March i, 1892.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
FACTS ABOUT TEA. 
(To the Editor of the Globe.) 
Sir, — You were kind enough fo inseit soino time 
ago a letter from me on the nbove suhjoct, in reference 
to Ceylon tea. This letter has been quote-1 and com- 
mented upon in most of the Easiern papers, and I 
trust, has been the moans of calling public attention 
to the merits of Ceylon tea. I aee the subject is again 
beintf discufsed in your columns, hut what I should 
suggest is that a number of samples of Ceylon, Indian, 
and Chinese tea should be submitted for analysis to 
some atialyst of repute, and their respective propor- 
tions of tiiutiin and thcine correctly Riven. I saw in 
your papar whit purported fo bean analysi s of those 
teas in a lettei- of a correspondent, but I shonld be 
forry to take his ipso dixit on the matter, as 1 believe 
he was not an analyst. As your correspondent Mr. flicks 
snyp, unless tea is properly made, that is infu-'ed for 
the proper time, the tannin and hitter extractive are 
brought out. My experience is th)).t Ceylon tea should 
infu^o for seven or eight minutes, but no more. There 
are many brands of Ceylon tea that can b« procured 
pure, and, as Boropean intelligence and improvements 
are used in harvesting tbis lea, it should surely compete 
with thai imported from an Empire that looks with 
jealous eyes on Western ideas, oven when they aro 
good ones. I have no doubt Indian teas will find 
champions, but they cannot compete with those of 
Ceylon. — Yours truly, N. B. Yorke-Davies. 
January 11. 
Sir,— I have read with much interest the letter in 
your issue of yesterday from a " Tea Planter of Thirty 
Years' Standing," which throws quite a new litjht on 
the question of some of the Himalayan growths of 
tea, and it is very satisfactory to hear ih&t quality 
free from the e.scessive quantity of tannin us found in 
the lower districts of India ami in Ceylon can be 
produced on the bills of India. So far it has generally 
been supposed that the difftrenee in preparation 
between China and other kinds accounts for the 
freedom from tannin in the one case and excessive 
qnactity in the other, and all lovers of reail}' i?ood tea, 
with the drlicious "tea flavour" possessed by the 
better kind of China, will he gla I to know a similar 
beverage can be produced from Indian products, but 
unless the mode of preparation is more assimilated 
in the process in China, which expresses most of the 
tannin before the "firing" take place, I am very 
doubtful if this desirable result can be attained. 
Nevertheless, it is worth the serious consideration of 
Indian and Ceylon growers to see what they can do 
in this direction, if they wish to preserve their valu- 
able industry, for the time cannot be far off when 
the medical profes'-ion will step in and forbid the use 
of these unwholesome pungent tannin-ladeu teas now 
being let loo^e on the public at the expense of nerves 
and digestion. Tea must necessarily le tanuiferous, 
but the leas we ge^ of this dclelorious property the 
better, and nntil they learn in India and Ceylon to 
get rid of as much tannin as possible during the 
process of manufacture commend mo to the delicious 
tea flavour and bouquet found so far only in China 
growth, suoh teas as you get everywhere in liussia, 
but so seldom nowadays in this con try. — I am, sir, 
your obedient servant, 
.Tanuary 18. M. E. L. 
Sib,— WbiiQ Mr. Hicks appears desirous of placing 
certain " facti about tea" before the public in bis 
letter to yon of the 6;h instant, he has omitted to 
record other facts which may interest and enliubten 
yonr readers. He says that "all good tea is, when 
infii'^ed, of a bright copi er colour in the leaf"; this 
chanictoristic, however, which is indicative of faultless 
manufacture, must not he looked for by the consumer 
unless ho pays a fair price. A tea with a bright copper 
coloured_ leaf after infusion cannot be got tirst hand 
under cifcht pence to i>ine pence per pound (ex-duty 
four pence), and such tea if Sold in its purity will 
not bo otfcrtd to llie juiblio under Is 8d to la lod 
per pound ; hnt it must bo remembered that a consider- 
8;") 
I able portion of this margin has been swallowed up 
by the various middlemen who intervene between the 
grower and consumer. Then, again, in comparing 
one tea with another, the consumer invariably over- 
looks the fact that he buys by weight and usee by 
measures. The trade are alive to this fact, and aosrcely 
any, if any of the best Pekoe Souchongs and Pekoes 
reach the consumer as imported. The leaf is passed 
through a mill, which reduces the origical size to any 
desired degree, and it can readily be understood that 
after this proctss a much greater quantity can be taken 
from the caddy with the traditional caddy spoon tbaa 
would otherwise be possible — in other words, the mill- 
ing process increases the specific gravity, and the 
consumer is unwittingly using a greater weight of 
tea than if he purchased an 'hotesttea" — i.e., that 
which has not been tampered with. 
