Composition of average black tea (Church)

In 100 parts there are: water 8.0, albuminoids 17.5, theine 3.2, tannin 17.5 chlorophyl and resin 4.5, essential oil 0.4, minor extractives 8.6, cellulose, etc. 34.0, mineral matter 6.3.

A cup of tea infusion has little or no nutritive value, but it increases respiratory action and incites the brain to greater activity. The stimulating effects of tea upon the nervous system are due to the essential oil and theine: the tannin produces astringency. Tea was at first used medicinally, and was not indulged in as a beverage until the close of the seventeenth century. "The first brewers of tea sat down to eat the leaves with butter and salt." The only tea-gardens in the United States are at Pinehurst, S. C. Here tea culture is successfully carried on. The tea is shipped in closely sealed gilt-colored tin boxes containing pounds, or fractions thereof. Black and green teas are made from the same plants, but each is cured by a different process. Gunpowder is the name given to the finest green tea, pekoe to the finest black, both being made from the "first pickings." In picking tea for these varieties only the tips of the short and tender leaves are taken. Flowery pekoe is made entirely from the unexpanded leaf bud, so young as to be entirely covered with down. If the first expanded leaf be included, it makes first and second "Souchong."

Tea is for those who have passed the boundary line of youth, stimulants are not needed by the young, and are positively harmful to them. Rightfully prepared and used, both tea and coffee, on account of the sense of comfort and the mildly exhilarating influence which they impart, may be considered beneficial to the race. Improperly made and drank to excess, they are one of the chief sources of many of the minor and chronic ills of mankind.

The essential oil and theine of tea are the desirable elements; the tannin which by hardening albumen interferes with the process of digestion, and which is also an astringent, is to be avoided. The one is avoided and the other secured by the manner in which tea is made.