novells in the World.
Both Old and Young, and Great and Small,
  And Rich and Poore, you’ll see;
Therefore let’s to the Coffee all,
  Come All away with Mee. Finis.”

J. A.

There are about twenty-two species of coffee, seven of them belonging to Asia, and fifteen to Africa, where it grows in districts widely apart, as in Angola and on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza; yet, although it is so widely disseminated, and comes from so many different places, it is getting commercially dearer without any present prospect of any reduction. Its value in the market is as follows—the first being the highest, and the last the lowest in price. Mocha, Jamaica, Ceylon, Honduras, Mysore, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Brazil, New Grenada, and divers East Indian growths; and its consumption per head in Europe, ranks thus: Holland, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Austria, Greece, Great Britain, Italy and Russia.

Unfortunately the coffee plant has its enemies, in the shape of two fungi which have devastated the plantations of Ceylon and Mysore, one the Hemileia Vastata, and the other the Pellicularia Kolerota, whilst an insect called the coffee bug (Lecanium Coffeæ) causes great destruction, as does also the coffee, or Golunda rat. Indeed, these enemies so prevailed in Ceylon as to render coffee growing not only unprofitable, but almost impossible, so the planters took to growing tea, with the good results which we have seen.

Raw coffee has very little scent, and a bitter taste, and no one would credit it with the delicious aroma which is developed—like the tea leaf—by roasting, an operation which increases the bulk of the berry, whilst diminishing its weight. Its commercial value is in proportion to its aroma; and it is found that, by keeping the raw berry, a chemical change takes place, which very much improves inferior qualities. But this aroma is extremely volatile, and ground coffee should be kept in scrupulously air-tight cases. Indeed, so fugitive is it, that coffee to be drank in perfection should be made from berries roasted freshly every day, as is frequently done in France.

Raw coffee contains an astringent acid, which does not stain iron black, like that of tea, but green; and it also embodies Theine, or, as it is called when applied to coffee, Caffeine. This alkaloid does not exist in large quantities as in tea, i.e., the drinker of an equal number of cups of both beverages would have less of the alkaloid if coffee was drunk.

The berries, when roasted, and their flavour developed, are ground—coarse or fine according to taste, and are then ready to be made into a drink. It is here, in conjunction with the use of stale, and consequently, tasteless coffee, that we, in England, go to grief. Of coffee-making machines there are numbers; but if pure coffee is used, they might as well be dispensed with, whilst they are almost necessary if the coffee is adulterated. Another thing that our English housekeepers do not understand is, that coffee, in order to be productive of a good result, should be used large-handedly and generously, and not according to the time-honoured, grandmotherly, but parsimonious method applied to tea, of a teaspoonful for each person and one for the pot. The allowance of freshly ground coffee should be from 1½ to 2 oz. per pint of water, and any less does not make coffee, but only “water bewitched.”

With this quantity excellent coffee can be made without the aid of any machine. Warm the coffee pot, or jug, put in the coffee, and then add the water, which, as with tea, should just have come to the boil, and after standing a little time, the coffee is fit to drink. If the coffee is boiled, the extremely volatile aroma is dissipated, and its exquisite flavour lost.

But a good way of making coffee is to make it over night. Put the coffee in a jug, and pour cold water on it. The lighter particles soon get soaked and fall to the bottom. In the morning it has only to be warmed until it just boils, when it should be strained and served at once. This only applies to pure coffee.

There are too many adulterants used, and what “French Coffee” and “Coffee as in France” is made of, the Lord and their manufacturers only know. The chief of these offenders in England is the root of the succory, chicory, or wild endive (Cichorium Intybus), which, originally wild, is now extensively cultivated in England; whilst on the Continent it is very largely grown in France, Germany, Belgium, and Holland, and both home-grown and foreign chicory are largely in our market, the latter fetching the higher price. It does not taste like coffee, nor has it any aroma; but, when roasted, it gives a dark colour to water, and a bitter taste, as if a great deal of coffee had been used; and for this purpose it must have been first used in the old coffee-houses. But it is a question whether you buy pure roasted and ground chicory. In Germany it is adulterated largely with turnips and carrots, whilst Venetian red is used to give it a colour.

