The restorative properties of tea are well known and universally admitted. To partake of " the cup that cheers but not inebriates" has become a national habit, and is indulged in equally by the richest and the poorest.

How Tea Is Prepared

Tea consists of the prepared leaves of a small shrub-like plant resembling a camella. It is cultivated in China, Japan, India, and Ceylon. The leaves are gathered by hand three times in the year, the young and tender shoots making the finest teas. The peculiar astringent quality and aromatic flavour of tea, as we know it, are developed in the processes of drying and roasting. Green tea is prepared from the young leaves, which almost immediately after being gathered are cast into shallow pans and roasted over a brisk wood fire. After being thus treated for about five minutes, they are removed, thrown upon a table, and rolled with the hands. They are again thrown into the pan, and are well shaken about over the fire for an hour and a half, till they are thoroughly dried, when the pale green colour characteristic of green tea is fixed. These slightly roasted and delicate green teas are highly appreciated by the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Russians; but are scarcely used in England except by tea connoisseurs. Many of the teas known in England as "green teas" are not of this fine variety, but are the coarser teas faced or coloured with Prussian blue or indigo. These are, however, little used now. In the preparation of black tea, the leaves after being plucked and brought in from the plantation are allowed to lie in heaps for about twelve hours. They are then tossed into the air, and patted with the hand by the workmen until they are soft and flaccid; again thrown into heaps, and allowed to remain for some time. They are then rolled into balls, and the sap is squeezed out by the hands of the workmen, the leaves receiving at the same time a twist. They are then roasted and rolled, in the same way as green tea. After this they are laid on sieves, and exposed out of doors for three hours to a sunny air. The leaves are again roasted and rolled a second time, and this process is repeated, with slight alterations, three, four, and even five times. The tea leaves are now perfectly dry, of a fine black colour, crisply rolled, and assume the appearance we know so well. There is no doubt that fermentative changes take place in the preparation of black tea, which considerably alter the chemical character of the leaf.