ROMANCE OF TEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20088, 27 October 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

ROMANCE OF TEA.

THE CUP THAT CHEERS.

BT ALAN C. ERASER.

Tea, that seductive, soul-reviving beverage of Eastern origin, whoso chief function through the ages has been to cheer but not incbriato mankind, is one of thoso blessings of civilisation bestowed daily on an undeserving world—in this case, through tho earthly medium of the grocer—which wo take, moro or less, as a matter of course, as wo accept our morning newspaper, the bag-wash, and othei amenities. Yet what vistas of romance lie behind this celestial amber liquid, if we could trace its long story back to .ts ancient source. Poets and prose-writers, strango to say, havo found littlo inspiration in the fascinating topic of tea, and out of tho moutli3 of babes and. sucklings has still to come forth its perfect praise. Though Keats s Ode on a Grecian Urn" achieved classic immortality, there is an empty place in English poetry for an " Ode to a TeaPot," tho supreme, unwritten poem for which anthologists sigh in vain. On the whole, there is quite a lot to bo said and thought about tea, if one settles down comfortably to the subject. Noxt to. water, it is probably the most ancient form of liquid refreshment known to- man. Whole continents, like America, may go " dry," all nations and peoples of tho world, including tho Scotch, might sign the pledge, but tea, like Tennyson's brook, will go on for ever, pouring from tho tea-pots of humanity in an aver-flowing stream on which tho sun never sets.

It is tht world's most popular aristocratic and democratic drink. The majority of the human race, rich and poor alike, enjoy it all over the habitable globe, and imbibe it daily out of all manner of vessels and receptacles; from the humble " billy" of the workman, who drinks it cold from the can—a sure test of one's affection for tea—to the gossamer teacups of rare, antique china, scarcely thicker than soap-bubbles, out -of which its wealthier devotees sip this divine elixir, sitting in drawing-rooms tastefully furnished to harmonise with their china. "Ancient Origin. Among the fair sex, particularly, tea has always been sole favourite as a gentle reviver or a promoter of light feminine conversation and gossip. Ladies throughout the tea-drinking world would declare unanimously, if put to the question, that they " couldn't do without it." Dipping an inquiring bucket into those profound wells of truth, the encyclo paedias, wo find that tho virtues of tea were first discovered in China by a legendary Emperor Chin-nung, in 2737 B.C.— a considerably long while before beer or whisky, by the way, were even thought of. China knew a good thing and kept it to herself until the' 13th century, when tea was first introduced from thero into Japan; and theso two great nations of the East havo been the only tea-producing countries till comparatively recent times. The East India Company began experimental tea-growing in Assam at the opening of. the nineteenth century; while Ceylon, when her coffee plantations wore ruined by leaf-disease in 1876, took to tea cultivation on a largo scale, developing it so rapidly that to-day she is the most important British colony engaged in this philanthropic industry. Rites and Processes. A modern thriving tea-plantation in Ceylon, which tho present writer has visited in person, is one of the most picturesque and impressive sights to bo seen in the world. Rolling acres of tho sturdy evergreen tea-shrub, spreading away for miles in the sunshine round the planter's bungalow-homestead; and among them hundreds of , brown-skinned native coolies at work, clad only in their " dhoties" (loin-cloths), picking the young shoots into baskets slung on their arms.

These green leaves go through many important rites and processes before reaching tho final packet stage. They are " withered" in the sun on wide wicker trays, then'" rolled" by hand on woodec tables till all traces of juico have been kneaded out of tho leaves. They have to bo fermented, the most delicate, 'killed operation of tea-manufacture, requiring careful watching and regulating—for overfermentation would be disastrous —until tho leaves havo turned the requisite coppery colour denoting that this stage of their career is through. Finally, they aro " fired," or scorched in patent hot-air machines, and reduced to tho dried, blackonod condition familiar to tho unenlightened consumer; after which the sorting, grading and blending follow. Wo havo to thank machinery, incidentally, for abolishing tho old unsavoury method of " rolling" customary in form&r days, when tho leaves were trodden on tho pressing-tables by barefooted coolies until tho juice has been stamped out; a practice calculated, possibly, to givo a subtle, exotic flavour to tho finished product. Famous Tea Drinkers. No essay on tea would bo complete without mention of Dr. Johnson, that famous, prodigious tea-drinker who, as ho confesses in ono of his papers in " Tho Rambler," " for twenty wears diluted his meals with tho infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle had scarco time to cool; who, with tea, amused tho evening, with tea solaced tho midnight, and with tea welcomed tho morning." Tho gentlo Pepys, too, records in his famous diary, on tho !28th September, 1660: "I did send for a cup of tea (a Chineso drink) of which I had never drunk beforo;" and two years later wo find him remarking: "Home, and thoro find my wife making tea, a drink which Mr. Polling, tho 'Pothecary, tells her is very good." A certain Lo Yu, who lived in China during tho Tang dynasty, and was tho earliest writer on tea, gave an excellent summary of its virtues: "It tempers tho spirit," says this long-defunct sage, " harmonises tho mind, dispels lassitude and rolioves fatigue; awakens thought, provents drowsiness, lightens and refreshes tho body, and clears tho perceptive faculties."

In our own age, too, tea is helping considerably to make the world go round. Who could say, for instance, that woman's riso and emancipation in modem life is not partly tho result of drinking tea! Perhaps in timo to come—an awe-in-spiring thoughtr-tho hand that holds tho tea-pot will bo tho hand that rules the world!