TABLE 4.

Showing relative positions of kinds of Tea consumed in England, and increase in pounds of same since 1880:—

Kind.1880.1885.1890.
China,126,000,000113,500,00060,000,000
India,34,000,00065,500,00095,000,000
Ceylon, 3,000,00024,000,000

In 1868, when the price of tea was reduced in England to an average of 36 cents per pound, the consumption increased to the heretofore unprecedented figures of 107,000,000 pounds, while in 1888, when the average price was again reduced to 20 cents, owing to the enormous increase in the production of India and Ceylon teas, the total consumption became augmented to 185,000,000 pounds, comprised as follows, in round numbers:—

Kinds.Pounds.
China teas,80,000,000
India and Ceylon teas,105,000,000
————
Total,185,000,000

The latter, for the first time on record, exceeding that of China teas, being an almost exact inversion of the figures of 1886 in favor of India and Ceylon teas, by which it will be seen that China is year by year becoming of less importance as a source of tea supply to English consumers. And as the demand becomes greater the importations from India and Ceylon are constantly expanding, prices being correspondingly reduced to an unprecedentedly low figure, being now so cheap in the United Kingdom as to be in daily use in almost every household. The relative positions of China, India and Ceylon teas in England at the present writing being

Kind. Consumption,
Pounds.
India(estimated),105,000,000
China“50,000,000
Ceylon“35,000,000
————
Total, 180,000,000

The proportion of Black tea consumed in England is about as 5 to 1, the per capita consumption ranging from 5 to 6 pounds for the entire population.

Ceylon teas continue to grow in public favor to a marvelous extent in England and beyond anticipating in the natural growth of consumption, they help fill up the yearly displacement of China teas. The total production for 1890 was nearly 38,000,000 pounds against over 30,000,000 pounds for 1889, and 18,500,000 pounds for 1888, thus showing an increase of 19,500,000 pounds for the two years. The supply for 1891 is about 40,000,000 pounds, the stock being increased 3,000,000 pounds, which may be considered very moderate and quite steady considering the steady all-round demand there is for Ceylon teas in that country. But there is not the slightest doubt but that the check which the consumption of China tea appears to have sustained in England is entirely due to the forced use of India and Ceylon teas in that country and her dependencies, there being a positive revulsion of taste in many sections in favor of the truer, purer and more delicate and richer of China teas. Medical opinions have been recently given to prove that the excessive quantity of tannin contained in India and Ceylon teas is very injurious to health, and a revival of the Chinese tea-trade may be confidently expected in the future.

So far as the English tea-trade is concerned the market for China and Japan teas is now but a tame affair to what it was only a few years ago, little interest being taken there in the tea product of these countries. Year by year since 1885 China and Japan teas has had less hold upon the English market, and it is remarkable to note how continuously the consumption of these varieties have been on the decline there from that time, notwithstanding their superior merits in drawing and drinking qualities over both India and Ceylons. In that year their consumption in the British isles amounted to over 113,000,000 pounds, but fell off to less than 105,000,000 pounds in 1886, to about 90,000,000 in 1887, to 80,000,000 in 1888, to 60,000,000 in 1889. The quantity of China and Japan teas consumed in the whole United Kingdom declining to about 50,000,000 pounds in 1890, although the prices for them were exceedingly low during that period. There are two main causes for this serious reduction which have been in operation simultaneously and for a length of time. The first was the great competition of India teas stimulated for the reasons already named, and the second cause the extraordinary favor that Ceylon teas found with English consumers in 1888, when the quantity imported for use from that island amounted to 18,500,000 pounds, or nearly double of what it was the preceding year, the quantities cleared for 1889 and 1890 being respectively 28,500,000 pounds and 34,500,000 pounds, showing an astonishing increase within the short space of three years, and which fully accounts for the decadence of the English demand for China and Japan teas. The consumption of the latter varieties has retrograded there, while that for India and Ceylon teas has increased proportionately, so that, although the market for the former descriptions has occasionally given signs of revival, they have been only spasmodic efforts at recovering, the much expected and promised reaction soon subsiding. And instead of the phenomenal cheapness of China and Japans being regarded as a recommendation to consumers it has been used as an argument by British dealers as an evidence of their unpopularity, and so completely has the demand been transferred from China and Japan teas to Indias and Ceylons that it has been no uncommon occurrence for the latter kinds to be selling at improving rates whilst the former descriptions have been disposable only at drooping prices.

