Tea: Its History and Mystery


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Utility, not originality, has been aimed at in the compilation of this work. The obstacles and difficulties its author had met with in his endeavors to learn something of the article he was commissioned to sell when he first entered the Tea trade, the almost total lack of knowledge displayed by the average dealer in the commodity, allied to the numerous inquiries for a work containing “all about tea,” first prompted the undertaking.

The material was collated at intervals, in a fragmentary manner, covering a period of over twenty years, and arranged amid the many interruptions incident to an active business life, subjected to constant revisions, repeated prunings and innumerable corrections, due mainly to the varying statements and conflicting opinions of admitted authorities in every branch of the subject. Still, as careful and judicious an arrangement of the data has been given as possible, a faithful effort being made to omit nothing that may prove useful, instructive or profitable to the expert, the dealer or general reader.

Aware that many facts have been omitted, and many errors committed in its preparation, he still trusts that the pains he has taken to avoid both have not been in vain, that the former may be few, and the latter of no great importance. The work was compiled under impulse, not under inducement, a single line not being intended originally for the market, and is now being published solely for the benefit of those “whom it may concern.”

Philadelphia, December, 1892. - Summary by From the Preface (8 hr 43 min)

Chapters

Prefatory 2:17 Read by Will Shakespeare
Early History 45:39 Read by Will Shakespeare
Geographical Distribution 15:41 Read by Will Shakespeare
Botanical Characteristics and Form 21:20 Read by Rapunzelina
Cultivation and Preparation 36:35 Read by Will Shakespeare
Classification and Description part 1 41:58 Read by Cbteddy
Classification and Description part 2 38:51 Read by Cbteddy
Classification and Description part 3 37:47 Read by Cbteddy
Adulteration and Detection 46:44 Read by Verla Viera
Testing, Blending and Preparing part 1 43:04 Read by Linda Johnson
Testing, Blending and Preparing part 2 1:09:45 Read by Linda Johnson
Chemical, Medical and Dietical Properties 52:28 Read by Cbteddy
World’s Production and Consumption 39:45 Read by George Banfield
Tea Culture, a Probable American Industry 31:26 Read by marisad6