LIE-TEA. 



121 



Owing to the high duty and high price of tea^ it is an 

 article which is much sophisticated^ not only by the dealers 

 in this country, who adulterate with the leaves of various 

 indigenous trees, and the exhausted tea-leaves re-dried, but 

 also by the Chinese themselves. 



Latterly large quantities of a spurious article have found 

 their way into this country under the name of Lie-tea^ given 

 to it by the Chinese manufacturers. It is used solely for 

 the purpose of adulterating other teas, and at first sight 

 has the appearance of fine gunpowder ; it is composed of 

 the dust and sweepings of the tea- warehouses ; this dust is 

 mixed with chrome-yellow and Prussian-blue, in very fine 

 powder, and in such proportions as to give the peculiar 

 light-green tea colour to this compound. A liquid, formed 

 by boihng the husks of rice in water until it has the con- 

 sistency of thin gruel, is then sprinkled in whilst the mass 

 of powder is at the same time briskly stirred with rods^ 

 which causes it to granulate, and produces a very close 

 imitation of green tea. Mr. Warrington has stated that 

 the colouring matter of lie-tea is a mixture of Prussian-blue 

 and turmeric, with a large proportion of fibrous gypsum; 

 and that the black lie-tea is covered with earthy plumbago 

 or black-lead, having only a sHght lustre. The author has 