Notice has already been made of the different kinds of coffee, but not the West African species—the Liberian coffee (Coffea Liberica)—which has not, as yet, come into common use in England. There are many substitutes for coffee, one of which developed a few years since into a large commercial undertaking, but eventually collapsed. It was Date Coffee, made out of date stones roasted and ground. Among other substances used in lieu of coffee, are the roasted seeds of the yellow water-lily (Iris pseudocorus); the seeds of a Goumelia, called in Turkey Keuguel; roasted acorns and beans, chick peas, rye and other grains, nuts, almonds, and dandelion roots (Leontodon taraxacum), whilst in Africa many berries are used in its stead.

J. A.

Cocoa

Where Cocoa is Grown—Its Manufacture—Its Use Abroad and in England—Cocoa as a Drink—Chocolate, Edible and Otherwise—Substitutes for Cocoa.

Linnæus was so fond of the drink made from the seeds of this plant that he gave it the name of Cacao Theobroma, or “Food of the Gods.”

As a drink it cannot be classed among the infusions, like tea, nor is it roasted and ground to powder like coffee; but the seeds are crushed and mealed in a mill, and from this oily meal is made the thin gruel which we drink as cocoa.

It seems to have been originally a native of Mexico, and is now cultivated there, in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, New Granada, Venezuela, Guiana, and most of the West India Islands. Commercially the different sorts rank in value as follow: Trinidad, Caraccas, Grenada, Guayaquil, Surinam, Bahia, Ceylon, and British West Indies.

It grows, as we see in the illustration, somewhat like a melon, which contains some fifty or more seeds, in rows embedded in a spongy substance, from which the seeds are cleansed and then dried in the sun, when it becomes brittle and of a dark colour internally, eating like an oily nut, but with a decidedly bitter and somewhat astringent taste. To render it fit for food, it is gently roasted to develop the aroma, allowed to cool, deprived of its husk, and then crushed into small fragments called cocoa nibs, which is the purest form in which it is used, but also the one which entails the greatest trouble in making a drink therefrom. The granulated, rock, flake, and soluble cocoas are made by the beans being ground into a paste in a rolling mill; starch, flour, sugar, and other ingredients being used, according to the taste of different manufacturers.

It was used by the Mexicans and Peruvians before their conquest by the Spaniards, and formed an article of barter among them. Columbus brought a knowledge of it to Europe; but those were not the days of non-alcoholic drinks, and it was some time before it came into vogue. Naturally, first of all in Spain, and to this day Spain is the greatest European consumer of cocoa in some shape or other. It was introduced into England about the same time as tea and coffee, but the chocolate houses, pure and simple, as such, were very few compared to the coffee houses. It was taxed as a drink by the same Acts as tea, and paid the same duty. In the eighteenth century it became a fashionable morning drink, especially for ladies, and is perpetually alluded to by the essayists; but it was so expensive as to be only a drink for the upper classes.

Cocoa as a drink is far more nutritious than either tea or coffee, and like those two substances it has a volatile oil which gives the delicious aroma, and an active principle resembling Theine or Caffeine—but not identical with them—called Theobromine. It has no tannic acid, but it has what the other two do not possess, it has a peculiar fatty matter, known as cocoa butter, which sometimes amounts to half the contents of the seed. It is this excess of fat which renders it liable to disagree with some susceptible stomachs, but the mixture of farinaceous matter and sugar tend in a great measure to obviate this inconvenience.

In another method of manufacture it is known as Chocolate, which is simply the cocoa bean ground and flavoured with sugar, vanilla, almonds, cinnamon, or what not, according to taste. It is in a dry form the most popular of sweetmeats, although the adulterations practised by low class firms, in order to sell a cheap article, are many, owing to its high price; yet the goods of first-rate firms like Menier, Fry, Cadbury, and others, may be taken without suspicion, and are—good!!!

