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33 



CEYLON TEAS IN THE HOME AND LOCAL 

 MARKE TS. 



HOW INFEKIOR TEAS AND STRANGE MARKS ARE AC- 

 COUNTED fob; AND HOW TO IJIPBOVE OCR TEAS. 



(Co7nviunicated.) 

 Our attention has been drawn to some com- 

 plaints which recently appeared in one of the 

 London tea brokers' circulars, that a large break 

 of inferior Ceylon tea was offered for sale in Lon- 

 don under the new estate name. It appears to us 

 that the broker who made the marks knew very 

 httle of what is going on here in the way of 

 local tea sales. The explanation given to us how 

 so large a break as about 300 chests could be offered 

 in one sale, is very simple ; they were, we are told, the 

 aggregate purchases of a local buyer, who, to 

 prevent inquisitive and impertinent outsiders from 

 following and critcising his operations, erased the 

 estate names of his purchases, and put his own 

 mark on the packages. It is said, this practice 

 is being generally adopted by local tea buyers, and it 

 accounts for the disappearance, from the London 

 sales list, of the names of many estates, known 

 to produce large quantities of tea. 



The local sales, «; our readers arc aware, in- 

 clude a very large number of small quantitie.=:, 

 often single packages of broken tea, broken mixed, 

 red leaf, dust and fannings : the buyers of these 

 little lots probably make much larger profits out 

 of their purchases than they do out those of 

 the better descriptions. These small lots, we are also 

 told, are added together and bulked in London, and 

 thus large breaks are made which the trade 

 largely bid for. What therefore is the use of 

 London brokers complaining of parcels of inferior 

 tea being offered for sale ? 



It is well known that every estate has a portion 

 more or less of what is called inferior tea. When 

 the proprietors can obtain for it, prices which 

 more than cover cost of manufacture, etc., is it to 

 be expected that they will throw it away to meet 

 the views of those who write about what they 

 can scarcely be expected to understand? It is 

 suggested we should sell all our inferior rubbish 

 to the natives ; now these, we have Ho doubt, 

 have a great and growing capacity for imbibing a 

 lot of inferior lea, but they can scarcely swallow 

 the quantities that are being rapidly produced. 

 What then is to be done with this tea, but to 

 follow John Chinaman's example? There is a great 

 outcry at present amongst unthinking critics, re- 

 garding the falling-off in the quality of some of 

 the Ceylon teas ; but it is asked, reasonably enough, 

 who are the sufferers by this?— not the brokers, nor 

 the buyers who get tea very cheap, nor the con- 

 sumers who evidently drink what they like, but 

 the estate proprietors. Is it to be supposed, we 

 are asked, that their own interests are not 

 sufficiently strong to induce them to make 

 and ship the best tea their circumstances will 

 permit ? We shall be having London brokers very 

 soon recommending proprietors to make nothing 

 but broken pekoes, with a bright coppery infused 

 leaf and pungent liquor, just as we remember 

 coffee planters were formerly advised to grow 

 nothing but peaberry and first size, and to sell 

 all their triage to natives ! It must be admitted 

 that the Ceylcn planter as a rule knows very 

 well what he is about, and is quite able to look 

 after his own interests. 



A manager of an estate wrote to his principal : — 

 "For goodness sake don't write to me any more 

 of the Colombo opinions, regarding the withering 

 and fermenting of our teas ; by endeavouring to 

 follow them, I bavp overwithered and overfeiineuted 

 5 



my tea, and I have now been taught by Mr. Gow 

 the folly of adopting the opinions of the people 

 who absolutely know nothing about the subject." 

 May not this be the case with London brokers ? 

 That the quality of the tea from some of the 

 older estates where the names can be followed 

 has deteriorated, admits of no doubt whatever. 

 The explanation offered is, that, in the majority 

 of cases, it is only temporary ! Until every planter 

 acquires Mr. Gow's method of making good tea 

 out of inferior leaf, there will be a recurring period 

 of inferior quality after pruning, and this will be 

 intensified and prolonged if the weather after 

 pruning sets in dry. 



Apart from this cause of inferiority now, much of 

 it is attributable to the large and rapidly increasing 

 quantity of young tea made by superintendents 

 who have neither appliances nor the requisite 

 knowledge for making good tea. The art of tea- 

 making is not acquired in a day. So London brokers 

 must make up their minds that for a good many 

 years to come they will have to sell a good lot 

 of inferior tea from Ceylon. 



In order to bafHe the idle curiosity of those who, 

 having no concern in the matter, make invidious 

 comparison of the teas made on various estates, it is 

 reported that proprietors are shipping all lots of 

 inferior tea which they may have under initials, 

 reserving the estate's name for all good (lualities. 

 As all teas are sold on their merits, no advantage 

 is obtained by putting estate names on the cases, 

 except in those instances where the average prices have 

 generally been high ; buyers are induced to look at 

 lots of these, which they would otherwise pass by. 

 As germane to this subject we may mention that 

 we have been shown some samples of tea recently 

 made on Mr. Gow's system ; as far as we can judge 

 they arc very fine, a great contrast, we are in- 

 formed, to the last month's tea from the same 

 estate. These samples are valued at an average of 

 85 cents per lb. against 57 cents, the last sale price. 

 1 Why, then, should proprietors grope any longer in 

 ! the dark ? May not much of the inferiority com- 

 plained of be owing to inexperienced planters trying 

 ; to make teas on the advice of empirics? 



THE WHOLESALE TEA TRADE. 



As all matters relating to the tea trade are import- 

 ant to our readers, we give some particulars of the 

 annual meeting of the Wholesale Tea Dealers' As- 

 sociation, which took place on Friday last, at the 

 London Oommercial Sale Rooms, Miacing Lane. 



After the notice convening the meeting had been 

 read, the secretary read tiip following report: — 



Your committee have again the pleasure of present- 

 ing their annual report and statement of accounts 

 made up to the 3Ist March last. The meetings of 

 the committee have been as numerous as usual, and 

 the subjects which have engaged their atteution varied 

 in charactt-r, the following being some of the most im- 

 portant affecting the interest of the wholesale tea 

 trade. An action at law was brought against a whole- 

 sale tea dealer to recover warrants in his possession, 

 which, althouijh paid for, were said to be held as a 

 lien for an unpaid account. Three or four witnesses 

 were examined in court, but they failed to furnish any 

 evidence of the custom of the trade, and in order that 

 no doubt might exist in future on this point, a cir- 

 cular letter was addressed to the trade, and the As- 

 sociation have sufficient replies to enable any mem- 

 ber to give satisfactory and complete evidence as to 

 the custom of the trade. Serious complaints were 

 made respecting unreasonable delays in the delivery 

 of weight-notes, and the subject was brought under 

 the notice of the selling brokers, who at once met 

 the case iu a fair spirit and a marked improvement 

 has since taken place. The weighing of ludian teas 

 opoo tbo average net weigbt pdocipl^ was foun toi 



