Sm\ t, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. ioi 
ALLEGED DETERIOEATION OF CEYLON TEAS. 
Our opponent of 1891-92— Mr. F. Sutton Hawes — 
has returned to his preaching against Ceylon 
teas as may be 8?ea by his letter given on 
page 205, addressed to th^ Morning Post. But it 
gives us great pleasure to be able at this time to 
publish a letter addressed to ourselves and received 
by the same mail from England which we regard as 
OQe of the most vaiuable c ntributiocs yei, made 
to the prolonged discussion in our columns of two 
months ago. This discussion has evidently been 
attracting a good deal of notice at home. Vie 
ask for special attention and careful conBidi rution 
in the case of the letter signed " Anon," (given below) 
because the writer if we were allowed to publish his 
name would at once be recognised as one of the very 
first autboritios in the Tea Trade. The great oare 
he has taken to discriminate between terms usually 
mixed up in our local disousaions, and the new 
light he throws on the condition of our teas as a 
whole in the estimation of experts in the Lane, 
cannot fail to be regarded with interest. On the 
whole, we consider "Anon'b" deliverance to be 
distinctly encouraging and fortifying to the position 
of Ceylon teas in general estimation. Under the 
shield of an authority like our correspondent, we 
can afford to disregard to a great extent the 
oritioism which would have the world believe that 
Oeylon teas had fallen irretrievably in quality and 
that too in a way that was not experienced with 
Inaian teas. On the contrary, Indian teas have 
passed through precisely the same experience as 
our adverse oritics would have had us believe was 
peculiar to Ceylon. 
THE ALLEGED " DETERIORATION OF 
CEYLON TEA"— THE OPINION OF 
AN EXPERT WHO HAS TASTED 
AND SOLD CEYLON TEAS FROM 
THE BEGINNING. 
(To the Editor, " Tropical Agricidtiinst.") 
London, 28th July 1893. 
Sib, — If it be not too late, I would like to con- 
tribute a Eupplement to the discussion carried on 
in your columns in May and June about the 
alleged deterioration in quality of Ceylon tea : 
and as I write anonymously I ought to preface 
my note wi b the remark that it has been my 
occupation for twenty ytara to tatta and sell Indian 
tea for growers, and Ceylon tea from the first day 
of its introduotion here. 
Such a calling trains one to be careful in obser- 
vation and prdoise in statement, it less positive 
than is usual with those who have not a similar 
experience, and I realize the difficulty of giving 
a direct anewer to the question " has Ceylon tea 
deteriorated in quality ? " For this reason ; the 
term "quality" is very loosely used and needs 
definition. By some it is used as the equivalent 
of " value," and this I think accounts for the widely 
divergent opinions on the matter at issue. 
What, then, is the professional index of 
" quality ? " I should reply " the colour and 
texture of leaf after infusion." Tea makers from 
the beginning have been taught to watch this in 
ord>r lo satisfy themsalves that they were working 
on the right lines ; and no safer standard could 
have been given them, for the senses of sight 
and touch are in most men more acute and re- 
liable than those of taste or of smell. 
Trying, by this rule, to find an answer to the 
questioD, I should say that the average quality 
of Ceylon tea has not deteriorated, but that its 
character has undergone a gradual change. This 
change is only one of the causes of the fall in 
value ; but it accounts for one to often bearing 
planters complain that though their tea is of good 
quality they get poor prices. Gauged by the standard 
given them their teas are of good quality, though 
they may not have the obaraoteristios which create 
high value. 
The phrase " poor quality " strictly used, implies 
either that the Itaf was in bad condition before or 
during manufacture, or that it has been badly 
treated in the making ; but the term is oarelesely 
applied to crops made from good leaf but not such 
as has been " plucked fine," and properly made up 
but necessarily of a low grade and low average value. 
The criticism passed on planters and their pro- 
duce on this tide often arises from confounding 
"quality" with "value;" from mistaking a low 
I quotation for a low profit to the grower ; or from 
failure to understand that planters know their busi- 
ness, and aim at the sort of crop which seems likely 
to pay most. When saoh oritioismB do not proceed 
from responsible advisers, given in the privacy of 
confidential reports, producers need not be sensitive 
about them, for they do not touch the trade at large. 
Hoviug spoken of a "change in character," I should 
like to give evidence (if you. Sir, will answer for my 
competence) that it appears to be neither more nor 
less than is experienced by Indian gardens which 
give up making specially fine tea and instead of 
that pluck freely in order to make a large crop. I 
th(nk it is even less than the change which has 
taken place (subject to exceptions) in the entire 
crops from Eangra Valley, Chittagong, the Terai, 
and theDooare sinoe the estates first began to yield. 
Outside c riain favoured localities in Darjteling 
and Assail), very little tea comes from old estates 
equal in character or value to the tees of 20 yean 
ago — though much of it is still of excellent quality; 
and far better manipulated than it used to be. 
On the other hand, each season witnesses an estate 
notorious for making poor tea sending some of 
good quality and value, duo to a different polioy, 
first in the field then in the factory. 
This being so, I have grounds for assuming that 
if Oeylon planters should see it to be to their 
interest to make a different kind of crop, it ia in 
their power to do so, and thus to dispose of the 
rumours that " plants are played out," the 
soil exhausted " &o,, which 1 may say are becom- 
ing unpleasantly prevalent. 
It would seem to be desirable that some of the 
Companies which control numerous estates should 
try this on a limited portion of their property, 
as they can do so with tho min:mum of risk. 
For a precedent, I may cite the Jokai Co. 
of Assam, a prosperous ooncdrn, which makes 
choice tea on some esta'es aad heavy crops on 
others, and so caters for varying requiremente, and 
provides against fluctuations of market. 
Baverting to the '* ehange in character" — as it 
fell to me to handle most of the choice teas in the 
early days, trusting to memory, I shrulJ say that 
we do not now receive any with the high flavour of 
Boakwood, the richness of Looloondara, the strong 
ripe liquor of Blaokstone, or the peculiar s'.rength of 
Agarsland, when those teas made Ceylon the talk 
of the town. Neither do we receive much tea now 
which shows the unmistakable outward signs of 
being made from specially" fine-plucked" leaf, but 
numerous estates make equally good quality in the 
strict sense of the term ; for " strength" "riohnesa" 
"flavour" are not in themselves essential to quality. 
Whether the prices paid for ohoioe teas in the 
past will ever be paid again is another matter 
altogether: on referring to memoranda of the years 
1884-5 when such high prices were paid, I see that 
quotations for the best Indian teaa were 6d to 9.1 
higher than they are now, and the average value of 
Indian tea about 30 per cent higher than it is today. 
—I am, sir, yours &o., ANON. 