There are pseudo cocoas, as there are pseudo coffees and teas. The Guarana, or Brazilian Cocoa (Paullina sorbilis); a ground nut, the Arachis hypogeia, used in South Carolina, Angola, and elsewhere; the Cyperus esculentus, or earth chestnut, in Spain, are the chief substitutes; but it is needless to say that none compare with the Theobroma. Alas! that it should be adulterated.

J. A.

Aërated Drinks

Ginger Beer—Old and New Methods of Manufacture—Lemonade—Chemicals in Non-Alcoholic Drinks—Fruit Syrups—Non-Alcoholic Cordials and Liquors—Natural Mineral Waters—Their Constituents—Artificial Aërated Waters—Their Introduction into England—Manufacture.

Popular among non-intoxicant drinks is the homely Ginger Beer, so dearly beloved of thirsty holiday makers and small children; dear also to the boating man in connection with good ale, as “Shandy-gaff.” And the stone bottle, in which it used generally to be encased, is familiar to every reader. We say, advisedly, used, because now-a-days it is also put up in glass bottles; nay, it is sold in casks, like beer, to the publicans and others. The probability is that, in the old days, its somewhat murky colour would not bear inspection through bright glass. The old ginger beer, whose flavour cannot be approached by the modern decoctions, was made of Jamaica ginger macerated in water, with the addition of lemon juice and sugar. It was allowed to ferment, and possessed decided traces of alcohol. It was made after this fashion:—

Take 1 ounce of best Jamaica ginger, and crush thoroughly with a hammer or suitable crushing machine; boil gently for about an hour in about a quart of water, then add 1 lb. of best loaf sugar, and make up to a gallon with hot water; stir until all is dissolved. Add a small quantity of the soluble essence of lemon, and gum extract, the quantity to be regulated to taste of the maker. Then stir in ¼ ounce of tartaric acid, and, if required for quick fermentation, a very small quantity of yeast. The beer should fine down perfectly clear, and should then be bottled. In from one to three weeks time it is ready for drinking, and should keep good about six months.

This was the old fashion—now for the new.146

Plain Syrup, from 56° to 60° T.147	3	quarts
Boiling Water	1	quart
Oil of Lemon	24	minims
Acetic Acid	4	fluid ounces
Ginger Tincture (21, 22, or 23), Q.S.148

Use 1 to 1½ ounce of the flavoured spirit to each bottle.

First incorporate the lemon oil with 1 quart of the thick syrup. (If the oil contains a large proportion of insoluble matter, it may be well to use rather less than 1 quart of syrup in the first place.) Then add the boiling water, and, after that, the remaining syrup; taking care to keep the mixture constantly agitated during the process.

Lastly, add the acid, and ginger tincture according to taste, or the requirements of the public analyst.

By adding boiling syrup instead of boiling water to the mixture of plain syrup and oil of lemon, and subsequently adding the required quantity of cold water, the whole operation will be brought more thoroughly under control, and a larger proportion of oil may be employed without waste. With some samples of the oil, it may be necessary to heat a larger portion of the syrup; but the oil should always be mixed with cold, thick syrup in the first place, unless a perfectly close, air-tight vessel is provided for mixing; in this case, hot, thick syrup may be poured on the oil, cold water being subsequently added to give the requisite density.

When it is required to incorporate a maximum quantity of lemon oil with the syrup, it should first be whisked into the whole of the thick syrup cold; the flavoured syrup should then be carefully heated by means of a steam jacket, or other convenient arrangement, until the suspended oil is reduced to a state of solution. The syrup will then be transparent. Let it be cooled again as quickly as possible.

Gingerade.

Plain Syrup, 42° T.149	1	gallon
Ginger Tincture (No. 21 or 22)	4	fluid ounces
Acetic Acid	4	″
Bitter Orange Tincture, Q.S.

Use 1 to 1½ ounce of flavoured syrup to each bottle.

Ginger Ale is a beverage supposed to beguile the artless teetotaller into an idea that he is doing something naughty, or at all events, placing himself on the very verge of tampering with the accursed thing “Beer.” Hence its name, but what a difference in the two drinks! Here are two receipts for making

Ginger Ale.

