e good properties of tea, wrote: "More
especially it disintoxicates those that are fuddl'd, giving them new
forces, and enabling them to go to it again." The Embassy do not state
whether they speak from personal experience, but their admiration for
tea is undoubted. Tea, coffee, and cocoa are amongst our blessings, each
has its devotees, each has its peculiar delight: tea makes for
cheerfulness, coffee makes for wit and wakefulness, and cocoa relieves
the fatigued, and gives a comfortable feeling of satisfaction and
stability. Of these three drinks cocoa alone can be considered as a
food, and just as there are people whose digestion is deranged by tea,
and some who sleep not a wink after drinking coffee, so there are some
who find cocoa too feeding, especially in the summer-time. These
sufferers from biliousness will think it curious that cocoa is
habitually drunk in many hot climates, thus, in Spanish-speaking
countries, it is the custom for the priest, after saying mass, to take a
cup of chocolate. The pure cocoa powder is, as we saw above, a very rich
foodstuff, but it must always be remembered that in a pint of cocoa only
a small quantity, about half an ounce, is usually taken. In this
connection the following comparison between tea, coffee and cocoa is not
without interest. It is taken from the _Farmer's Bulletin_ 249, an
official publication of the United States Department of Agriculture:

COMPARISON OF ENERGY-GIVING POWER OF A PINT OF TEA, COFFEE AND COCOA.

Fuel value
Kind of Beverage Water Protein Fat Carbohydrates per lb.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
% % % % Calories
_Tea_
(0.5 oz. to 1 pt. water) 99.5 0.2 0 0.6 15
_Coffee_
(1 oz. to 1 pt. water) 98.9 0.2 0 0.7 16
_Cocoa_
(0.5 oz. to 1 pt. water) 97.1 0.6 0.9 1.1 65

These figures place cocoa, as a food, head and shoulders above tea and
coffee. The figures are for the beverages made without the addition of
milk and sugar, both of which are almost invariably present. A pint of
cocoa made with one-third milk, half an ounce of cocoa, and one ounce of
sugar would have a fuel value of 320 calories, and is therefore
equivalent in energy-giving power to a quarter of a pound of beef or
four eggs.

Coc