An Improvement in the Manufacture of Tea.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Sept., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 14th June, 1893-Accepted, 19th Aug., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in the Manufacture of Tea.
I JOHN ROGER of Twenty Guilford Street Russell Square, London, late Tea
Planter in Ceylon do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
In the manufacture of tea from the green leaf I introduce, after withering, a
process of breaking up the whole leaf, so that, in the after processes of rolling
fermenting and firing, every particle of the original leaf is reached, this result not
being obtained in the ordinary process of making tea as at present imported into
this country.
The effect of the new process is to produce, after the ordinary firing a mixture
of broken tea leaf and fine tea dust. I separate the broken tea leaf and cut and
grind it into a fine dust also. The fine dusts thus obtained I collect and refire.
It then contains no portion of the unfermented and unfired green leaf bulking so
largely in the tea now in use which is so deleterious.
In compressing the dust thus prepared I make use of any of the well known
means of consolidating materials by pressure. My improvement in this connection
consists in producing tea in the form of tabloids or cakes of compressed dust
that shall contain certain measured quantities suitable for the infusion of certain
numbers of cups of tea.
By my new process in the manufacture of tea dust as herein described I produce
tea dust containing all the aromatic, nutritious and invigorating ingredients of tea
in the strongest form and a minimum of the deleterious properties inherent in the
tea leaf. In that way I effect a very large economy. In compressing my tea dust
for use in the form of tabloids or cakes of measured quantities I effect a further
economy by saving the great loss incurred by consumers in using loose tea as at
present. To illustrate the economy I claim to have attained, a certain quantity of
my compressed tea will produce in infusion more than double the number of cups of
tea that can be obtained from an equal quantity of ordinary tea.
By the use of tabloids or cakes I also make tea more convenient for packing and
carriage and for transport by travellers and armies in the field.
The processes of withering, rolling, fermenting and firing, referred to in the first
clause of the short description on page 1 of this Provisional Specification are all
the usual processes, at present obtaining in the manufacture of whole leaf tea in
Ceylon. I shall however after withering, chop up the leaf, and in rolling, smash
it up so hard, as not to admit of any part of the leaf being left unbroken.
In rolling, in the ordinary way, the object is to give the leaf a fine twist, and in this
way, a part of the leaf, inside, is left untouched. This occurs to a greater extent, the
larger the leaf is.
It is this untouched, green, or uncooked part of the leaf, which
becomes so deleterious, when left to stew in the tea pot a long time. I effect a
large economy, by properly treating every part of the leaf.
In compressing my tea dust into tabloids, I have not found it necessary to
introduce any media, but with some teas, it might be found advisable, to mix a
small quantity of some inert substance, such as sugar of milk, over fired teas
having so little of any binding principle.
20th Santambar 1802

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in the Manufacture of Tea.
I, JOHN ROGER (late Tea Planter in Ceylon) of 20 Guilford Street, Russell
Square London W.C., do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to a process by which I manufacture tea of uniform quality
and increased strength and in convenient form for transport and use. I wither the
leaves in the usual way, preferring to wither the large leaves separately from the
smaller as they require more time. I then subdivide the withered leaves by any
suitable cutting or disintegrating apparatus so as to get the crude tea in the form
of very small fragments. I ferment these fragments in the usual way and fire them
after fermentation. I then sift out the fine dust and I grind to dust the larger
particles, preferably again firing the dust produced from them. I finally compress
all the dust in suitable moulds, with or without agglutinating matter such as sugar
of milk, and I thus produce the tea in solid blocks of various sizes or in the form
of tablets or lozenges, each of which may be suitable for one or for several
cups of tea.
By the process above described I get the whole of the leaf converted into tea in
convenient form and of uniform quality, so that, when tea prepared in this way is
infused, there is no such loss as occurs with ordinary tea owing to the fact that
considerable portions, especially when the larger leaves are treated, have never
been properly withered, fermented or fired.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
The hereindescribed process for manufacturing tea in the form of blocks, tablets
or lozenges.
Dated this 14th day of June 1893.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.