Plain Syrup, 42° T.	1	gallon
Comp. Ginger Tincture (No. 23)	4	fluid ounces
Acetic Acid	4	″
Sugar Colouring	½	″

Or

Plain Syrup, 42° T.	1	gallon
Ginger Tincture (No. 21 or 22)	4	fluid ounces
Capsicum Tincture (No. 24)	1	″
Sugar Colouring	½	″

Use 1 to 1½ ounce of flavoured syrup to each bottle.

If desired, the bouquet may be enriched by the use of one or more of the following ingredients:—

Essence of Vanilla	3	drams (180 minims)	per gallon
Butyric Ether	4	minims	″
Otto of Roses	⅓	″	″

Half an ounce of Spanish liquorice to the gallon will considerably improve the flavour.

Lemonade.

Plain Syrup, 42° T.	1	gallon
Lemon Tincture (No. 19)	4	fluid ounces
Acetic Acid	4	to 5 ″

Use 1½ ounce of flavoured syrup to each bottle.

When lemonade is required specially for medicinal purposes, and is sold expressly as a genuine fruit preparation, citric acid should be employed instead of acetic. In that case dissolve 1 lb. of citric acid in a pint of boiling water, and use 4 fluid ounces of the clear solution to each gallon of syrup.

Some manufacturers have attained a high reputation for their lemonade by adding a small quantity of Neroli150 to the ordinary syrup. This, if judiciously used, will doubtless be deemed an improvement by connoisseurs generally, provided they are kept in ignorance of the substance employed; but a still greater improvement is produced by adding about 1 fluid ounce of good orange flower water to each gallon of syrup.

In the next beverage we are perilously tempting the fiend Alcohol, although it ranks as a Temperance drink.

Champagne Cyder.

Plain Syrup, 42° T.	1	gallon
Butyrate of Ethyl151	4	minims
Acetate of Amyl152	4	″
Nitrate of Amyl	2	″
Acetic Acid	4	or 5 fluid ounces
Sugar Colouring	1	″

Use 1 to 1½ fluid ounces of this syrup to each bottle.

But here is a direction which plainly shows the cloven hoof.

“The Ethyl and Amyl compounds are conveniently used by mixing them separately in the first place with nine times their bulk of Alcohol, or strong rectified spirit, adding these mixtures to the Acetic Acid, and this in turn to the syrup.”

At every turn, in all these drinks, are chemicals used. Do you want the flavour of the luscious Jargonelle pear? hey, presto! There it is for you in a spirituous solution of Acetate of Amyl, made by distilling potato spirit with Oil of Vitrol and Acetate of Potash, at least this gives a fine fruity flavour, but to bring out the true Jargonelle taste it must be mixed with six times its bulk of spirits of wine (Mem. for Teetotallers). The taste of apples can be counterfeited by mixing Amylic Ether (potato ether) and Valerianic Acid, which latter is made by substituting Bichromate of Potash for Acetate of Potash, and largely added Alcohol. The delicious aroma of the Pine-apple is made from Butyric Acid, mixed with ordinary ether, and dissolved in Alcohol. Indeed with compounds of the Ethyls, Methyls, and Amyls, all the bouquets contained in wines or spirits can be obtained.153

Does your chemical compound look flat and dull when poured out? lo! you can produce a “head,” or froth, made out of isinglass, gum arabic, gelatine, white of egg, Irish moss, or soapwort. The latter gives an excellent head; but as these frothing mixtures detract from the keeping of the chemical drink, yet another chemical has to be used as an antiseptic, and Salicylic Acid, made from Carbolic Acid, is recommended. Do you want to colour your decoctions? There is a wide range of tints for you to choose from, from the harmless burnt sugar to the Acetate of Rosaniline, or Aniline Magenta, of which 1/30th of a grain will colour a bottleful, a beautiful red.

For the fruit syrups, fruits are very often used, but of course not necessarily. Even milk is not sacred from the chemist. Here are two recipes for making Cream Syrup:—