WHAT TO DRINK.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8859, 9 July 1907, Page 1

WHAT TO DRINK.

The Anglo-Saxon beverage, tea, is probably the best. But those who wish to avoid injury to health should make sure that they get good tea. If au infusion is made for five minutes, good tea may be knosvu by the following signs : —The leaves are not completely unrolled. Open and examine them. They should be all small whole leaves, of a coppery tint, and uniformly shaded. If there is much stalk or dust, if the leaves are largo, if the loaves are cut up so as to make large leaves simulate small ones, or if some are darker and some lighter, thou the tea is of inferior quality. Tea should never be infused longer than live minutes. There are idiosyncrasies with regard to beverages, and many people would enjoy better health if they used coffee,. But no human stomach could stand a daily dose of the usual blend, more than half chicory. If coffee is used it should be used pure. Colour, if desired, can be obtained by adding burnt sugar, as the French do. But coffee should be made strong, at least two ounces to the pint, and consumed with three-parts milk to one part of coffee. Cocoa is a nourishing drink. Chocolate is still more nourishing, hut it oppresses the English stomach, and is scarcely a beverage for habitual consumption at breakfast. Comparing the three drinks, we And that: Tea hinders the digestion of food in the month very much, drying up the salivary glands j coffee and cocoa do not. Both tea and coffee delay digestion in the stomach, and if very strong, or drunk in largo .quantity, they stop it altogether. For flatulent dyspepsia tea is wores than coffee; for acid dyspepsia coffee is worse thantea. "Where the digestion is feeble, cocoa is better than coffee; coffee is better than tea; and China is better than India tea. The worst time to take tea is on an empty stomach in the morning; the next worse time - is at or after a full meal where meat is eaten; the best is in the afternoon, when the stomach is neither empty nor full.