“Tea’s proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.”

“

It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs.

We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so.

It dictates to us our emotions, our passions.

After eggs and bacon it says, “Work!”

After beefsteak and porter, it says, “Sleep!”

After a cup of tea (two spoonfuls for each cup, and don’t let it stand for more than three minutes), it says to the brain, “Now rise, and show your strength. Be eloquent, and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into nature, and into life: spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!’

“One drinks tea to forget the world’s noise; it is not for those who eat rich food and dress in silk pyjamas”

“It has not the arrogance of wine, the self consciousness of coffee, nor the simpering innocence of cocoa.”