1892 Drinks of the world

TEA.

I.

— Consumption in England, and com- — Legend of its Origin — Date of — Growth of the Plant— Different Kinds of Tea— Great

Popularity of Tea as a Drink

parative Use all over the World

its Use

— High

— Ceylon Tea

Falling off in the Exports from China — Analysis of Tea. Op 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 Prices of — Statistics

237