November i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 329 
Saxon race, which is not commonly supposed to be 
the most effete, takes by far the largest proportion 
of the fragrant leaf. Tho only people who consume 
more tea per head than wo do ourselves are our co- 
lonists in Australia and New Zealand, and there is 
no country in Europe that approaches us. We drink, 
for r instance, live hundred times as much tea 
per hi ad of the population as tho Spanish do, 
bat it is true that Spain stands lowest on the list 
in Europe. Yet, great as tho consumption is, it is 
doubtful whethor the ordinary English housewife has 
acquired the art of distinguishing between tea and 
tea, and of preparing tho liquid in the best possible 
way for tho table. Peoplo who would declare that 
every species of potato requires its own sptcial treat- 
ment in cooking regard all toa as alike when they get 
it into thi urn or pot, and do not dream that the 
character of tho water affects the liquor, or that one 
variety of tea may be longer than another in "drawing.'' 
Everybody can make tea in a fashion, but, as a matter 
of fact, it is a very delicate operation to make it 
properly, and ono that very few housewives strive to 
master. — Standard. 
ABOUT TEA AND ITS SUBSTITUTES. 
[By G. A. Sai.a (?).] 
There is always something interesting in facts and 
figures about tea, that useful sister of the proud 
and ornamental camellia-plant; that luxury of the 
richest and solaco of the poorest. The Commissioners 
of Customs have just given us a new batch of them 
showing that, in the long rivalry between tea and 
colter, the former is winning the race of popularity 
and becoming year by year more widely consumed 
and more financially important to the Ohancellor of 
the Exchequer and to commerce. For some reason, 
not easy to determine, the fragrant " berry of Mocha " 
is gradually but evidently declining in favour. The 
gross amount collected on coffee for the last ten years 
has been mainly moving in a downward direction. 
Tho bulk consumption for the year ending December 
31st, 1875, was 32,286,01 61b., showing a demau.d per 
head of the population of '9611b. The gross consump- 
tion for tho year down to December 31st last was 
31,608, .'!<) lib, showing a sale per head of the popu- 
lation of HCUb., a decrease per head of '1001b., or 
at the rate of ltl'-l percent. While the receipts from 
coffee, however, prove a substantia) diminution, those 
from chicory fairly keep pace with the increase of 
population, u sinister piece of statistics which goes 
to demonstrate that adulteration may have much 
to do with tho apparent decline of colfee. Why, 
indeed, should the wholesome and aromatic infusion, 
which, properly made, is so restorative and digestive 
become less in vogue, if it be not either that the mass 
of the people fail to get good coffee, or are not 
supplied with it browed in the proper manner ? Prob- 
ably both causes are at work against the beiry 
which the Prophet would wisely have blessed and 
recomirended in the Koran if he had lived to tasto 
it. Coffee receives vory scant justice from Western 
cooks. In the East they would be scandalised to 
think l f persons so ignorant as not only to roast 
but actually to grind it weeks anil months before 
usiri The deli, join flavour of the hiijati in Turkey 
or Hgypt 01 Syria is <lno to tho simple fact that 
tho aromatic oils of tho kernel are brought out by 
heat at tho moment of consumption, ami that the 
cafedji .corns to mingle the vulgar imitation of 
chicory, or the viler produce of burnt henns, with 
♦hat cup which tho Arab fondly oalls "The Bride 
of thu Pipe." The chief virtue of coffee — the way 
In which it pr serves indefinitely the subtle odours 
and flavours gathered in tho tropical sunshine, but 
once pulverised quickly parts with them— is against 
Its use. The public must have something extremely 
convenient in re-pert of its meats, drinks, lighting 
and everything else. Eggs are so universally em- 
ployed hecausv they urn the very epigram! of food, 
uoinleiiMng nourishment in tin- most portablu and 
available form. Gas, which ought to have been ab- 
oli> Led I Dg a i. iu favour of the electric lamp, holds 
42 
its own because of its fatally obvious handiness as 
an illuminant. So tea outdoes coffee in popularity, 
because it yields its best result with so little trouble, 
or precaution ; for, if tho leaf is good at first, it is 
only necessary to keep it well closed from the air 
to have as good a howl as the Empress of Chna 
could desire. The pale green berry, however, ou^ht 
to be roasted and broken and ground every tine- a 
roal cup of coffee is required, which rule is seldom 
or never observe d. The consequence is tho adm inistra- 
tion of poor decoctions which might make Mr. Nathaniel 
Oanopus, the Cretan, who first brewed the true be- 
verage at lialliol College, Oxford, rise from bis grave 
to protest. Strange, indeed, it is to reflect that tho 
West lias ' tily known coffee sinoe 1640 a. d. ; and tho 
earliest coffee-house iu Loudon was opened by Edwards, 
the Turkey merchant, at George-yard, Lombard street, 
in 1652 a. D. Now far and wide, in climates fit for 
it, grows the beautiful coffee-bush, with its ureamy 
flowers, scarlet " cherries," and glossy dark green 
leaves ; since even here a pound per head of the 
population implies a considerable cultivation, and, 
abroad, wherever the narghileh, the hookah, the cigar, 
cigarette, or pipe " weave their light blue tangles in 
the sun," there coffee is the indispensable coinpauiou 
of the weed. 
