period.

As to the keeping qualities of fine teas, in tight packages, we
know that they are not spoiled or injured by two years storage in
this climate.

Tannin is the third important element of the tea leaf, and it
varies greatly in percentage in different teas, and increases
with the age of the growing leaf. It is the cause of the rasping,
puckering, astringent effect upon the tongue and interior of the
mouth.

Tannin in tea has been a great bugbear with the ill-informed, bit
it is not nearly so deleterious as some careless or unscrupulous
writers would have us believe. In the first place there is a very
insignificant quantity of tannin in properly drawn teas, say in
those drawn for not longer than five or eight minutes. The tannin
present in a fine Black tea, steeped at a moderate temperature
for fifteen or twenty minutes will not harm a delicate stomach.
We take quite as much tannin in some fruits, and make no fuss
about it. Secondly, if a strong solution of tannin is taken into
the stomach and there comes in contact with albuminous or
gelatinous foods, it will expend its coagulating power upon such
substances. If there are no such substances present, it is the
expressed opinion of Mr. Crole (in a discussion upon the
chemistry of tea) that the tannin is converted into glucose and
other harmless products by the digestive processes. The wild
declarations that tea tannin "tans" the coating of the stomach
into a leathery condition is without foundation. Even where too
prolonged steeping has greatly increased the usual proportion of