1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

322

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.

CHOCOLATE DRINKING.

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