772 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May I, 1894. 
Tbi^ beiug tlio case the market is likely <o reniaiu very 
itrorg, for nlthough the trade demand b«s but-ii latioh 
less anitnatod during tbo past ibree wcckit tban prc- 
vioufly, pricta have steadily rifen, witb iiicrt-aBing 
(!elivorien, which is a proof that dealer.! ara maiuly 
clesriui; from Iht-ir earlier purchaec?. It W, tbfroforr, 
Datura! to infer that etocks znnst Foonor or Utor be 
repletiiah* d, but evtn in tliis c.kc auy further malcrial 
foroing-up of prices would be uofortunate, as it would 
eettainly obeck the coDsumption. Therein uicl.iiijffe 
in the position of Oojlon teas, tlie nmrkirt remainiug 
steady with a good demand. Tbo Bupplio* will no 
doubt cOMlinne for a tioie on a moderate Bcale, owing 
to the Hmnller exports from Colombo, and oondoqncntly 
an increased firmuees may bo expected after Eister, 
when an improvemijut in the it quiry may be looked 
for,— Jf and 0 Mail, Mirch 30. 
♦ 
TEA, COFFEE, AND COCOA. 
On Wednesday Mr. Ernest Hart, Chairman of tho 
Counoil of the Nationil Hoaltli Society, delivnrcd i>u 
address on this subject at the rooms of the Soc'cty, 53, 
Beroera Street, in which he aimed nt dispelling ma'iy 
eommon errorc, and disou-s'ng the matter in haid 
p-actically as wc'l as from tho Pcieu'ific poiut of view. 
The lecturer began by referring to the ovtrwholmii g 
argument in favour of these beverages deducib'e from 
tho principle quod tihiijue, i/uod ab omnibits. A uiiiver 
eal, disoriininniing, aoil all poweiful instinct hud led 
first nil tho nations ot the East an I ihe Suuth to ufc as 
their beverage, snd subsequently all tie Western nations, 
to adopt from them beverages derived from tei, coffee, 
Parsgnty t<a, cocoa, Guarana chocolate, or the kola 
nnt. These were all exirfmely t'iffereut in tbeir 
flavour, and altogether different in their sources of 
origin. The to* was the dried leaf of a tainell a ; 
coffee and dried tc.d < i a specie') of cinchoria; 'he 
ParJguay tea, drunk by millions of people in Southern 
Ameiios, was detivt-d from the leaves of a boll) ; 
guarana fromthessed ofpaullinia; kola frcmtherut 
of Bteroulia. Modern chemical processes had suc- 
ceeded in discovering that tho whole of thetc bever- 
ages were oharacterife 1, however different in flavoor 
or Bouroe, by the presence of a tiugle and practiiaUy 
identical alkaloid or active prineip'o kuowu as theino or 
caffeine. Tiiking tea and coffee as the two tjpical 
beverages ot the kind prevalent throughout the Eist 
and in Wesletn Europe, Mr, Em -st Uart proceeded 
to disonss what were the important matters 
known or unknown about them rind to compare the 
methods of preparation and of infusion which prevailel 
in the West and in tho East. De?cribing in compara- 
tive detail the processes of plucking end prepariog 
China tea and the teas of India and Ceylon, he 
pointel out that however different in detail, tbey wtre 
eseentially a'ike in principle. After plucking from the 
shrub the leaf was subjected to the so'teaing and 
Wdukling prrcess known bs witherinj ; the leaves 
were then in Indii, China and Oojiot), fermen'cd in a 
wet ma B, rolled and crashed under the heavy pressure, 
re-roastel aud packed for the market. In Japan tho 
practioo differed especially for teas int nded for home 
eooBumptioo. The leaf was moistened by steam 
rosBted at a very mild heat or basket fire, rolled and 
for the purposes of the finest tea reduced to powdir 
which wRs the most highly esteemed and the only kind 
of tea used in the tea ceremonies of Japin. It will be 
observed that the essential point iu all theje modes ol 
preparation is the softeniwj of the tea leaf tnd the 
crushing is so as to set ftte within the substance of 
the leaf the theine and essentiil oils which it contains 
80 as to render them more easily diffused when infused 
in hot water as a beverage. In all cases the leaf most 
highly valued waa the email top leaf of the twig and 
the bud. There was no reafon whatever, however, 
to believe that this was either finer in quality, richer 
in content or intrinsically better in flavour than the 
leavea next in snccessioo, but being more tender and 
Bofter in etruotnre it jielded more comp'elely to the 
ctasbiDg process sad gave better aud more flavonred 
liquor. 
