GUM, TANNIN. 285 



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important part in softening and cloaking this prin- 

 ciple ; so that the better sorts of tea are indebted 

 to gum for their agreeable flavour ; without which 

 they would be no better than a decoction of oak 

 bark. Those teas have the best flavour, which have 

 a tolerably large quantity of tannin, with enough 

 of gum to moderate the astringency on the tongue. 

 Culture, he states, has much to do with this. 



The analysis shows that green tea is more astrin- 

 gent than black ; and that this principle is also less 

 covered or concealed ; for though the actual quantity 

 of gum is greater in green tea than in black, yet 

 the proportion of gum to tannin is less. In fine, 

 the Author concludes, that it is from a happy 

 combination of its four principal constituents that 

 an agreeable tea infusion is obtained. To which 

 he adds that cream and sugar contribute to mellow 

 the astringency. 



The difference in the quantity of tannin contained 

 in black and green tea is remarkable ; viz. Congou 

 12*88, and Hyson 17*80. * Mulder considers that 

 part is converted into " apothem," a change which 

 likewise takes place in extractive ; and hence black 

 tea is less astringent than green. But this hardly 

 seems to account satisfactorily for the great 

 deficiency of tannin in black tea. The whole 



* The comparison ought to be made between Congou and 

 Twankay ; between Souchong and Hjson ; and between Gun- 

 powder and Pekoe ; these being teas whose conditions and 

 circumstances relatively approximate most nearly to each other. 



