The weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1869-18??, 1870-04-13
From the London Times, March "a. !
~ Adultar.fsnn nf Tea

Whatever may pc Tue result vi tiic appe"i
which the owners of the six chests of tea
lately seized in the city intend to make to
the Court of Queens Bench, the proceedings
at the Guildhall Police Court must do good.
We do not gather, with certainty, from the
police reports whether it is proposed to as
sert before, the superior court the right OF
the free British merchant to resell for fine
new tea old leaves which have once done
duty in the pot, or whether the genuine
ness of this particular tea is to be commended
for In any case we have had an illustration
of the manner in which the public is liable
to be imposed upon as trade IS now conduc-
ted. Everybody knows that, from the cur
ing house in Foiken. and Ganhway to- the
corner shop in Whitechapel, the tea trade
has been revolutionized within the last fifty
years. Not that adulteration was unknown
in the days when we bought Twankays and
Souchongs, before Mornings and kaisows
were in every shop window, and teas could
only be got at the East India Companys
quarterly sales. 1t was far otherwise; but
whereas the adulteration was then mainly,
if not entirely, conducted by those into
whose hands the tea had passed after the
sales, it now effected in China itself, upon
scale corresponding with the enlargement
of the trade. The day of ''the million" has
come, and it is rule with dealers of GER
tain class that articles shall be produced at
any price that may be required by the mar
ket. The immense variety of teas produced
in China, and the wide range, of their value,
greatly facilitate this adaptation Of price to
demand even without resorting to positive
adulteration. There are in that country teas
Mandarin tea for example-for which the
rich Chinese themselves will give SOS.
pound, whereas, the great bulk of the article
consumed in China is very poor in quality,
and tea of this inferior kind is much used
to mix with the better sorts for the English {
market. Unfortunately it is very easy to !
make bad tea look SO like good, that the $
unskilled purchaser cannot detect the differ
ence before an infusion of lis made. Against
this so-called Morning tea seized by order of
the city authorities many faults were alleg-
ed. 1t was said that the proportion of
woody matter in it ranged from 70 to N per
cent, whereas that in ordinary Congou is
from 60 to IS per cent This, however, is
question OF quality, and the statement of
DIR. Letheby only shows that it was of a very
inferior kind. The woody matter is simply
the petiole or leat-stalk. Any one who has
compared green tea with black will remem-
Der that in sample of the former he sees
only leaves curled up and dried, whereas
stalks always form portion of the latter.
In gathering the green teas the leaves
only are taken, whereas, of the black teas
the foot stalks are always collected. This
is one reason why green teas are always dear
er than black, and for similar reason one
sample of black tea may be worth more
than another. The next objection to these
particular parcels of tea was that the pro-
portion of soluble matter in them obtaina-
Bile by subjecting them to the action of boil
ing water amounted only to from II per
cent. to 10! per cent, whereas that extract
ed from ordinary Congou varies from 90! to
274 per cent. This is an important matter
to the consumer, as every housewife knows.
1t is the soluble matter which gives color
and what is commonly understood by
strength" to the infusion. The fuller tea
is OF this matter the further it goes at table.
A third charge brought against the tea was,
that 1t contained scarcely any of the special
and peculiar property of tea, that for which
tea is drunk in preference to other bever-
ages, and which makes it what it is Chem
lists tell US of substance, over and above
the substances on which much of the APP
pearance and taste OF tea depends, and which
make it the, stimulating narcotic it is. They
do more; they detach it from all the sub
stances with which it is entangled in nature
and in our China cups, and show it in the
form of crystals, like long silky needles.
This specific substance, called theme, is
found in four substances, differing widely
from each other as to their botanical origin,
which are used as it were, instinctively by
various nations of the world to produce use
full and Agreeable beverages. For a long time
tea was denounced as useless article of
diet; but Liebig undertook to show that
theme contributes in a most important man
ner to the formation of the nitrogenized
product which enters into the composition
OF the bile. OF course, if the tea seized in
the city was bad, it contained very little
theme; accordingly the chemists who were
| called to sustain the case for the prosecution
| alleged that the proportion of theme, which
| should have been at least 2 per cent, was,
in fact, only an inappreciable quantity
one three-hundredth per cent. 1t might be
thought that when tea had been shown to
have all the defects of common article and
none of its virtues, enough had been proved
| against it; but there is one more charge to
be noticed 1t was alleged that this tea
| had already been Infused, and made to yield
| up whatever goodness it had once
contained To meet these assertions, Mr..
Redwood, an analyst of great experience,
was called to say something favorable about
the tea, but one cannot find a word in vindi-
cation of its character throughout his eyi-
dence He believed it was Every low class
tea" He thought that ''if he took it HIM
self it would do him no good;" and he even
added that it "had already been partly
exhausted" He only differed from the
other chemists in considering that it was
harmless. These being the facts, what ques-
ton is there to carry to the Court of Queens
Bench? Of course, if the owners Of the tea
believed that their own consulting chemist
is equally in error with DR.. Letheby and DR..
Stenhouse, their appeal is Ineligible, but it
would scarcely be so otherwise. Even if a
merchant is justified in selling an article
which has none of the properties of tea by
| the fact that it was connected in nature
with the botanical germs which give us rich
Pekoes and Boheas, it cannot be fair to sell
old. leaves which have been taken out OF the
| pot and redried We assume, then, that
the appeal will be founded upon denial OF
the statement of the chemists, and that some
important evidence is in reserve. Sufficient
however, is now known of the possibilities
of the tea trade to put the public on it;
guard; and we trust the warning will not be
lost upon our public officers of health, for We
cannot afford to have popular and sobel
beverage brought into discredit.