516 



Capers — are invariably adulterated. We may therefore congratulate 

 ourselves, when sipping our infusion of Congou or Souchong, that in 

 all probability we are imbibing a genuine article ; but if green tea 

 enters into the composition of our beverage the case is widely altered. 

 Unfortunately there is too much reason to conclude that genuine 

 green tea cannot be obtained in England at any price. Here Chi- 

 nese and English rogues have found full scope for their wicked inge- 

 nuity, and have met with a success worthy of a better cause. Here, 

 too, the fraud is more intolerable, by reason of the poisonous nature 

 of the ingredients used. Up to a certain point the process of making 

 artificial green tea is the same as that for black, the difference con- 

 sisting in the colouring. To produce the characteristic colour of 

 green tea three colouring matters are generally used — a yellow, a blue, 

 and a white. The yellow and blue when mixed form a green, and 

 white is added either to lessen the intensity of the former colours, or 

 else to give polish to the surface of the leaves. 



The following extract from ' Household Words' we copy as quoted 

 in the ' Lancet.' It is headed " Death in the Tea-pot." 



" A short time since a friend of mine, a chemist in Manchester, was 

 applied to for a quantity of French chalk, a species of talc, in fine 

 powder ; the parly who purchased it used regularly several pounds a 

 week ; not being an article of usual sale in such quantity, our friend 

 became curious to know to what use it could be applied ; on asking 

 the wholesale dealer who supplied him, he stated his belief that it was 

 used in 'facing' tea (the last process of converting black tea into 

 green), and that within the last month or two he had sold in Man- 

 chester upwards of a thousand pounds of it. Our friend the chemist 

 then instituted a series of experiments, and the result proved that a 

 great deal if not all the common green tea used in this country is 

 coloured artificially. The very first experiment demonstrated fraud. 

 The plan adopted was as follows : — A few spoonfuls of green tea at 

 five shillings a pound were placed on a small sieve, and held under a 

 gentle stream of cold water flowing from a tap for the space of four or 

 five minutes. The tea quickly changed its colour from green to a dull 

 yellow, and upon drying with a very gentle heat gradually assumed 

 the appearance of ordinary black tea. On making a minute microsco- 

 pic examination of the colouring matter washed from the leaf, and 

 which was caught in a vessel below, it appeared to be composed of 

 three substances, particles of yellow, blue, and white. The blue was 

 proved to be Prussian blue, the yellow thought to be turmeric, and the 

 white French chalk. If the two former be mixed together in fine 



