RANDOM READINGS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 8, Issue 451, 25 July 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

RANDOM READINGS.

"COFFEE-TEA." ♦ "Coffee-tea" sounds as though it might be 6ome concoction made from tea and coffee, but in reality there is no tea in it. Nor are there any coffee berries in it. It is made solely from the leaves of the coffee bush. As everyono knows, tea is made from the leaves of the tea plant, and coffee is from tho ground berries nf the coffee plant. ■ But the fact that a beverage of many merits is made from steeping the colfee leaves just as tea leaves are steeped led to tho name of "coffee-tea." This drink may never become popuInr. but there are many advantages claimed for it. In the first place, it is said to he far less harmful than either tea or coffee. It contains scarcely any caffein, which is said to be that portion of coffee that lessens efficiency if taken in too great quantities. At the same time tho coffee leaves contain nearly as much thein as real tea and far less tannin, the tannin being the objectionable part of tea. Coffee-tea is made tho same as tea. Tho dried leaves resemble tea to a remarkable degree. An infusion of the leaves is made just as with tea, and a notable aromatic beverage results. It must be admitted that it is bitter, far more bitter than either strong coffee or strong tea, but people who have 1 tried it for a while claim they get used to it and like it better than either straight tea or coffee. It has been suggested that this cof-fee-tea, while by no means quite so agreeable to the taste educated by genuine tea and coffeo to those not used to it, may become an important article! of diet, sinco it is really wonderfully refreshing and restorative in its effects, and it is also believed that people who are unable to drink ordinary tea or coffee might got used to it.