Among domestic substitutes for tea are—the leaves of speedwell, wild germander, black currant, syringa or mock orange, purple-spiked willow herb, winter green, sweetbriar, cherry tree, sloe, &c., all of which are used for tea, either singly or mixed. The addition of a single bud of the black currant to the infusion of ordinary black tea imparts to it a flavour closely resembling that of green tea.
The brownish-coloured powder vended under the name of ‘la veno beno’ is a mixture of 2 parts of tea-dust with 5 parts of powdered
catechu or terra japonica. A few grains of this substance thrown into the teapot are described in the advertisements as being capable of more than doubling the strength of the beverage.
Tea, Lie. Of this compound, Dr Hassall says:—“It is so called because it is a spurious article and not tea at all. It consists of dust of tea leaves, sometimes of foreign leaves and sand made up by means of starch or gum into little masses, which are afterwards painted and coloured, so as to resemble either black or green gunpowder. The skill exhibited in the fabrication of this spurious article is very great, and we have met with at least a dozen varieties of it, differing from each other in the size and colouring of the little masses.”
The once notorious ‘Paraquay plant,’ sold in packets, was simply new meadow-hay that had been wetted with a strong infusion of catechu, then dried, chopped small, and strongly compressed. See Theine and Caffeine.
Tea. “The tea is not a meal; when it is properly used, it should not be a meal; but it has a special purpose to fulfil, which I will now explain. Tea—and under the generic term tea I include coffee—tea is usually taken three hours after dinner. This is the moment which corresponds with the completion of digestion, when, the food having been conveyed away from the stomach, nothing remains behind but the excess of the acid juices employed in digestion, these acid juices create an uneasy sensation at the stomach, and a call is made for something to relieve the uneasiness; tea fulfils that object.” “On the same principle, after the business of the dining-room, the antacid and refreshing beverage, either in the shape of tea or coffee, is prepared in the drawing-room. In taking either, the nearer they approach to the simple infusion the better; little milk or cream, and less sugar, should be the principle. But, seeing the purpose of tea, how unreasonable to make it the excuse for a meal, to conjoin with it toast, muffins, bread and butter, and id genus omne.” “Three meals a day may be taken as the standard of habit and custom; tea and coffee having a specific place and purpose as a beverage, but none as a meal.” (Eras. Wilson.) See Meals, &c.
Although tea is undoubtedly prejudicial to children and to adults of nervous and irritable temperament, there can be no question that, if its use be not abused, it possesses valuable physiological properties. On the nervous system it acts as a pleasant stimulant and restorative, its moderate use not being followed by depression. Dr Parkes says these effects are in some measure due to the warmth of the infusion. According to the same authority its use is followed by very little quickening of the pulse, whilst there is an increase in the amount of perspiration, and a slightly diminished action on the bowels. Cases, however, are not uncommon in which this latter effect is reversed.
Dr Edward Smith says that tea increases the excretion of pulmonary carbonic acid. The contention that the elimination of urea is lessened, does seem to have been not satisfactorily established. If so, the diminution is very trifling. Sir Ranald Martin says tea is most useful against excessive fatigue, especially in hot climates. The traveller in the Australian bush speaks highly of its renovating effects at the end of a long day passed in the saddle.
A cup of strong green tea without milk or sugar is a popular and frequently by no means inefficient remedy for a severe nervous headache. According to Liebig, tea and coffee resemble soup in their effect on the system. Lehmann’s experiments seem to show that they lessen the waste of tissue in the human body. Tea taken too continuously, or in excess, produces indigestion, flatulence, and constipation, besides rendering its votaries anæmic and depressed in spirits.
It is a fallacy to suppose that soft water makes the best tea. It certainly yields a darker infusion than that made from moderately hard water, but this is owing to the soft water taking up a large quantity of bitter, physiologically inert, extractive matter from the tea, the delicate flavour of which becomes thereby greatly impaired. This is why connoisseurs object to an infusion of too dark a colour. Moderately hard boiling water, on the contrary, fails to dissolve this objectionable ingredient, and hence produces a beverage in which the characteristic taste of the pleasant aromatic principle of the tea is not masked by the bitter substance. London water, which, when boiled, has a hardness of about 5 degrees (equal to 5 grains of lime salts to the gallon), makes excellent tea—better, in fact, than a water of half the hardness, the latter yielding a slightly bitter infusion. In the use of moderately hard water, it is essential that it should be allowed to remain on the tea sufficiently long. The Chinese never employ either very soft or immoderately hard water, but a water of medium hardness.