488 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



tea which possess a natui-al green hue. Green teas, and more 

 especially the gunpowders, in addition to being faced and glazed, 

 are more subject to adulteration in other ways than black teas, 

 as by admixture of leaves not those of tea, with paddy husk, and 

 particularly with lie tea. That lie tea is prepared so as to re- 

 semble green tea, and is extensively used by the Chinese them- 

 selves to adulterate gunpowder tea ; it is also sent over to this 

 country in vast quantities, and is employed for the same purpose 

 by our own tea dealers and grocers. In many cases it is marked 

 lie tea by the Chinese themselves. It is an article expressly man- 

 ufactured for the adulteration of tea, and is made up with a cer- 

 tain proportion of tea dust, gum and sand; it is formed into 

 little masses, and those are afterwards faced with Prussian blue 

 or indigo, tm-meric and China clay; this clay forms a very fine 

 powder, which gives a smoothness and gloss to the leaves. Teas 

 undergo further deterioration; exhausted tea leaves are frequently 

 made up with gum, and artificially colored and glazed, then sold 

 to the public as genuine black and green tea. Ladies will say 

 that they have examined the leaves coming from their tea pot, 

 and that they never have found other than tea leaves. The reason 

 is that when the leaves of the plum or other plants are used, they 

 are prepared in a special manner, being broken into pow- 

 der and mixed with catechu and gum, and formed into little 

 masses in the same way as the Chinese fabricate them, and 

 mixed with genuine tea. When hot water is added to those 

 masses, the catechu and gum are dissolved by the hot wa- 

 ter, and nothing remains but the leafy matter at the bottom 

 of the tea pot. The teas sold to Americans by the Chinese are 

 much higher glazed than those sent to England. The coloring is 

 not intended as an adulteration, but to suit the capricious taste 

 of the foreign buyers, who judge of an article used as a drink by 

 the eye instead of the palate. The American merchant disliked 

 the yellowish appearance of uncolored green tea so much that the 

 Chinese merchant had scarcely a chance of selling his tea unless 

 he gave it a face that would suit their fancy. I think the small 

 quantity of Prussian blue required for coloring must preclude the 

 idea of adulteration with this substance as a matter of profit. 

 Still even the poorest classes of Chinese cannot be induced to 

 drink glazed teas. There is an establishment in Manchester, 

 England, that collects the tea leaves after they have been used, 

 glaze, color, and sell them as a geuuine ai-ticle. 



