Jan. 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 495 
ON "SOLUBLE" TBA. 
SOME IKRESPONSIBLE NOTES. 
Tlie =*8oIahle" fei is tlij very late^b and ino?ti 
successful development in the arb of pi-odiicino; 
a rhorouijlily sound and wholesome, and absolutely 
pure tea. Bit, although, tha •'Soluble" tea is 
still in its inf iney, and will cob for soma weeks 
yet be iutraJuced to the public, the i lea is very 
old indeed, and probably has been entertained 
by many clever people, ever since tea bega i to be 
the popular beverage it now is, and au article 
of daily u=ie. Much in,s;enuity and large sums 
of money have been wasteil ou in-numerable 
attempts to produce a pure extract of tea, which 
would retain the aroma, flavour, and invigorating 
properties of the cup that c'leers. These 
attempts mostly failed from their being made with 
the prepared leaf, or ordinary made tea, and from 
the fact that the aromatic and finer principles of tea 
are largely due to an essential oil whicfc, immedi- 
ately heat is applied, becomes more volatile than 
steam, and is, the efore, mos' liable to be lost 
in any of the well-known ordinary processes of 
producing extncts. Tea is naturally of so delicate 
a character that it will not stand such treatment 
as many of the so-called essences undergo. 
Some ten years ago, it occurred to the writer 
that lb would be an easy thing to extract the juice 
from the tea leaf in its green state, and evaporate 
it down to dryness, and so produce a pare 
soluble tea. Bub all such attempts completely 
failed, and the writer not being a chemist, or at 
all a scientilic person, could not make out 
^vhy these sim|)Ie attempts did not succeed, and 
why it would not come out right. He con- 
sulted scientific folk and chemists of standing, 
but was invariably told, that though it would of 
course be quite possible for them to produce a 
pure extract of tea, securing all the tine aroma 
and flivourof the popular cup at its best (I never 
yet met a scientist who would admit anything as 
quite impossible to him) yet it could not be so done 
as to pay the cost of production. It was not 
until the writer met with the book by 
MB. KELWAY BAMBER, 
the well-known authority on the Chemistry of 
Tea, that he began to think that he was ou 
the right tack at last. When Mr Kelway Baniber 
was induced to take up the idea, and to advise, 
and help to work out experiments in London and 
afterwards, when the writer came to Ceylon for 
the purpose, then progress became apparent. 
But lb was years before the present very success- 
ful results were arrived at and not till 
after many most disheartening disappoint- 
ments and failures with chemicals or chemical 
processes had been experienced. A truly lovely 
cup of tea was soon produced in " Soluble " tea 
' form, but alas 1 the extract never would " keep" 
j for any time. Chemicals were at last entirely 
I discarded, much to the <lelight of the nou-scientilic 
operator in these experiments, and the present 
' purely mechanical or automatic process was ulti- 
' niately arrived at. Referring to our note-book, 
! I find the fiist entirely successful experiment, on 
^ the present lines, was madeon 3lst May, 1900, and 
t there is a marginal note saying that news had 
' just come of Mr Kruijer's Highb, and of the ini- 
1 mediate entry into Pretoria of the British troops — 
and a hope is exoressed that this may prove a 
lui'ky day all rouud, and for m in particular in 
our work. It was indeed. The process of that 
63 
day has never been materially altered since, and 
t!ie sample.? of " S iluble " te i t.lien rn 1 1 , if er 
being kept over two years, have been pronounced 
excellent by all sorts and conditiom inclmling 
even such experts as old ladies and professional 
tea-tasters, and in many different countries of the 
world. Of course there htve been exceptions. 
The writer heard of otie compereut tea-Caster 
some time ago, who pronounced against "Soluble" 
tea, being uniler the very erroneous impression 
that it was made from tea dust and factory 
sweepings, or (as he said) "rubbish." When he 
was informed that it was and could only be made 
from the 
DEST GREEN TEA LEAVES, 
freshly plucked from the bush, he tasted the 
tea and altered his opinion entirely. Again the 
other day, the writer had been tasting some, 
samples of " Soluble " tea in a Colombo offi'.e, 
with some well-known tea-tasters, and it was 
found very good. 
The advantages we claim for our invention 
will many of them be at once apparent, but, 
perhaps, some of the most important may not be 
so soon or so easily recognised. The portability 
and convenience in use of the "Soluble" tea 
will naturally be recognised by all and will com- 
mend it for use by Armies and Navies, and for 
expeditions of all kinds, and to Colonists, and 
all people who live in out-of-the way places, or 
where transport is difficult, to travellers, and to 
the man in a hurry. It is not anticipated that 
"Soluble" tea will at all displace ordinary l^-af 
tea in general nse — but where leaf tea cannot be 
conveniently obtained, or easily infused, then 
"Soluble" tea, which requires no infusion, but 
only the mere addition of water, of any tem- 
perature desired, to a very small quantity of the 
powder will often be resorted do. The"S3lub'e" 
tea would no doubt have been a boon to our 
soldiers in South Africa as has been said by 
members of the Ceylon Contingent who have 
seen and tasted it, as a man could ea-^ily have 
carried in his belt enousfh to make two or three 
hundred cups of tea. Here I may mention that 
one of the Dutch Doctors, who was a prisoner 
here lately t 'Id t^he writer that he believed b'le 
use of this "Soluble" tea in the water by our 
soldiers in South Africa might have prevented, 
in some measure at least, tlie enteric which was 
so prevalent. This is an important point, which 
has, however, yet to be proved. 
In Australia and other Colonies, where distances 
are often very long, and where in many cases, it; 
nlay be a matter nf some trouble ami expense to 
transport so bulky an article as a largi^ chest of 
tea, it is probable that the carriage of a few 
pounds of "Soluble" tea which will give an 
equal quantity of infu-<ion, or as many cups of tea, 
may be preferred, and tea thus become a more 
common beverajye than it is now in such localities. 
But beside its advantages in portability and 
convenience in use, the writer holds that " Soluble" 
tea is absolutely the purest and most whole-iome 
form of tea that can pj-,sibly be used. That all 
teas are not absolutely pure and wholesome may be 
perhaps, admitted, i)ut that the. British Planter is — 
or, raiher, let us say that British-grown teas are — 
like Civsar's wife is, of course, everywhere allowed, 
and the writer (as one of the Pioneers <>f the Tea 
industry in Ceylon) would be the last to cist any 
shadow of doubt on such an opinion. It goes 
then, without saying, that Ceylon and Indian te»5j 
