The Newark journal., 1903-05-29
MUCH SPURIOUS TEA SOLD.
Herbs of Chenp Grade Are Put Upon the Market and sold for the
 Pure Leaf.

erything about tea, or at least enough, said Thomas 4. phelan, but as matter of fact 1 don't believe there is any other single article that appears on American tables about which the consumers know SO little" All or this was apropos of tie Ma tlonal Tea association, lately organ ized for the purpose of uphelding the laws now in operation to protect this beverage from adulteration and spu- rious imitation, reports the New York Tribune.
 MT. Phelan is the president of the organization, the members and other officers representing nearly 200 large firms in all parts of the United States. Before 1Sg7," continued Mir Phelan. there was practically no protective legislation for this import and the United States was sort of dumping ground for the refuse brands which could find safe mo- where else in the world.
 "Throughout the south. where the majority of the buyers and handlers were not experts, whole sections and states practically gave mp the use of tea because of it's inferior quality, though they did not know where to turn for remedy. So clever were the limitations that only an expert could detect them, but they were no less spurious for that
 Many herbs, some of them harm less, but having no relation whatever to the lea plant, were shipped here by the million pounds and sold as tea. By some chemical process they were eolored so that to the eye they were identical with the genuine article. While many of them were not iniuri- ous to health, they had no more right to be sold as tea than would, for in- stance, a paper imitation of beef steak painted red.
 Now, the fact is that of the so- called black tea alone there are at least 500 varieties, with as many favors as are known 10 the most lux urions flower garden. The greens and Japans might each be suhdivided into a like number. One of the black teas. the so-called English breakfast, a name unknown incidentally in either China or England, is really the congou, of which alone there are at least 200 different favors and grades.
 "Other varieties of black tea are the colongs from Foochow and the island of Formosa and the Ceylons and Indias. All these are sold as black tea, but there is as much diff ference in taste between an oolong and congou as between coffee and chocolate or whisky and claret. The congou. Ceylon and India are fer mented in their preparation or al- lowed 10 stew in their own iuice,' so to speak, which gives them a heavy. malty flavor.
 "The oolona is prepared like green tea without fermentation. and is fired almost immediately after pick ing, giving t a bright, toasty charac- fer, which results in light-colored infusion. They are equally good, de- spite their differences.
 As rule the English, Irish aud their descendants drink the congous, while the older residents of America, and especially of New York and Bos- ton, prefer the belongs. The varia- tions in soil and temperature under which the different teas are grown produce the radically different favors so dear to the true tea lover and so ineXplicable to the uninitiated.
 'The north China congous. for in- stance, are subdivided into 50 dis tricts, the leaves from each having flavor differing as distinctly from ;he others as does the Bartlett pear from the Seckel and of each variety there are half a dozen or more differ ent grades. The spring, early and late summer and the autumn gather ings all have different flavors, which the expert can distinguish blind- folded.
 "Perhaps one woman in hundred knows how to make tea as it should be made. Properly prepared, it can be chemically demonstrated that tea has no more injurious effect upon the nerves than has cocoa or even water. Cocoa, indeed unless properly pre- pared by the manufacturer, contains an amount or cocaine Nnlcn NecldeuiY impars digestion if taken for any length of time.
 Tea. to be pure tonic and wholly harmless. should be made with water which has not only come to boil but has boiled hard for at least five minutes. The leaves should then be stepped for about five minutes, by no means more than seven. Previous to thattime the tonic property only is de- veloped; after seven minutes the tam min becomes operative and the de- coction more and more injurious with the increase of time. You can imag- inc the state of affairs in restaurants and such places where the tea is made in the morning to las, all day, or even every few hours
 "rhe English have hit upon the ideal time for drinking tea, at break- fast and between luncheon and diE- ner. Taken then it is the best sort of tonic"