Improvements in Tea Products and in the Use thereof.
Year: 1898

page_text: Improvements in Tea Products and in the Use thereof.
I, JOHN ROGER, 6, Coningsby Road, Finsbury Park, London, N., late a Tea
Planter in Ceylon, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The object of my invention is to produce an extract of the leaves of the tea
plant which will replace the ordinary method of making tea by infusion, and
also preparing a further extract which possesses the special aroma and flavour
of the tea from which it is produced.
In carrying out my invention, I take the tea leaves, after they have been
plucked and withered in the usual manner. I crush or disintegrate the leaves
This may
and add water-preferably hot-and express the fluid from the mass.
be repeated until the tea leaves are quite spent.
The expressed fluid is then distilled in vacuo. The portion first coming off
contains the essential oils which chiefly give the flavour and aroma of the tea.
This portion is carefully set aside, and the essential oils are extracted either by
ether or some equivalent method, and I thus get an extract possessing the
special aroma and flavour of the tea, which may be added to other tea or to
other extract of the leaves.
The fluid pressed from the tea leaves is evaporated down, after the essential
oils have been driven off, and this forms an extract of tea which, when duly
flavoured by the essential oils above referred to, can be made into a beverage
by the mere addition of water. If desired the evaporation may be pushed to
dryness.
The essential oils may be obtained from the coarser kinds of tea leaves, but
if the tea leaves are very coarse, it is preferable to boil them in a covered pan
in which they are afterwards distilled. The pan should be capable of working
in vacuo, or at low pressure. The essential oil may be used to improve other
teas or extracts or to flavour other beverages or any thing else as desired.
D
1
C
Ontah 1908
Improvements in Tea Products and in the Use thereof.
I, JOHN ROGER, 6, Coningsby Road, Finsbury Park, London, N., late a Tea
Planter in Ceylon, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
[Price 8d.
-

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
The objects of my invention are to obtain from the leaves of the tea plant an
extract possessing the special aroma and flavour of the tea from which it is
produced. Also to obtain from the leaves an extract from which after the
addition thereto of the aforesaid extract the beverage tea may be produced in
lieu of making such beverage by infusion of the leaves in the ordinary manner.
Also to improve tea which has deteriorated or ** gone off in flavour.
61
According to my said invention 1 take the leaves of the tea plant after they
have been plucked and subjected to the ordinary and well known process termed
withering and I thoroughly break up and crush the structure of the leaves
and disintegrate them by means of any suitable machine or apparatus such for
instance as a sausage machine or meat mincing machine. I then place the
crushed and disintegrated leaves in a pan or vat, and add to them water (pre-
ferably hot) in sufficient quantity to immerse them, and allow the whole to
stand, stirring it occasionally until the crushed and disintegrated leaves are
thoroughly saturated. I then express the fluid from the mass by any convenient
means, as for instance by means of a cider press or a filter press, and afterwards
add more water to the crushed and disintegrated leaves and again allow them
to soak and afterwards press the fluid from them, and further repeat these
operations until the leaves are virtually spent or exhausted which is evidenced by
the colour of the water or liquor when squeezed from the soaked leaves. When
small young leaves are selected for treatment, twice soaking and pressing usually
suffices, but where larger leaves, which contain more woody matter are to be
treated, they may after crushing and disintegration, be advantageously soaked
and pressed three or more times.
I then take the expressed fluid resulting from the foregoing operations and
distil it preferably in vacuo. The portion first coming over contains the essential
oils to which the flavour and aroma of the tea are chiefly due. This portion I
keep separate and put aside in closed vessels and from it, I extract the essential
oils by ether, or by some equivalent method, with which chemists are familiar
and thus obtain an extract possessing the special aroma and flavour of tea,.
which I use as hereinafter described.
After the portion containing the essential oils has come over and been put
aside, I subject the fluid, from which the said portion has been distilled, to
evaporation preferably in vacuo, until it is brought to the consistence of a thick
fluid, or has become a semi-fluid mass, or until it is in a dry state. This thick
fluid, or semi-fluid, or dry matter constitutes a perfectly soluble extract of
tea, which when duly flavoured by addition to it of the essential oils or the
extract containing them obtained as herein before described, is fit for use, and
from it a beverage, possessing the full flavour and aroma of tea, can be made by
the mere addition to it of water, which may be cold or of any desired temperature.
For the improvement of tea which has deteriorated or
gone off":
in Havour I
add thereto, in any convenient manner, the essential oils or the extract containing
them obtained as herein before described, in such quantity as will impart the
required flavour to the deteriorated tea.
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I also use the said essential oils, and the extract containing them for the
purpose of flavouring and improving soda water and other beverages, and alimen-
tary preparations.
By the process herein before described the essential oils and the extract may be
obtained from the larger and coarser leaves of the tea plant, which are unsuitable
for ordinary manufacture and use as tea, but if the tea leaves selected for the
purpose of obtaining the essential oils therefrom be very coarse, it is preferable
after withering them, to boil them in a covered pan, in which they can afterwards
be distilled. The pan should be fitted for working in vacuo or at a low pressure.
Where machinery made of metal is used for the purposes of my invention,

page_text: those parts, with which the tea will be in contact, should be enamelled or other-
wise coated, so as to prevent injurious chemical action of the metal on the tea.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
First. An extract obtained, as hereinbefore described, from the leaves of the
tea plant, and containing or consisting of the essential oils, constituting the chief
aromatic and flavouring matters of tea.
Secondly a soluble extract of tea produced by disintegrating plucked and
withered leaves of the tea plant, and soaking the disintegrated leaves in water,
and afterwards pressing the liquor so obtained therefrom, and separating from
it the essential oils, constituting the chief aromatic and flavouring matters of the
tea, and then evaporating the remaining liquor to the consistence of a thick liquid,
or semi liquid, or to dryness, and then adding thereto, the aforesaid essential
oils, or an extract containing them.
Thirdly The treatment of tea which has deteriorated or
gone off" in
flavour, by adding to it the essential oils or an extract containing them-
obtained as herein before described.
Fourthly The use of the essential oils constituting the chief aromatic and
flavouring matters of tea or an extract containing such oils, as a flavouring
matter for beverages and alimentary matters.