94 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. V. 



green-tea country, asked them what reasons they had 

 for dyeing the tea, and whether it would not be 

 better without undergoing this process. They ac- 

 knowledged that tea was much better when prepared 

 without having any such ingredients mixed with it, 

 and that they never drank dyed teas themselves, 

 but justly remarked that, as foreigners seemed to 

 prefer having a mixture of Prussian blue and gypsum 

 with their tea, to make it look uniform and pretty, 

 and as these ingredients were cheap enough, the 

 Chinese had no objection to supply them, especially 

 as such teas always fetched a higher price ! 



" I took some trouble to ascertain precisely the 

 quantity of colouring matter used in the process of 

 dyeing green teas, not certainly with the view of 

 assisting others, either at home or abroad, in the art 

 of colouring, but simply to show green-tea drinkers 

 in England, and more particularly in the United 

 States of America, what quantity of Prussian blue 

 and gypsum they imbibe in the course of one year. 

 To 14i lbs. of tea were applied 8 mace 2 J candareens 

 of colouring matter, or rather more than an ounce. 

 In every hundred pounds of coloured green tea con- 

 sumed in England or America, the consumer actually 

 drinks more than half a pound of Prussian blue and 

 gypsum ! And yet, tell the drinkers of this coloured 

 tea that the Chinese eat cats, dogs, and rats, and 

 they will hold up their hands in amazement, and pity 

 the poor celestials !" 



Two kinds of Prussian blue are used by the tea- 

 manufacturers — one is the kind commonly met with, 



