“Clerkenwell.—Edward South and Louisa his wife were placed at the bar, before Mr. Combe, charged by Inspector Brennan, of the E division, with being concerned in the manufacture of spurious tea. It appeared, from the statement of the inspector, that, in consequence of information that the prisoners and others were in the habit of carrying on an extensive traffic in manufacturing spurious tea, on the premises situate at 27½, Clerkenwell Close, Clerkenwell Green, on Saturday evening, at about seven o’clock, the witness, in company with Serjeant Cole, proceeded to the house, where they found the prisoners in an apartment busily engaged in the manufacture of spurious tea. There was an extensive furnace, before which was suspended an iron pan, containing sloe-leaves and tea-leaves, which they were in the practice of purchasing from coffeeshop-keepers after being used. On searching the place they found an immense quantity of used tea, bay-leaves, and every description of spurious ingredients for the purpose of manufacturing illicit tea, and they were mixed with a solution of gum and a quantity of copperas. The woman was employed in stirring about the bay-leaves and other composition with the solution of gum in the pan; and in one part of the room there was a large quantity of spurious stuffs, the exact imitation of genuine tea. In a back room they found nearly a hundred pounds weight of redried tea-leaves, bay-leaves, and sloe-leaves, all spread on the floor drying.... Mr. Brennan added, that the prisoners had pursued this nefarious traffic most extensively, and were in the habit of dealing largely with grocers, chandlers, and others in the country.”
This poisonous imitation green tea, “so largely supplied to country grocers,” was no doubt used for adulterating other green teas already dosed with Prussian-blue, turmeric, &c. These have found their way into many a country home of small means. When the nephew comes on a visit, or the curate calls of an afternoon, the ordinary two spoonfuls of black are “improved” with “just a dash of green,” and the poor innocent gentleman wonders afterwards what it can be that keeps him awake all night.
We often hear the remark from old-fashioned people that we have never had any good tea since the monopoly of the East-India Company was broken up: in this remark there is some truth and much error. There can be no possible doubt that the higher-priced teas have fallen off since the trade has been open, as the buyers of the company were perfectly aware of the frauds perpetrated by the Hong merchants, and never allowed a spurious article to be shipped. On the other hand, the great reduction which has taken place in the price of the common black teas, both on account of the cessation of monopoly and the reduction of the duty, has in a great measure destroyed the English manufacture of spurious tea from indigenous leaves. The extent to which this formerly took place may be judged from a report of the Committee of the House of Commons, in 1783, which states that no less than four millions of pounds were annually manufactured from sloe and ash leaves in different parts of England; and this, be it remembered, when the whole quantity of genuine tea sold by the East-India Company did not amount to more than six millions of pounds annually.
If the better class of black and all green teas[4] are thus vilely adulterated, the reader may fancy he can at least take refuge in coffee—alas! in too many cases he will only avoid Scylla to fall into Charybdis. Coffee, as generally sold in the metropolis and in all large towns, is adulterated even more than tea. The Treasury minute, which allowed it to be mixed with chicory, is at the head and front of the offending. In the year 1840, this celebrated minute was issued by the sanction of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir C. Wood, the immediate consequence of which was that grocers began to mix it with pure coffee in very large quantities, quite forgetting to inform the public of the nature of the mixture, and neglecting at the same time to lower the price. The evil became so flagrant that upon the installation of the Derby administration Mr. Disraeli promised to rescind this license to adulterate; but before the promise was redeemed, the administration was rescinded itself. Mr. Gladstone, upon his acceptance of office, loath, it appears, to injure the chicory interest, modified the original minute, but allowed the amalgamation to continue, provided the package was labelled “Mixture of Chicory and Coffee.” It was speedily found, however, that this announcement became so confounded with other printing on the label that it was not easily distinguishable, and in consequence it was provided that the words, “This is sold as a mixture of Chicory and Coffee,” should be printed by themselves on one side of the canister. It may be asked what is the nature of this ingredient, that the right to mix it with coffee should be maintained by two Chancellors of the Exchequer, during a period of fifteen years, as jealously as though it were some important principle of our constitution? Chicory, to say the best of it, is an insipid root, totally destitute of any nourishing or refreshing quality, being utterly deficient in any nitrogenized principle, whilst there are strong doubts whether it is not absolutely hurtful to the nervous system. Professor Beer, the celebrated oculist of Vienna, forbids the use of it to his patients, considering it to be the cause of amaurotic blindness. Even supposing it to be perfectly harmless, we have a material of the value of 8d. a pound, which the grocer is allowed to mix, ad libitum, with one worth 1s. 4d. If the poor got the benefit of the adulteration, there might be some excuse for permitting the admixture of chicory, but it is proved that the combination is sold in many shops at the same price as pure coffee.
Analyses made by Dr. Hassall of upwards of a hundred different samples of coffee, purchased in all parts of the metropolis before the issuing of the order for the labelling of the packages ‘chicory and coffee,’ proved that, in a great number of cases, articles sold as “finest Mocha,” “choice Jamaica coffee,” “superb coffee,” &c., contained, in some instances, very little coffee at all; in others “only a fifth, a third, half,” &c., the rest being made up mainly of chicory. Nothing is more indicative of the barefaced frauds perpetrated by grocers upon the public than the manner in which they go out of their way to puff in the grossest style the most abominable trash. The report of the sanitary commission gives many examples of these puff and announcements, which, we are informed, are kept set up at the printers, and may be had in any quantities. We quote one as an example:—
“John ——’s Coffee,
“The richness, flavour, and strength of which are not to be surpassed.
“Coffee has now become an article of consumption among all classes of the community. Hence the importance of supplying an article of such a character as to encourage its consumption in preference to beverages the use of which promotes a vast amount of misery.
“John ——’s coffee meets the requirement of the age, and, as a natural result, the celebrity to which it has attained is wholly unparalleled. Its peculiarity consists in its possessing that rich aromatic flavour, combined with great strength and deliciousness, which is to be found alone in the choicest mountain growths. It may, with perfect truth, be stated that no article connected with domestic economy has given such general satisfaction, and the demand for it is rapidly increasing.
“John ——’s establishment, both for extent and capability, is the first in the empire.