The comparative strength of tea can only be 
di termined by weighing equal quantities, and infusing 
them an equal given time in the same quantity of 
water, as practisfd by experts. By measure a tea 
sold at Is 6d which has been milled to half its natural 
size can be shown to be better than another wbioh 
has not been milled, at 2s per pound, as judged by 
the strength of infusion, eimply because a greater 
weight of the former has been used. Of course, mill- 
ing the leaf will not affect the flavour of anv tea, 
whether it be Cbii a, Ceylon, Davjeeling or Assam. 
So far as Ceylon tea is concerned, I rejoice to see 
that it has made much r<ipid strides during the last 
few years; but it is a curious fact that, although 
grown almost wholly from Assam Valley indigenous 
and hybrid seei\ it has assumed the characteristics 
of the h> st Chinese tea, due to soil and altitude, its 
superiority to China being duo as in India, to its 
cultivation being superintended by Europeans, and the 
best appr{)ved machinery, whereby the leaf is only 
touctied by Iiand iu picking it from the bush, all 
subsequent processes being achieved by machinery 
as opposed to manufacture wholly by hand, which 
in addition to being ineffective, is the reveree of 
cleanly. Ceylon teas stand out as a class tea in 
toramcn with Darjeeling, Neilgherry and Kangra 
Valley tea, and by reason of their flavour and delicacy 
appeal to the classes who consume but a small 
quantity. Assam and Oachar teas being full of body, 
and astriiigpnt, appeal to the masses who are they 
tea-drinkers and the tea-growers' friends. Statisticsl 
show that while Ceylon tea has gone up in consnmption 
to the detriment of John Chinaman, Ii.dian growths 
have also made a sure and steady advanco for 30 years 
past. The immediate danger to Ceylon tea and Indian 
ia the ever inci easing out-iurn and no expatision 
of markets, the result being a yearly fall in prices. 
Prom a market report befoie me I ftnd that in 1888 
Ceylon tea an sold in i\Iiuciug-l ine averaged lljd. ; for 
1889 the average was lljd. ; for 1890, lid. ; and for 
1891, lod. per pound. Indian teas also show a faliinf; 
off, but not in such a marked degree. I travelled 
through Ceylon during the past summer, and cannot at 
all agree with Mr. Hicks in his concluding paragraph 
wherein he says that Ceylon tea is grown on virgin soil; 
almost all the tea there is being pro.juced on defunct 
coffee plantations, and where coffee still esi.sts tea is 
being interlined, only waiting for the death of the cofiCee 
to assert itself ; and it is sheer nooEense for Mr. Hicks 
to assert that Ceylon tea has " beaten out ot the field 
. . . the heavier and more luscious Indian tea," but 
of its class, I am quite prepared to admit that Ceylon 
does produce as good tea as any other part of the Kast 
The fact ot a packet bearing tbt^ words '• Packed in 
Ceylon " is no guarantee of its purity, nor does it carry 
any guarantee that such is actually the cuse. There 
are far more packets of C< ylon tea "packed in Ceylon"' 
ill the neighbourhood of Great lowi^r-stient than ever 
are packed in the island, and siticf; ihe duty on im- 
ported tea there is 1'> cents per pound, the eliances 
of adulteration are very remote, as the pure artiole caa 
ho produced at a lets cost. I must npo,ou':s6 for the 
length of thi-', and having no desire to use your 
columns for an udvirtitemciit, 1 eucl; so my card, and 
Bubscribo myself, A Tka Planteb. 
.J&uuary lutb. 