The enormous size of the tea estates in India and Ceylon as compared with the small gardens of China and Japan give the growers in the former countries several advantages over those in the latter as they can be worked more systematically and with less expense in larger areas. The use of machinery in curing and firing also lessens the cost of preparation for market, together with a saving in freight and quicker sale consequent to English preferences giving a speedier return for the money invested. The advantages which India and Ceylon tea-growers have over those of China are greater command of capital, as in both India and Ceylon tea estates are generally owned by companies consisting of shareholders whose living is not dependent on the product of the plantations. The companies can consequently afford to carry on the business at a loss for several years, can purchase extensive tea lands, and can spend large sums on machinery, labor and experiments as well as on agents to introduce and distribute them. The India and Ceylon tea-growers can obtain loans at a lower rate of interest, borrowing money at from 4 to 5 per cent., while their Chinese competitors have to pay from 20 to 30 per cent. for the same accommodations, in addition to a command of better chemical and agricultural knowledge. But against these admitted advantages of India and Ceylon, China possesses one great advantage, that is, that the Chinese grower, working for himself instead of wages, brings greater care and more industry to the task. Experience with him takes the place of science, and he is thus enabled to produce a finer flavored tea than has yet or ever will be produced in either India or Ceylon. Again the great decline in the consumption of China teas in England and her dependencies cannot be attributed, as is so loudly proclaimed by her statisticians, to any falling off in the quality of China teas or any inherent merit possessed by those of India or Ceylon, but simply to the narrow and contracted policy of her merchants of favoring and forcing the product of her colonies to the prejudice if not positive exclusion of that of the older tea-growing countries.

In 1865 China exported over 120,000,000 pounds of tea, in 1870 nearly 170,000,000 pounds, in 1880 over 214,000,000 pounds, reaching the enormous total of 221,000,000 pounds in 1890, thus China’s export has also been increasing in a proportionate degree. But although the figures for 1870 and 1890 show that in twenty years it has nearly doubled, still it is not such a remarkable increase relatively when compared with that of India, which during the same period has increased nearly fourteen fold in quantity. In estimating the probability of a recovery in the position of China teas in the markets of the world the following considerations are of interest on the subject: First, it is well known that the heavy Likin (grower’s tax) Kutang (transit dues) and export duties levied on tea have contributed in a great measure to the decadence of the tea-trade in that country and to the development of that of India and Ceylon, where the article, at least, starts free and unencumbered. The Chinese laboring under this disadvantage, at the outset, have endeavored to compete with India and Ceylon by reducing the cost of production and lowering their standard of quality with a consequent deterioration in the grade of the leaf. This changed condition of the tea-trade may be attributed to these specific causes. Fifty years ago India and Ceylon produced no tea, as it was not until 1840 that the export from the former began with a small venture of 400 pounds, since that year, however, the increase has been both rapid and striking. Thus, commencing in 1840, the export has steadily increased year after year until now, when the average annual production reaches 100,000,000 pounds, of which England consumes some 97,000,000 pounds, the balance going to Australia and other of her colonies. It is contended by the Chinese themselves that if the Likin and export duties were removed entirely or the export duty alone reduced to an ad valorem charge of 5 per cent. it would greatly help those engaged in the China tea-trade in their competition with the growers and shippers of India and Ceylon, others holding that a simple reduction of the duty will not permanently benefit the China tea-trade unless it enables China to lay down teas in Europe and America at a less price than can be done by either India or Ceylon.

Russia is now regarded as the main hope of Chinese Congous and sorts, the British islands consuming Indias and Ceylons almost exclusively, the United States favoring Oolongs and Japans principally. The trade in China teas with Russia is increasing annually, while it is decreasing with England. In former years tea was first shipped to England and thence to Russia, the Russian tea-dealers now purchasing direct from China. The Russian demand seems, in fact, to grow as fast as that from England declines, constituting a total which is hardly suspected by those who are interested in the trade, so that, although ousted from her monopoly, China has still a great market for her produce.

Great quantities of tea are consumed in the domains of the Czar and it is believed that the Russians use as much tea per capita as the Chinese themselves. The “Samovar” or tea-urn is always steaming and the natives never cease sipping tea while there is water left to make it. It is served at all hours of the day, in palace as well as hovel, being regarded as much a necessary of life there as bread or tobacco. Shops abound for its sale in the principal cities; bargains made and business transactions sealed over steaming tumblers of tea.