."-'cttiiig aside for ti c inoraeiit tho virious obsnvre 
and aiitru4tw<irthy vari<^ties uf prep kfHtiou aiid arla«- 
tiou of Oliini tea, aa to which tl ere wsbmuch inyitery 
and some luisreprcseniatiou au<l dra iug only' with 
iLditu, Ceylon and Japau teas where eveiythii>ir was 
opKU Biid above board, Mr. JIart pointed out 
ffiat tbo common an 1 prevalent impicoiuu that 
tho trades names Orange Pekoe, Pekce. •SoucLcug, 
Ciin^ou, repr)83ulcd dilfertnt products faaving aoise 
geiK-ric diatinction, was altogether uufooadO'J aad 
c o itia-y to fbe fact. Tlicy were all the aime io re»- 
ppct of origin; they were picked at tho Muie lime 
from th.i tamo plant and from the fame bush. Tte 
lul aud the top leaf cunstitutid Oraii;re Pekoe, the 
two or Ihrcu larger leaves growing on the same twig 
a little lower down were Souohoag, aoci beluw that 
tho leavea b^oamc Oongou, ouaine, hovtever, out rnoch 
rccognitcl either io Indian or Ceylon teas. 
Alter drgcribiiig the mode of gruAtli and of aoleelioD 
of tho Icif, the lecturer paid a warm compliment to 
the Oeylou teas nnd the Ibdiau teaa, pt'iutiug out, 
however, that t' c great favour with w liioh Cejloo 
teas were now regarded was no doubt due to tbe 
fact that, while equally rich io tboine, they bad a lecb 
proportion of tauuin than the Imlian Has. Io 
1880 tbe total txii ^rt of tea from Ceylon waa under 
120,000 lb. ; this jeir it had roichc I fO,000,O0y It.. 
The toiiic*ife, in teleciing a finetes, ^bou:d not be 
guided by any trade nime, but should cibtaiu oranga 
ptkoo of whatever growth, whollicr from Coylo". 
Ajsam, or Darje ling, and sbouW then dettrmire 
by pouring a little boiling wa'er over the learp», 
aid txamiiiiog ilicm that the leaf wn a wbote lea' 
and not cut iuto araall pieces from the larf>-r 1»»(. 
as wai commouly the praolicc. Tho larg-r the leaf 
the weak.T thn infu'ion and the lc<a the valoe. 
(jrecn tea from Chin* waa for the most part tfa 
fermented aud made bitter like black tea, aed then 
faced wiih Prussian bluoor indigo to eimnlale grt'en 
tei. Nearly all the Indian and Ceylon teaa were 
aleo fermeute^d and were all black teas. 
The only true natural green tea produced in quantity 
by any country now was the grern tea of Japan as 
drunk by tbe nativas atdlirgely consumed in America. 
Ibis tea waa neither so bitter nor so ffronit a.< to re- 
quire to be dootircd with au albuminoid fiuid auch 
as milk to make it drinkable, or with suj^ar to further 
hide its bit'erness. It reeded to he infused only for 
a fhort time, never more than five minutes, and tho 
water used should be just off tbe biiliog point, «■> 
as not to dissipate tl.e delicate aromt ot the tea. 
Japanese "green, " or uofcriueuted and unfaced 
tea, 80 drnnk was, in the l^cturer'a opinion, the 
very perfection of the beverage. Our Eoropean 
tastes, however, had so long been vitiated by tbe 
habit of drinkiog the strorg, bitter, fermented 
ten, that he had no great anticipation that any hut 
the more de'ica'e and cultivated palate would ap- 
proci^ite aod habitu»l!y prefer tiiii ixqiiisitely 
aromatic and harmless beverage, which was tbe 
staple drink of tho Far East. He showed the mode 
of preparing tea after tbe fashion of tbe Japanese 
from a series of Bpeoiroens, some of his own importa- 
tion, and some procured from a Japanese resident in 
London. 
Heferr^ng then to the question of tannin in tea, Mr. 
Hart g>ve tte result of a series of experiment, which 
thr(!w much doubt upon the current views on Ihe 
subject. It waa supposed generally that letting the 
hot wjter stand upon the leaves more than fifteen 
minutes extracted a considerable additional amouot 
of taonin from tbe tea, and waa very deleterieu". 
This was hardly the fact. After filtcen minn es 
very little more tannin could be extracted from the 
tea by the ordinary methods of infusion. What 
came over was an unpleasant disagreeably flavoured 
bitter extractive, which had lost all delicacy of 
flav()ur, and was unpleasant to the pala'e, but 
it did col contain Ihe excess of tannin popularly at- 
tributed to it. Tannin was so highly soluble that it 
waa dissolved in the water from the very first instant 
of 00nt«ct, and the three minutes' infusion of pale 
t-a oontaiued a very large pcoportiooor tanniD. Se 
