n. Each preparation of the leaves has its individuality, its
special affinity with water and heat, its own method of telling a story.
The truly beautiful must always be in it. How much do we not suffer
through the constant failure of society to recognise this simple and
fundamental law of art and life; Lichilai, a Sung poet, has sadly
remarked that there were three most deplorable things in the world: the
spoiling of fine youths through false education, the degradation of fine
art through vulgar admiration, and the utter waste of fine tea through
incompetent manipulation.

Like Art, Tea has its periods and its schools. Its evolution may be
roughly divided into three main stages: the Boiled Tea, the Whipped Tea,
and the Steeped Tea. We moderns belong to the last school. These several
methods of appreciating the beverage are indicative of the spirit of the
age in which they prevailed. For life is an expression, our unconscious
actions the constant betrayal of our innermost thought. Confucius said
that "man hideth not." Perhaps we reveal ourselves too much in small
things because we have so little of the great to conceal. The tiny
incidents of daily routine are as much a commentary of racial ideals as
the highest flight of philosophy or poetry. Even as the difference in
favorite vintage marks the separate idiosyncrasies of different periods
and nationalities of Europe, so the Tea-ideals characterise the
various moods of Oriental culture. The Cake-tea which was boiled, the
Powdered-tea which was whipped, the Leaf-tea which was steeped, mark
the distinct emotional impulses of the Tang, the Sung, and the Ming
dynasties of China. If we were inclined to borrow the much-abused
terminology of art-classification, we might designate them respectively,
the Classic, the Romantic, and the Naturalistic schools of Tea.

The tea-plant, a native of southern China, was known from very early
times to Chinese botany and medicine. It is alluded to in the classics
under the various names of Tou, Tseh, Chung, Kha, and Ming, and
was highly prized for possessing the virtues of relieving fatigue,
delighting the soul, strengthening the will, and repairing the eyesight.
It was not only administered as an internal dose, but often applied
externally in form of paste to alleviate rheumatic pains. The Taoists
claimed it as an important ingredient of the elixir of immortality. The
Buddhists used it extensively to prevent drowsiness during their long
hou