Tea, meanwhile, notwithstanding occasional pro- 
tests from doctors and deans against its al- 
leged nerve-exciting qualities, grows steadfastly 
in use among us. The Commissioners of Cus- 
toms-inform us that, taking the same years for com- 
parison, in 1875 the bulk consumption amounted to 
151,271,852 lb. equal toa demand of 4-52 lb. per head 
of tho population ; while in 1886 the bulk consump- 
tion amounted to 178,909,881 lb, equal to a sale of 
4'87 lb. per ihcad of the population; an increac 
per head of 0-35 lb.; or at the rate of 7'7 per 
cent. Here, again, is a most marvellous develop- 
ment of an experiment in commerce, for in 1669 tin- 
East India Company quite timidly instructed its agi nt 
at Calcutta "to buy for forty shillings tho best t y 
you can gett," and old Pepys records how he drank 
his first cup of it with all the complacent self-glori- 
fication which that primaeval gourmet must hive ex- 
hibited who swallowed the first oyster. Tea is tremen- 
dously historical ; it separated the United States 
from England; but, although everybody knows bow 
the tea-tax led to the American Rebellion, few are 
aware that the tax was voted by the merest accident 
in the House of Commons. Tea will become more 
historical still, for it seems destined to reverse the 
places of India and China, and, with the wheat and 
jute trade, to pour new rivers of wealth into the 
Queen's Eastern dominions. Ilindostan is rapidly 
gaining upon China as our source of supply. In I87fl 
China and Hong Kong supplied 84 per cent, of our 
total importation of tea, and India and Ceylon 13 pet 
cent., while last year the proportions were 63 and 3o 
per cent. This is not altogether, say her Majesty's 
Commissioners, to tho advantage of tho revenue, as, 
the teas from India being stronger than those from 
China a smaller quantity of them goes as far for the 
same purpose as a larger quantity of teas frem I he 
latter country. But who cares a pinch of Bohea lor 
Treasury officials when such things are at stake as 
the welfare of India, and the brewing of a really 
good afternoon cup? Indian teas are almost always 
prepared with scrupulous honesty of manufacture, 
which is more than cau be said of those st nt from 
tho Celestial Kingdom, although with the low duty at 
present existing there is not so much adulteration in 
this article as ouce prevailed when "lie-teis" used to 
come over which scarcely contained a single leaf of 
the genuine "then viridis " Rubbish is of course im- 
ported even now, which is made to serve its purpose 
by crafty blending with better samples j hut the people: 
at large are good judges of the commodity, nnd the 
seller of sloo-leaves and willow-lenves coloured with 
gypsum and indigo does not find his knavish businemt 
pr. sp, r. All deab-rs admit tbnt. excepting the very 
linest qualities — such ns the young Hyson, itj ■ 1 
"mandarin-tea," made of tho tender bud, and soldom 
■ecu iu this country— tho C bit etc leal pr-'tin ! > 
