July i, 1887.] 1'HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
33 
NOTES ON TEAS. 
(Home & Colonial Mail, May 20th.) 
Commending on the prospects of the Canadian tea 
trade this season, the Montreal Trade Bulletin observes: 
— " It was expected that the market for new-crop 
Japan teas would open today (April 29), and con- 
sequently news was anxiously looked for to know the re- 
sult of the first sales. Large orders have gone out from 
Canada, against which credits have already been placed 
at Yokohama ; but it will depend a great deal upon 
prices as to whether they will be filled or not. If the 
market opens at reasonable rates a large business will be 
done ; but if prices rule high, very few Montreal orders 
will be executed. A leading feature in the trade, and 
one to which we have recently referred, is the increns- 
ing demand for black teas. These goods have grown in 
such favour with Canadian Consumers that it is estim- 
ated that more than double the quantity is now sold 
than was the case three years ago." 
The Grocer of last Saturday (14th May) takes up the 
theme of some of its correspondents, who lament that the 
tea trade is degenerating. The Grocer thinks that the de- 
cay of the taste for fine teas has had much to do with 
this, and it therefore enlarges unnecessarily upon the 
roughness of Indian and Ceylon teas, as compared with 
those from China. It says: — "With this indifference 
to and neglect of, the choicer qualities, side by side has 
been the increasing competition of Indian teas, the 
bulk of which have abounded in strength rather than 
in delicacy of flavour ; and as the populace have fancied 
that teas, because ihey are strong must be the best, the 
greater run of the demand upon these has left China 
and other fine teas more and more in the background, 
chiefly on account of the greater number of ' brewings' 
which could be obtained from one pound of Assam 
growth as compared with a sim lar quantity of Ohina 
tea at the same figure ; or, as Mr. Goschen tersely 
explained the matter in his recent Budget speech 
— ' Indian teas are stronger than the Chinese teas, 
and therefore go somewhat further in making the 
same number of cups.' This, we believe, is the real 
secret of the whole question, ' Why should the great 
socialising beverage be made the target for catch- 
price adventurers i ' Indian and Ceylon teas of late 
years have been more constantly paraded before the 
eyes of the public than China solely because of their 
roughness and ' point,' and while nothing virtually 
has been done to keep the finer grades of Ohina teas 
well to the front in general estimation, every device 
that could be hit upon has been zealously tried to 
' educate ' the palates of consumers in favour of the 
rougher kinds of tea, and stimulate their use in this 
country as much as possible." 
The Grocer goes on to admit that after all, the 
public have some choice in the matter. It con- 
tinues : — " It has also happened that, at the same 
time the 'palates' of the millions of tea-drinkers 
have been trained and accustomed to prefer teas 
giviug strength and colour, their pockets have been 
appealed to in a practical way, by proving that a 
much stronger quality of Indian tea at a lower price 
can be had than is always to bo found in China de- 
scriptions for more money ; and with thousands of 
con Burners in all ranks of the population, the love of 
economy when it saves the ' pocket ' is as powerful an 
element in calculating the object of their choice 
a« the gratification of the palate. The people, after 
all that may be said and done, are the final judges 
of what tea really suits them, and the more they 
are dictated to as to the qualities which they should 
choose, the less likely are they to be free users of the 
sorts recommended." 
It concludes : — " Individual tastes, everyone isaware, 
diner very much, and we do not think it advisable, 
•Tea if it were possible, to lay down a hard and fast 
rule, and declare that one description of tea is more 
desirable than another, beyond the broad fact that 
good tea is always preferable to bad. When Indian 
tea first camo to be noticed it was because it had au 
entirely distinctive quality, such as wis rarely mot 
With iu China growths, and it supplied a want 
which bad long boon felt for the peculiar 
raspiness which many old-fashioned tfa- lri ikers 
liked in the cup, and before tl en could 
only be furnished by an admixture of so-called 
j " green" tea of Chinese manufacture — a class of 
tea that is going out of consumption more an I more 
every year. It maybe said that the "Sale of Food 
and Drugs Act," passed years ago, nearly killed the 
trade iu green teas, as they were supposed to be heavily 
adulterated with turmeric, plvmbago, he. ; and io take 
their place, as well as to satisfy the ever-expan l ng re- 
quirements of eager buyers, the astringent and highly 
flavoured teasof India were drawn upon toan unheard- 
of extent. Popular instinct, more than special education 
on this point, has helped to make the trade what, it is 
at present, and we see no reason for believing that it 
will deviate much from the course already marked out 
by long experience in the customs and habits of the 
average tea-drinkers. Wishy-w shy stuff uo one likes, 
and the greatest consumers of tea are those who buy the 
roughest kinds. his is how Indian teas have been so 
rushed after since their wonderful qualities became 
,:iiown." Precisely, Indian and Ceylon teas have materi- 
ally helped to popularise tea drinking in this country. 
♦ 
DIRECT TEA SHIPMENTS FROM CALCUTTA 
TO GLASGOW. 
As the following paragraph has been going the 
rounds of the provincial press, we insert it as an 
evidence of the manner in which Indian tea is rapidly 
gaining the attention of the trade: — 
The Direct Importation of Tea to Glasgow. — 
" An attempt is being made by certain tea dealers in 
Glasgow to break down the monopoly of the Indian 
tea trade at present held by the London brokers. 
Several shipments on a small scale have been brought 
direct to Glasgow, and the experiment has proved 
that this method is practicable. When it is stated 
that the freight alone from London to Glasgow is 
greater than that paid from Calcutta to Glasgow, 
and that the Glasgow importers can buy on equal 
terms with London in the Calcutta market, it seems 
evident that the new enterprise ought to succeed. 
We understand that the importers are so well satisfied 
with the results achieved that they are now making 
arrangements to develop the business, their idea being 
to give the city a tea market, and to make it independ- 
ent of London for Indian tea. AVith this view they 
are approaching the tea growers in India, and hope 
to arrauge that lots of tea will be sent to Glasgow 
direct from the garden." 
On the face of it there is something attractive in the 
idea of breaking down monopolies, but in our judgment 
there is no monopoly in the case whatever. There is 
now nothing to hinder anyone in London setting up iu 
business as a tea broker; the only trouble is to find 
clients to operate for, and we have not the slightest 
doubt but that any buyer of tea in Glasgow or else- 
where who can buy an entire break of any kind of tea, 
and pay cash before del i very as all the London defers 
have to do, will have no difficulty in finding scores of 
London tea brokers only too willing to operate for him. 
It is a well understood fact in Mincing Lane that the 
qualities of Indian tea suitable for one part of the 
United Kingdom aro not readily sal able in another. 
Hence one of the greatest difficulties of a tea 
blender is to find the quality that suits the pecu- 
liar tastes of the district in which it is to be con- 
sumed. Some descriptions draw a dark infusion in 
one town, but aie palo and undesirable in another. 
It will naturally follow, therefore, that ahinvoi B of 
tea from any particular gardeu of peculiar or dis- 
tinctive quality, shipped to a small market, would 
suffer considerably in value if it did not exactly suit 
the fancy. Besides, it is not very likely that English 
buyers would take the trouble to oompote in the 
' Glasgow market, whilst in London the whole king- 
: dom competes. Such experiments have been tried io 
the past, and been found impracticable. It is quite 
within the recollection of the present generation of 
Mincing Lane tea brokers, that the import of tea 
