Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-11-08

There is, perhaps, no article of food more
adulterated and more subject to adulteration
than tea. The tea imported into this coun-
try receives an extensive addition before it
leaves its native soil, and on arrival at New
York or Boston, or Philadelphia, or Balti-
more, or San Francisco, is further doctored
by home dealers, both wholesale and retail.
One common mode of adulteration is by mix
ing poor tea with good. We have known of
different grades of tea being mixed. Thus n
cheap tea worth - to 20 cents is mixed with
81 or 40 cent tea, and to this mixture n
good tea worth IS cents is added, and the
whole sold for ~ cents or 81. This is not
an uncommon trick of the trade. 1t is well
to understand that there are two classes of
Chinese tea, the black and the green These
are again subdivded, and named after the
various portions of the plant they represent
Thus in black tea the earliest bud is called
Flowery Pekoe; the partially expanded bud
Orange Pekoe the earliest leaf, Pekoe the
half-matured leaf, Souchong; and the matur-
ed leaf Congou. In green tea the names tax
en- in the same order are: Young Hyson.
Imperial and Twankey Cheap teas which
are sold for from fifteen to forty-fve cents
are, of course, aduiterated. Examination by
the microscope will soon convince any one
In such teas will invariably be found particles
of sand glistening plumbago, Prussian blue.
iron filings rice husks, silk-worm droppings,
larvae of insects and gross and disgusting an
imal and mineral matter. Those who drink
these cheap twenty-five cent teas may be
sure that ''the cup which cheers but not in
ebriates" is of the earth earthly. Tons of such
stuff are sold and drank on every day of ev-
cry year. In order to understand fully the
subject of the adulteration of tea it is neces-
sary to understand the size and shape of the
tea leaf. This leaf, which is peculiar and
striking in its form, varies in teas from three
| fourths of an inch to three-and-a-half inches
| in length. One main peculiarly of the tea
| leaf is its serrated or saw-like appearance
nearly to the stalk. Under the microscope
| this plainly appears; SO that the tea leaf is
easily distinguished Some of the adultera-
| tons found in tea are the leaves of the will
| low, which are very frequent, the elder, sloe,
hawthorne, beech, oak, elm and poplar The
| Chinese mix with tea the leaves of the Chlor-
| anthus inconspcus and Camela sasanqua
| leaves that are larger and weigh heavier than
| the ordinary tea leaf Another, not uncom-
mon mode of Chinese adulterGtion is to take
exhausted tea leaves and face them with Prus-
sian blue, chromate of lead and plumbago
| All good buyers, Wholesale or retail, have n
first and most crucial test of tea, which is de-
| rived from infusion only. good Judge is
seldom deceived. You will find large buyers
| depending very much on the character of the
infusion, 1t should be fragrant to the smell
| not harsh nor bitter to the taste and not too
dark in color. Sound teas when carefully
treated with warm water will uncurl and ex-
hibit their leafy structure. Adulterated teas
will disintegrate and fall to pieces or to pow
der, and now the insoluble mineral and other
heavy matters may be easily separated and
dished out by means of a perforated spoon.
| A dirty, black ash or settings, is evidence of
adulteration. Plumbago is often recognized
in the insoluble ash of the tea by its glisten-
ing, black appearance. Iron filings are at
tracted or separated from the tea dust by
means of magnet. In adulterated teas the
extract is much less than in pure teas. A
good ordinary tea submitted to boiling water
will give an extract of from twenty-five to
twenty eight per cent. BY mixing exhausted
or adulterated teas with good teas, it is easy
to see by the strengthen rather by the
weakness-that the process of adulteration
has taken place. Having treated your tea to
hot water, it is interesting to see how easy
the leaf unfolds. Spread out the leaf on a
glass and hold it up to the light Observe the
serrated or saw-like border, and especially
observe that the primary veins run out from
the mid-rb nearly to the border and then
turn in. The adulterated leaf does not dc
this. There is no article of import so tam
pered with as the article of tea.-BOst0a
Courier.