曾听人讲洋话，说西洋人喝茶，把茶叶加水煮沸，滤去茶汁，单吃茶叶，吃了咂舌道：“好是好，可惜苦些。”新近看到一本美国人做的茶考，原来这是事实。茶叶初到英国，英国人不知怎么吃法，的确吃茶叶渣子，还拌些黄油和盐，敷在面包上同吃。什么妙味，简直不敢尝试。以后他们把茶当药，治伤风，清肠胃。不久，喝茶之风大行，一六六○年的茶叶广告上说：“这刺激品，能驱疲倦，除恶梦，使肢体轻健，精神饱满。尤能克制睡眠，好学者可以彻夜攻读不倦。身体肥胖或食肉过多者，饮茶尤宜。”莱登大学的庞德戈博士（Dr Cornelius Bontekoe）应东印度公司之请，替茶大做广告，说茶“暖胃，清神，健脑，助长学问，尤能征服人类大敌——睡魔”。他们的怕睡，正和现代人的怕失眠差不多。怎么从前的睡魔，爱缠住人不放；现代的睡魔，学会了摆架子，请他也不肯光临。传说，茶原是达摩祖师发愿面壁参禅，九年不睡，天把茶赏赐他帮他偿愿的。胡峤《饮茶诗》：“沾牙旧姓馀甘氏，破睡当封不夜侯。”汤悦《森伯颂》：“方饮而森然严乎齿牙，既久而四肢森然。”可证中外古人对于茶的功效，所见略同。只是茶味的“馀甘”，不是喝牛奶红茶者所能领略的。
此杨绛《喝茶》（《联合日报晚刊》1946年4月24日《文学周刊》第二期）首节，佥取材于钱先生札记，其赖夫婿口耳密■，不待言。
“美国人做的茶考”乃美国女博物学家Agnes Repplier（1885-1950）著作To Think of Tea!。《槐聚日札》第一百六十五则美之曰：“Agnes Repplier, The Fireside Sphinx。盖说猫者。与其To Think of Tea, In Pursuit of Laughter两书体制相同，皆以数典为行文，而颇能化堆垛为烟云者。”钱先生1945年细札之。In Pursuit of Laughter见摘于Noctes Atticae册。
“拌些黄油和盐，敷在面包上同吃”云云来自To Think of Tea!笔记眉：“The story of the lady who, having received a present of a pound of tea, boiled the whole of it into a mass, seasoned it with pepper, salt and butter, and served it as a vegetable to guests, began to betold in Addison's time until Southey related it for the last time. The boys of Westminster School were given discarded tea-leaves spread on their bread.”又按《围城》第三章“茶叶初到外国”云云亦典据Repplier书。
“广告”云云出于To Think of Tea!笔记：“Tea removeth lassitude, vanquisheth heavy dreams, easeth the frame, and strengtheneth the memory. It overcometh superfluous Sleep, so that without trouble whole nights may be passed in study. It is of great avail to men of corpulent bodies, and to such as eat much flesh.”为Thomas Garway之文“published a handbill or broadside: ‘An exact description of Growth, Quality and Virtues of the Tea Leaf’”，非“广告”。杨绛殆舛淆上文之“in Sept. 1658, these appeared in Mercurius Politicus the famous advertisement of Mr Thomas Garway”。“Sleep,”后原书尚有“and prevents sleepiness in general,”钱先生略却。
“莱登大学”云云亦见钱先生笔记：“Dr. Cornelius Bonteko of the University of Leyden used to express his opinions in terms that insured him opponents, so that he lacked the cheerful stimulus of a quarrel. According to his treatise ‘The Most Excellent Herb, Tea’, tea warmed the stomach, cleared the mind, strengthened the memory, befriended learning, and above all conquer man's arch-enemy, sleep.”
胡诗汤颂则采自《三十五举》册所札《清异录》（《宝颜堂秘笈》本）——后文“冷面草”云云亦然。“汤悦”，钱先生似作“汤怳”，遂致杨文讹作“汤况”。
下文：“诗人柯立治的儿子，也是一位诗人，他喝茶论壶不论杯。约翰生博士也是有名的大茶量。”亦得诸To Think of Tea!笔记：“Hartley Coleridge: ‘Cups! I don't count by cups. I count by pots’”；“Johnson love strong drink”。
“咖啡含有毒素，只是那毒性发作得很慢”云云，钱先生评Henri Bernard书亦用之：“Voltaire's famous retort to his physician on coffee as ‘a slow, very slow poison’”。又按“现代的睡魔，学会了摆架子，请他也不肯光临”仿佛导《围城》第八章之先路：“睡眠这东西脾气怪得很，不要它，它偏会来，请它，哄它，千方百计勾引它，它拿身分躲得影子都不见。”
“记不起哪一位英国作家说过，‘文艺女神带着酒味’，‘茶只能产生散文’。”亦取自To Think of Tea!笔记：“‘The Muses smell of wine.’ Tea was made for prose.”“记不起”云云修词也，立诚也，亦售欺也——把真话来掩饰事实（“女神带酒味”，Horace俊语；“茶生散文”，Repplier仿笔），学孔明空城计耳。
录入编辑：洪振雷
